More matters of finance at CDC

Paakwa is not above a little name dropping, so is pleased to let his admirers know that he was invited to a meeting with David Cameron this week at the Yorkshire Post.
As copies of that august organ were free, one was perused. Imagine the surprise on reading to note the superabundance of jobs available at spendermanic Craven district council!
And not just your ordinary jobs either, but such as yet another person to join the public relations team, a team which itself doubled in size a few short weeks ago!
It pays a mere £27,594 but there is a pay award pending, and unlike the private sector retirement with a salary linked pension will be available at 60.

Or if that's not to your taste, how about a 'Housing Quality Manager' at £32,346 sound?
Again a pay increase is soon to be implemented, the pension is excellent, flexible working hours are offered, and a generous relocation package is offered. As the council sold its (or more properly our) 1540 houses a few years ago for around £5,000 each, there shouldn't be too many houses to examine.

There are presently 13 such jobs, everything from a 'Carbon reduction officer' to 'Affordable Housing Development Manager' at salaries well in excess of twice the average in Craven, cracking pensions, and a work ethic which is happy to allow a couple of weeks per annum off sick, and extended leave given freely to cover Christmas and the New Year.
It's good to have pots of money isn't it?

Except that the council doesn't, just the opposite.

It's so broke that to keep the council tax down to government levels they had to raid the reserves to the tune of £1,000,000 - around 1/3 of the total tax paid by householders, and that reserve is desperately needed to fund the massive pensions liability the council has developed.
No doubt pensioners who have seen their pensions eroded whilst council tax has rocketed, will be very happy paying their £28.00/week for a band 'D' house knowing that big chunks of their money is going for ever increasing wage demands and nice safe pension pots.

Paakwa also wonders just why CDC loses so many Directors of Finance, it almost looks as if the moment they discover the true state of finances they swiftly leave.
Such a thought is laughable 'though, surely?

Meanwhile Councillors allow officers to grant massive amounts to private limited companies, and when those officers exceed their authority the councillors promptly increase, tenfold, that authority, from £1,000 to £10,000!
And even that doesn't seem to stop them exceeding it, Paakwa is told that £15,000 has been allocated to a statue of a sportsman by a single officer.
Perhaps councillors should merely hand over control of all finances to officers?

They already seem to have given up trying to control either the appalling council finances, the ever increasing and massive pensions deficit, or insisting that transparency and openness be adhered to - Why, they won't even tell us what they've received for our assets!

Meanwhile the land offered to Bentleys at £340,000 and for which an offer of double that was swiftly made has been revalued.
In any private company such appalling management would mean that heads would roll.
Don't expect anything like that at CDC - indeed such incompetence will probably be rewarded by an increase or promotion.

Time for the second Paakwa interview, this week it's Jilly Micawber
As always, click on the little arrow at the bottom left to play it, and, again as always, any resemblance to persons living or not so lively is coincidental.
Or an act of God.

Let the sales continue!

The credit squeeze doesn't seem to have effected Craven district council, (motto - 'Openness and transparency') where they have decided to double the strength of the PR team.
"This underlines our commitment of ensuring communication is at the heart of everything we do" they tell us.
Oh really?
Let's just see how that commitment is carried out, and how lip service is paid to openness and transparency.

Despite colossal opposition, (see HERE) a site on Gargrave Road was sold to HML, a subsidiary of Skipton Building Society. That site of around 7 acres reached a price which CDC determined was fair.
But what was that price?

That question was asked in September of 2007, the reply being that once the sale had been finalised then the figure would become public.
Early this year they were again asked how much it fetched but refused to say, stating on the 4th February that the information would be released in the next 6 to 8 weeks.
That period passed, to no avail.
Towards the end of March the question was again asked, to be told that "The date for publication has slipped," and "The public interest in maintaining an exemption from the FOI act outweighs the public interest in disclosure."
One has to ask exactly what CDC are hiding by refusing this information.
For those interested, we are told that the price was in fact £800,000 - even less than Bentleys offer of £340,000 for 2 acres at the same spot!
For inadvertently revealing the information regarding Bentleys, a councillor has been reported to the Standards Board for England, and rebuked by that organisation.

Last December a letter was brought to Paakwa's notice.
Apparently signed by a director of a certain company it condemned the sale of the land to HML in no uncertain tones;
It mentions that it was an apparently covert deal between CDC and Skipton Building Society (SBS) and that it was not the first time that SBS had flexed their muscles and influenced planning control and land allocation decisions, but rather the third or fourth;
It mentions that this certain company would have to leave Skipton should there be no suitable land for them to build upon, and states that whatever HML had said they would do with respect to council offices could have been matched by this company.

An incredible letter, and verification of this was sought from CDC, who, via the office of one Jonathan Kerr, denied the existence of any letter, or indeed any contact with this company concerning a desire for CDC land until three months after the date of this letter.
The letter was then obviously a forgery!
They went on to deny it even more strenuously, but in the same sort of way that readers of 'A rat on silk' will understand.
Eventually, after deciding that a letter of such seriousness which is being denied by CDC must be a forgery, a last minute appeal was made.
"Are CDC confirming that this letter is a forgery, that the police might be informed?"
Suddenly memory came back to CDC in a rush, and the response came that, "Oh yes! They did send a letter in December discussing the possibility of land purchase!"
See the letter HERE.

By a strange coincidence Bentleys have received approval to buy a site on Gargrave Road, a site of over two acres, and for the January sale price of £340,000

Life is full of coincidences, here's another.

Skipton Properties applied for a legal revue of a couple of sites, believed to be the HML one and the Bentley one. The revue was granted.
In a surprising change of heart it appears that Skipton Properties have removed their application, Paakwa is told that they now have an application to build 280 houses along Shortbank Road.
No doubt Craven district council will ensure that council taxpayers will receive the best price for any land, just as they have done in the past.

In a possibly surprising twist, a letter from John Goodfellow (Chief Executive SBS) however states that it wasn't SBS who came up with the idea of using Gargrave Road, but Craven district council's, who took the idea to SBS!
Letter HERE
But then Goodfellow goes on to write that SBS always complies with the democratic process, and that if the development of Gargrave Road was against the wishes of the majority of Skipton dwellers, then that same democratic process will reach the appropriate conclusion.
No, I don't understand what he's getting at either, except that he most certainly is not going to give up this prestigious site bought at a knock down price, however much the development was against the wishes of the people.

Or will he?
Just how exactly are things at SBS?

Very interesting, at least for those who like matters of finance.
Whilst everyone has heard of the 'sub-prime' market, and Northern Wreck, not many will have heard of GMAC-RFC, the UK subsidiary of the giant auto finance business, originally built by Detroit carmakers, General Motors.
GMAC introduced to the UK the aggressive lending techniques which created the US sub-prime crisis, those which resulted in home repossessions at an unprecedented rate amongst borrowers who were only ever bad risks.

Between 2000 and 2006 GMAC became the UK's 10th biggest lender, with a loan portfolio totalling £12 Billion in 2006, and one of its big customers was Bradford and Bingley, which now has its own problems due to its appetite for sub-prime business and the wholesale money market.
GMAC has a rating set by various agencies, as do most companies, and GMAC has now had its rating cut to 'junk.'
But what, if anything, has GMAC got to do with Craven?

Well GMAC didn't sell millions of pounds worth to Bradford and Bingley alone, they needed to sell to anyone who would buy sub prime loans, buy to lets, etc. and they found a willing buyer.
A company called Amber.

Amber seemed to like the sub prime markets, (Details HERE) lending not just to light and medium sub prime borrowers, but also to 'unlimited' borrowers, and Amber bought - big style, some £840 Million up to 2005 from GMAC. (Details HERE)

It carried on with a further £250 Million in September 2006
Details HERE

The term 'unlimited' incidentally means those who have unlimited CCJ's against them, and also prefer to self certify their own incomes - not always the most reliable indicators of good borrowers, indeed the Financial Services Authority have issued a risk mitigation programme (RMP) to GMAC after such as retired sailor Ismail Ali, aged 71, was lent £75,000 despite an income of £517/month.

As lately as the 4th March, one short month ago, a happy sounding Mr. Jolly (real name) the head of Amber said:

"We've been phenomenally successful, and we now have a balance sheet of £1.5 Billion!"

On the 28th March - just over three weeks later - Amber was sold for £2 Million (see HERE) and Mr. Jolly has gone across to SBS as a General Manager.

For those who don't know, Amber, a company which has been renamed some four times over the last decade or so, belongs to HomeManagement Loans.
HomeManagement Loans belongs to Skipton Building Society.

Amber's financial returns are not due until 31/10/08 - they may make interesting reading.
As might the report from SBS.