14 November (Part 1) - The party of business shows how to do the business
The
main item on the Agenda for Tuesday evening was the acceptance of Eco
Communities to run the Howbury Community Centre. It was never likely to be an
honest debate and it wasn’t, the tone was set before the meeting started when
the Eco Communities representative in the public gallery was greeted like an old
friend by council officers and some Conservative councillors alike. The large
contingent of Howbury Friends was ignored.
At the outset council leader Teresa O’Neill was at pains to point out that the
decision to appoint Eco Communities had not yet been taken. Maybe it hadn’t but
it soon became clear that cabinet members were not at liberty to vote any other way.
Environment and Wellbeing Director Peter Ellershaw said his officers had gone through a process
that would result in Eco Communities taking over management of the Howbury
Centre in September 2014. Mr. Ellsmore added that the process involved writing
to 40 community groups of which seven expressed an interest. Five were invited
to put in business plans but only two did so. “An officer team did the
individual scoring. Scores were weighted.” 34 ‘areas’ were scored, though only
the six point summary is available for public consumption. Openness and
transparency to the usual standard then. On finance, Director Mike Ellsmore said,
Eco Communities “scored significantly higher”. “Start up funding, contingency
funding and the robustness of the cash flow statement” had impressed him.
Cabinet
member Don Massey repeated the explanation of ‘the process’ stressing each one
was different and that ‘local’ could not be defined and that Lewisham based Eco
Communities/Greener Bexley had a good reputation.
Their bid was better than Howbury Friends’. “Social enterprise finance”, Massey said, “was
not going to give massive financial strength, cash balances or reserves. You have to examine
what they are based on. To be honest Howbury Friends answers were not convincing
to the panel. They left a lot of doubt and uncertainty. In contrast, the Greener
Bexley people were far more convincing on the finance side and backed up by
their financial assumptions. They made a lot more sense. One bid was a lot
better than the other”.
At the end of Massey’s speech a few people in the stalls jeered and
chairman Teresa O’Neill immediately jumped on them claiming that they were
preventing cabinet members hearing which, as the minor disruption was only during
the interval between speeches, was of course the sheerest nonsense.
As already noted,
this was a highly theatrical meeting and the first thespian on stage had me fooled
for a minute or so. Councillor Gareth Bacon seemed keen to explore the possibilities for
voting in favour of Howbury Friends. “Were all the bidders made aware of the
process before it was taken further than the written representations?” Mr. Ellsmore
didn’t seem very sure. A hesitant “It was my understanding that they would have been, yes”.
“If a decision was taken here tonight to reverse the decision how strong a
grounds would we have to resist judicial review?” asked the Shakespearean Fool Bacon. Legal
Officer Akin Alabi replied. “The options are” he said, “to appoint Greener
Bexley or commission further work. The council would be at risk if it overturned
the decision”. This strikes me as very odd given that the leader had by then
said several times that no decision had been made.
“Are there any grounds for rerunning the process?”, asked Bacon. Ellsmore and
the female lead combined to give a very protracted “No”.
Supporting actress Katie Perrior entered stage left praising the achievements of
Howbury Friends and saying how “the council respected them a great deal”.
Dame Linda Bailey “recognised the disappointment of Howbury Friends but
Greener Bexley would work with Job Centre Plus and came out top on getting
people back to work”. “So do we” said he audience but Biffa said she would vote
for Greener Bexley. No one ever believed otherwise.
The spotlight then fell on councillor John Fuller, referring back to the Belvedere
Community Centre he said they “used the exact same procedure”. Who shall we believe?
Fuller’s “exactly the same” or Ellsmore’s “each are different”? Fuller said it
would be difficult for the council to go against the recommendation. Let’s hope
he never becomes chairman of the Planning Committee.
Councillor Alan Deadman (Labour) said Eco Communities selling point was funding and
referred to a cloud being over it. I suppose he meant their £53,000 debt and
County Court Judgment. He was at a loss as to how and where they obtained their claimed
experience in running community centres. He queried how a decision not yet taken
could be judicially reviewed. Chairman O’Neill reaffirmed that no decision had
been taken but changing the decision that had not yet been made would put the
council at risk. Heads Eco wins, tails Howbury loses. Just to be sure she
repeated that the decision had not yet been taken.
Councillor Brenda Langstead (Labour) said that “the proposal had caused quite a stir”.
Gathering several of her sentences together; Howbury
Friends look after 100 children after school for £1 per session. They ran their
services in an old run down building and now that new premises are available it
is to be given to a new Lewisham based group which isn’t sure of its name. Their
accounts show more debt than cash and they plan an £8 a session charge for after
school activities in an area well known for its low incomes. Elsewhere Eco
Communities “had made 75% of its staff redundant after four years of spending
more than what was coming in”. Chairman O’Neill made some condescending remarks
about Howbury Friends but said that “in a procurement exercise they had not won
but can still work in the community centre”.
Brenda Langstead (Labour) said that Howbury Friends were not given a level playing field
with an undeclared ex-Conservative councillor behind the rival bid.
Councillor
Katie Perrior was concerned about the £8 charge and requested
clarification. Councillor Don Massey had learned his lines well. He went
straight to the highlighted section of his script and read from it that “the £8 is
one example of a fee. It does not relate to anything being proposed for Slade Green”.
Thus reassured, Katie bowed out, her starring role of feigned concern
satisfactorily completed.
Massey countered the disregarded 2,000 plus signature petition by referring to
one lady who had phoned him to relate a grudge against Howbury Friends. Having
signed the petition she now wanted to change her mind. He told us why but had no
excuses for the other 1,999. Massey went on to say that Eco Communities had
committed themselves to run all the Howbury facilities at or below present
prices. “I can’t say fairer than that, it is on their bit of paper.”
Councillor
Stefano Borella wanted to say something about the preferred bidder’s
links with Bexley council but the chairman stopped him in his tracks; so he
moved on to Eco Communities financial status. Referring to the poor situation
revealed by Companies House records, “it made him think how on earth that
score was arrived at. One could argue that such a scoring system [weighted but
otherwise unrevealed] could be set up in a certain way. Down the line they could
raise charges to a more sustainable level”.
Gareth Bacon said that “the council did not have a cat’s chance in hell” of
withstanding a judicial review. Funny he pretended not to know earlier on and
councillor John Fuller chipped in with some irrelevant history about Belvedere.
Councillor Chris Taylor said he “was uncomfortable with what councillor Borella
had said, inferring (sic - implying you nitwit)
that the process was corrupt”. He asked that councillor Borella “rephrase” his
statement. Stefano said “you said you set a process up, every process in a
different way, and you set the scoring system up the way you wanted, and that is
all I said”.
The chairman ad-libbed to Mr. Ellsmore “the procedure was a set process, wasn’t
it?” and the Director required the services of the prompt. Belatedly fumbling
his lines he said, “Err, umm, err. It was set up under thirty four different headings by
the procurement team, so, umm, I’m, I’m one hundred percent confident that it
wasn’t set up for an end result”.
Deputy leader Colin Campbell was impatient for the final curtain and urged a
vote, “I am entirely happy with the process”. Every cabinet member promptly
hurled the residents of Slade Green into the orchestra pit. Quelle surprise!
Previous council meeting report.