Storm over ex-mayor's land deal (Read the Bs from Scully then make your own assumption, I believe he should be investigated).
bioe...@gmail.com
councillor from his own local authority for less than £12,000 could
make a huge profit for his family.
Nobody else was given the opportunity to bid for the land when the
former mayor bought it in two deals in the 1990s. Now his children are
seeking planning permission for a multi-million-pound housing
development.
The land, off Pant-y-fforest and Brynmawr Road near Blaenau Gwent
council's headquarters in Ebbw Vale, was sold to Brian Scully and his
wife Christine in two separate but adjacent tranches. According to the
council, the former Labour leader was sold the first plot in 1994 for
£11,700. The second plot, according to a confidential council minute
obtained by the Western Mail, was sold to the couple in 1998 for just
£200.
In March this year the land was transferred into the ownership of the
Scullys' five children, who the following month submitted a planning
application to build 21 houses on the site in the name of an
unincorporated partnership called Vale Developments. The proposed
development, which does not cover all the land, takes in 1.7 hectares.
Houses immediately in front of the development site have been selling
for an average of more than £188,000 over the last two years. If the
development goes ahead and homes are sold for a similar price, their
gross sales value would be just under £4m.
Former Blaenau Gwent residents Glenys and Colin Francombe, now living
in Narberth, said they had made a formal complaint about the matter to
Blaenau Gwent Council's external auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers. Seven
years ago, the Francombes were presented with a Campaign For Freedom of
Information award by then Home Secretary Jack Straw for their research
which resulted in the conviction of 12 Blaenau Gwent councillors for
expenses fraud. Mrs Francombe said, "I believe it is wrong that a
councillor was able to buy land from his own council without any
competition - and I believe most people will agree with me."
Mr Scully, who has been a councillor for 38 years, said, "What happened
was that the council sold a lot of land off because it was
cash-strapped. I wasn't the only one who bought land - a lot of people
did. This is a strong Welsh cob area, and I bought the land to graze
horses on. Planning permission was granted for one house years ago, but
we never went ahead and built it - the foundations are still laid out
now."
Mr Scully said he could not remember how much he paid for the first
plot of land, but confirmed he had paid £200 for the second.
"Until just a few months ago, it was the council's policy to sell
grazing land on a 'first come, first served' basis - it was never put
out to tender. Recently the council decided to change its policy, and
in the future tenders will be sought.
"About five years ago I found a couple of men on my land. They told me
they were looking for possible housing development sites. More
recently, the Unitary Development Plan for Blaenau Gwent has been
passed, turning the land I bought into developable land. The proposed
UDP went out for consultation before it was approved, and no-one
objected.
"At our age my wife and I don't want to be involved in developing land,
so we decided to sign the land over to our children. They are calling
themselves Vale Developments and are putting in for planning
permission.
"I've no idea how much they will make from the development, which all
depends on getting planning permission and negotiating a price with the
council for lifting the covenants that don't permit the building of
houses."
Asked how he responded to those who thought it was wrong that a
councillor could buy council land cheaply with the consequence that
years later his family stood to make a big profit, Mr Scully said, "I
can understand people saying that. But I have followed the correct
procedures and done nothing wrong."
A spokesman for Blaenau Gwent Council said, "The applications to
acquire land were considered in accordance with the Council's policy in
place at the time. The Local Government Act 1972 allows for local
authorities to deal with sales of land as they see fit. The council
received applications to purchase these areas of land and dealt with
them under the council's approved policy for sales of grazing land.
These parcels of land were not advertised pro-actively by the council.
"Both parcels of land when sold were covered by covenants restricting
the terms of their use. These covenants reflected the land use proposed
by the applicant. Should a request for the removal or variation of the
covenants be received, the council's executive committee would consider
the merits of the application. If approved, a financial consideration
would be negotiated. The release of the covenant would be dealt with
separately to any planning application.
"We are not aware that any complaint has been made to the council's
external auditor, however, following a complaint the issue of the
original purchase was considered by the Local Government Ombudsman, who
was satisfied that the correct procedures had been followed.
"The consideration for the sale of the land in 1994 was £11,700 - this
figure represented a residential self-build plot and associated
ancillary grazing land."