Anderson's Bakery

[steveL]

Economical with the truth is the best way to sum up the £118,000 claim over Anderson's Bakery. The additional costs of undoing the work that had already been carried out by DISC and converting the bakery into two houses were 'pink-papered'. As we now know, no outside contractors/tenders were involved so there was no commercially sensitive information, just embarrassing information, which is generally more than enough for Labour to hide the truth.

Some of the details are available as the last agenda item of the Finance and Policy Meeting of 29th June and it's clear from this that the cost was well in excess of the normal cost of the council purchasing two residential properties. There was the possibility that the money would have to be borrowed but in the end it was decided to raid the available '106 money' to cover the excess.

The bottom line is that both CAB and Cranney, both Foggy Furze Councillors, knew all about DISC's plans for the bakery months beforehand and could have nipped it in the bud if they had any understanding of how their own ward constituents would feel about the subject. There had already been two-way discussions between the council and DISC; the outcome of which gave DISC sufficient confidence to proceed with the purchase and start the building work long before they even had planning permission.

It was only when the campaign kicked off that both CAB and Cranney realised that they were on the wrong side of the fence with Cranney facing re-election just a few months later. The only way out was to purchase the building, undo the work already started by DISC and try to recover something by converting the bakery into two residential properties.

The total cost was nearer to £250,000, far in excess of what the council would normally pay to purchase and refurbish two properties; a fact recognised and emphasised by the council officers involved.

Look at it another way and you can say the cost of getting Cranney re-elected was £250,000 - all paid for by you and I.


http://www.hartlepoolpost.co.uk/files/finance_and_policy_committee_meeting_agenda_andersons_bakery_290615.pdf

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/housing-row-bakery-cost-hartlepool-council-118-000-1-7700225