Agenda item
Report Called In - Disposal of Grenfell School Site
(Time allocated – 30 minutes)
Minutes:
Further to their respective declarations of a personal and prejudicial interests, Councillors Alibor Choudhury, Marc Francis, Josh Peck and Lutfur Rahman left the room during the Committee’s decision making and voting on this item.
Mr Lutfur Ali outlined the call-in procedure to the Committee.
Prior to the presentation Ms Helen Jenner, Service Head, Early Years Children and Learning, advised the meeting that there had been a mistake in paragraph 6.2 of the original report to the Cabinet and the wording should have said “The school attracts its pupils from across East London and approximately 30% were not resident in Tower Hamlets’.
Councillor Archer for the Call-In Members thanked Ms Jenner for the clarification and then referred to the reasons in their requisition and highlighted the main issues that they held with the provisionally agreed decision to sell the freehold interest in the former Grenfell School Site to Madani School for the sum of 1.33 million.
Councillor Archer stated that their concerns were not directed at the school itself, and the main issue was the fact that a Council asset was being sold below market value and public money was being used to subsidise the purchase. Additionally the Council’s current policy was to grant a long lease rather than sell the freehold as this would enable the Council to control the use and ensure that benefits were achieved.
Councillor Archer advised the Committee that he was aware that the school provided a vital role within the community, however it did not need to own the site to continue providing the service. The more appropriate course of action would be to offer the school a long lease with an option to purchase the freehold once it had achieved Voluntary Aided status.
Councillor Archer then responded to questions from the Committee, in particular in relation to the actual wording of the call-in and the suggestion that the school was in breach of the Council’s ‘One Tower Hamlets’ Policy. He advised that the call-in wording had not intended to be critical, and he was grateful for the clarification received regarding the number of pupils. Nevertheless other schools in the Borough did not own their respective freeholds, and Council tax-payers deserved value-for-money.
Councillor Josh Peck, Lead Member for Resources and Performance, then addressed the Committee on behalf of the Cabinet in response to the Call-in and made the following points:
The call-in was based on misinformation. Council policy stated that all disposals had to be at market value, this was complied with as the original agreement was based on the market value at the time. Also when selling at less than market value in exchange for community benefit, the granting of a long lease as opposed to selling a freehold was considered ‘best practice’ but was not Council policy.
The school would have responsibility for any repairs after the sale, however achieving Voluntary-Aided status had not been a condition of the sale.
Committee Members then put detailed questions to Councillor Peck on a number of issues including the benefits of Voluntary-Aided status and the relevant obligations under freehold and leasehold.
Following the discussion the Committee voted on whether to refer the item back to the Cabinet for further consideration and it was
RESOLVED:
That the alternative course of action proposed in the Call-in not be pursued and the decision of the Cabinet be confirmed.
Supporting documents:
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Call-in report, item 7.1
PDF 61 KB
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Madani School Report_CAB 051108, item 7.1
PDF 55 KB
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MadaniSchoolAppendixA, item 7.1
PDF 63 KB