Red Trouser Gate

The Bristol Blogosphere - but interestingly not the local mainstream media - is full of discourse on the subject of peculiarly swift land sales at the local council.

The story starts with some emails in the documents obtained under FoI by the Railway Path campaigners (during the BRT saga). Some land that is part of the embankment - the green strip - on the edges of the Bristol-Bath Railway Path has been sold to a private developer. The emails suggest that the agreement between the council and the developer's land agent was concluded without due regard to the Council's formal procedures for land disposal.

Having realised that potentially embarrassing information was in the public domain, persons unknown put together an internal briefing document to clarify events. This document was promptly leaked to Chris Hutt at the Green Bristol Blog. (see here for full doc.)

Looking at the emails themselves, some of the back and forth between junior council officers and land agents does appear to imply that the agents are calling the shots. And the specific meeting(s) at which the land sale was agreed are completely off the radar - no agendas, no minutes - and seem to have involve only David Bishop, the council's Director for City Development - and George Ferguson, the property developer and red trouser aficionado.

The Council's own internal briefing document offers the following statement:

Several concerns were raised over the potential sale of the land by the Nature Conservation Officer and the Transport Development Control Manager. The initial response was that the Council would not wish to sell the land. Further discussions between chief officers in CLS (Culture and Leisure Services - Parks) and PTSD (Planning Transport and Sustainable Development) and George Ferguson from Squarepeg were held in May 2008. Instructions were subsequently given to Property Services to proceed with the possible sale of this land

There's a suspiciously large amount of passive voice in that paragraph...

Ashley Fox, local councillor (and blogger), has decided to do some further investigation, and has submitted the following questions to the elected Cabinet of the city. Answers will be given at the next meeting of the Full Council, Tuesday, 2nd December 2008 at the next meeting of the Cabinet of the City on 27th November 2008 .

Questions from Councillor Ashley Fox to Councillor Rosalie Walker, Cabinet Member for Culture and Healthy Communities.

Q1. Does the Cabinet Member agree with me that the Council should always consult with local residents before agreeing to the sale or lease of precious green space?

Q2 Does the Cabinet Member agree with me that the Council's recent sale of parts of the embankment of the Bristol-Bath Railway Path threatens to damage the character of one of the country's finest cycling routes in an Authority now designated a "Cycling City"?

Q3 Does the Cabinet Member agree with me that the apparent informal and unrecorded manner in which this property sale was transacted could leave the Council open to accusations of impropriety or favouritism?

Questions from Councillor Ashley Fox to Councillor John Bees, Cabinet Member for Transformation & Resources

Q1. Does the Cabinet Member agree with me that all decisions and meetings relating to the sale or disposal of land held by the Council should be open, properly recorded and fully transparent?

Q2 Does the Cabinet Member agree with me that the apparent manner in which the recent sale of parts of the embankment of the Bristol-Bath Railway Path was transacted warrants further investigation?

Q3. Does the Cabinet Member agree with me that it is important to ascertain the reason for conducting aspects of this transaction without a formal record or minutes taken at key meetings held?

Q4. Will the Cabinet Member undertake to remind all Officers engaged in the disposal of Council-owned assets of the importance of the principle of Integrity (within the Code of Conduct for Employees) that "holders of public office must not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organisations that might influence them in the performance of their official duties"?

Developing...