Councillor,
The Argyll and Bute Council web site has a page listing the various meetings in the area.
http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/content/democracyandyourcouncil/Programmeofmeetings
To make this useful, it would be a simple matter to link to the minutes of the various meetings once these are available.
I am not going to waste my time trying to find the minutes of the relevant meeting however, the Council is reported in The Lennox
Herald of Friday 29th August to be selling off the Clyde Street Centre. Please tell me that this isn't true.
"Old school will be sold to help pay for town revamp
A FORMER community educaton centre in Helensburgh is to be put on the market.
The move to sell the Clyde Street Centre - once a primary school - is part of the regeneration
of the town centre and water-front.
Argyll and Bute Council, which currently owns the listed building,
is looking for offers which will ensure that it is brough back into use.
Councillor James Robb,
chairman of the Helensburgh and Lomond Area Committee said: "The council has been looking at options for improving services to the public
in Helensburgh and Lomond and one of these is the construction of a new building in the town centre, which will bring together public
services and community facilities under one roof.
"As a part of this process, we have been
reviewing the condition and possible uses for our existing properties. We have already received enquiries about the Clyde
Street building from both the community and private developers and so have decided to put the building on the market.
"All councillors are concious of the strength of local feeling on the former CE centre and the desire for it
to again contribute positively to the town. I must stress that if it is decided that selling the building is the best way
forward, the council will include conditions in the sale to ensure it is quickly and sensitively developed."
The council will be marketing the building between September and November; after which it will decide on which
option best fits in with future plans for improvements in the town"
I will use whatever tactics are available to impeach each
and every one of you. I'm sure that this possibility doesn't exist under Scots Law, however where there is a will, there
is a way.
You are individually and collectively incompetent. The Helensburgh Partnership was set up with £600,000
of public money. If you go look at their web site, you find that they are thinking about looking for a consultant to think
about plans for the town centre. There are no plans for the town centre and you have no idea how the sale of the community
centre would fit with future plans which might be developed.
I would certainly hope that the driving force behind any develpment
in the town isn't the need for a stone monument to commemorate the arrogance and stupidity of the council and its staff.
The Clyde Street Centre is an asset which needs to be developed for the maximum benefit for the town. That means
that its position on the waterfront with the world class views over the Clyde Estuary to Port Glasgow and Greenock must to be exploited
to maximise revenue for the operators of the property and the Council. A hotel is the obvious choice.
A hotel, but
not a hotel like the Commodore. Over a million pounds was spent on the Commodore making a mediocre hotel worse.
A considerable feat. The natural assets of the Commodore site were minimised and trivialised in the make-over.
Any hotel built on the Clyde Street Centre ground must be designed by an architect who understands the concept of location
The
last paragraph of The Lennox piece shows that the council is wasting everybodies time. You will put the centre on the market
although you have no idea "which option best fits in with future plans for improvements in the town".
This is no way to conduct
town business.
John Black
The Scottish Jacobite Party
http://gaunyersel.com
Mr Black –
The Council may or may
not sell the former Clyde CE Centre.
At the moment the position
is that we are seeking two things for the site:
1
To establish the value of the CE Centre as a stand-alone asset. That will allow us to come to a view on whether to
sell (with protection as to what is done with the site) or to retain and incorporate into a possible office development. Without
marketing it we are unable to reach a true judgement on such value.
2
To develop, either with the CE building as above, or separately and adjacently,
office accommodation to replace an existing number of different Council buildings in Helensburgh and Lomond. We have information,
from a building construction point of view as to which option is likely to be most cost effective, but that is dependent on whether we
need to improve the former CE Centre or are able to sell it.
Either 1 or 2, or variation on them
will be subject to necessary planning applications, etc which is why I would expect (and would advise the accordingly) no member of
the Council who is likely to have to judge the merits of a detailed planning application to be making comment beyond the generality of
seeking to ensure best use of the site.
This process complements the
work of the Helensburgh Partnership and they are aware of it.
Regards
Andy Law
Andy,
If you lot had half a brain between you, you would be dangerous.
Advertising the Clyde Street Centre for sale to "establish its value" when you have no intention to sell, is fraud.
In addition, as vendor, you have a duty of care to the vendee (whoever responds to your ad).
"Gonna no dae
that".
You will wind up in the slammer and this wouldn't look good on your resume.
I know about
these things since I got caught up in a similar scam a few years ago.
Slater, Hogg and Howison of 6 Princes
Street, Helensburgh were advertising one of the flats in Arden House. I don't remember the exact figures but for
the sake of argument lets say it was offers over 295,000. I paid £400 for Barr, Brady to do a survey.
Caveat Emptor and all that. They said it was worth £300,000 and I instructed my solicitor to put in an offer at
that value. This was the only offer on the property and was turned down. I went into Slater, Hogg and
Howison's offices to ask for my £400 back and was informed by the smart, intelligent young lady that I was a fool since
everybody knew that "offers over 295,00" meant that a successful offer would be about 20% above that figure. She
told me that the owner was looking for 345,000. Stupid me. I thought that "offers over 295,000" meant
what it said on the tin.
My offer of £300,000 established the market value and the last time I checked the then owner's
name was still on the title deeds. I wandered up to Blairvadach to speak to your Trading Standards Officer since
I had just been mugged on East Princes Street in broad daylight by one of the major players in the Helensburgh property market
but he didn't want to know since he had more important fish to fry.
I will concede that my Arden House deal was a little
more complicated than advertising the Clyde Street Centre but I'm sure that you would have found creative ways of getting to
the same place.
Slater, Hogg and Howison were operating a "bait and switch" scam, well known in the used horse markets
of the world. You tempt the mark with a ridiculously low price, attract the interest, then the commitment
from the mark. By a twist of fate, the original offer isn't available but we can do the deal at a higher price.
In addition, Slater, Hogg and Howison had all of my financial details since I was considering financing through
their financial services division. I wasn't aware of any firewall's between the two branches of the business.
I was left £400 worse off and facing large legal bills to do anything about it. Damn but they are
good.
On second thoughts, what you are doing is the industry standard in town. Go for it. Worked
for Slater, Hogg and Howison. The fat cat property developers of the world need a kicking to bring them to heel
and who better qualified for the job than Argyll and Bute Council, Helensburgh and Lomond Area Committee. I see
from your e-mail that "This process complements the work of the Helensburgh Partnership and they are aware of it."
A brilliant strategy. With the two of you on the job, you can play good cop, bad cop and all sorts of
tricks of the confidence game. The marks don't have a chance in hell.
Best wishes,
John Black