Star date: 6th June 2017

SALFORD COUNCIL 'PURDAH' U-TURN REVEALS MORE HUGE SPENDING ON EMPTY OFFICES

After the Salford Star last week accused Salford City Council of covering up expenditure using 'purdah' rules, it has now done a u-turn and published spending figures for the last four months.

The figures show that the Council has spent almost £700,000 on rent for empty offices owned by the Legal and General Pension Fund at One New Bailey, bringing the total to near £3million – all this while proposing to shut The Grange, the city's only residential home for disabled children to save £300,000.

Full details here...

Last week, the Salford Star accused Salford City Council of covering up expenditure, using General Election 'purdah' rules to stop publication of spending that should have been available before the Election was even called (see previous Salford Star article – click here).

The Council has now done a u-turn and published four months worth of spending over £500, between January and April this year (see here). The figures reveal that the Council is continuing to underwrite rents for empty prestige offices at One New Bailey owned by the Legal and General Pension Fund, making a payment of £686,625 in March.

This can be added onto previous rent payment to the Legal and General of £2,059,875, plus a further £40,069 for insurance (see here). In April, the Council also made a payment of £49,656 to Knight Frank, which is acting as agents for the building. If this latter payment is related to One New Bailey it will take the total spending to a whopping £2,836,252 – in less than a year!

All this while Salford Council is proposing to close The Grange, the city's only residential care home for disabled children, to save £300,000 (see here). The Council is trying to justify axing The Grange, stating that there are currently only two children using the five bedroom facility – but these offices have no-one in them at all and are costing almost ten times more!

Even worse is that Salford Mayor, Paul Dennett, is about to sign a further agreement with the English Cities Fund – a partnership between the Legal and General, Muse Developments and the Homes and Communities Agency – to underwrite a lease on a new building next door: Two New Bailey. He's also about to sign a similar deal for ASK Development's Embankment 101 building.

Last week, campaigners trying to Save The Grange handed into the Mayor's office a petition containing over 3,000 signatures (see here). One of the campaigners wore a Jeremy Corbyn mask, pointing to the contradictions of Salford's Corbyn supporting City Mayor and proposals to close the home for disabled children... "We're still hopeful that we can reverse the decision and that the home remains open" said parent Rebecca Howarth.

UPDATE 29th June:

This figure has now been amended to £1m See here