Your Press
Get in touch: send your photos, videos, news & views by texting YORK to 80360 or send an email »
‘Barbican fury cost city dear’
10:10am Friday 18th July 2008
A COMMITTEE has blamed a protest group for a delay in the sale of York’s Barbican Centre which caused City of York Council to lose out financially.
The authority’s Barbican ad-hoc scrutiny committee – which has completed a report into why the sale of the centre was delayed – has agreed that the actions of the Save Our Barbican (SOB) group contributed to a two-year delay in the project.
Committee member Coun Joe Watt said: “The action of the Save Our Barbican group certainly delayed the project by about two years, which was a key factor in the fall in land prices.”
The authority revealed in 2006 that it was selling land at the Barbican for millions less than it had originally anticipated because of falls in land values.
It said that because of the lower-than-expected sum, it would no longer be able to go ahead with the construction of a new community swimming pool nearby to replace the one demolished on the Barbican site.
“Funds raised went instead towards new and improved pools elsewhere in the city.
Coun Watt said today that, while the Lib Dems had claimed the council had got best value for money at the time, the committee had disagreed.
Ernie Dickinson, of SOB, said it was “most unfair” that the committee was blaming the group for the delay without giving any reference to the reasons for its protests. Mr Dickinson also questioned why the committee was scrutinising the sale now when the sale of the lease of the Barbican auditorium to Absolute Leisure had not yet been completed.
He said: “The Barbican centre buildings were built in 1989, at 1989 prices of £15 million.
“They are still in pristine condition, and they would cost between £35 and £40 million to build and fit out now.
“They have offered Absolute Leisure a 250-year renewable lease for £750,000. The point is the 250-year renewable lease is forever. Those buildings have gone for good and they have got for them £750,000.
“That sale has not yet been completed, and how they can say they are not responsible for not getting best value in those circumstances is an absolute whitewash, because the deal hasn’t been completed yet.” The committee agreed that the council should review its procedures for handling protest groups.
It also agreed the council should review its risk management procedures.
Your Say YourPress
jenkil2001, york says...
10:40am Fri 18 Jul 08
bjb, York says...
10:50am Fri 18 Jul 08
Eddie Hitler, Usher Park, Haxby says...
10:50am Fri 18 Jul 08
When planning projects, these things have to be taken into account. Bad management.
petethefeet, York says...
11:37am Fri 18 Jul 08
Just remember this when the council propose to build ANYTHING again. It's my experience that most politicians are
1) In debt
2) Poor at their day-job
3) Their family lives are a mess
So why trust them with your money?
redr, York says...
11:42am Fri 18 Jul 08
If this council organised a P up in a brewery they would claim that a sub committee had shown that Rolls Royce were the most efficient form of transport for the trip and that alcohol was banned for health and safety reasons.
To claim that millions were lost due to land prices falling in 2006 is obscene and an insult to the intelligence of the long suffering York council tax payer.
I only hope that one day the serious fraud office go through the whole history of the Barbican sale with a fine toothed comb, it’s a disgrace.
AngryandFrustrated, York says...
11:43am Fri 18 Jul 08
Eddie Hitler wrote:I couldn't agree more with this and Eddie's other comment. If the Council had dealt with matters properly and had not tried to hoodwink local residents, the SOB group would have never got off the ground.
This is laughable.Trying to pass-off the incompetent failings of poor Soviet quality bureaucrats onto a group of protestors - who are entitled to undertake their democratic right to protest - just highlights what a bunch of useless fudging leaderless cadavers the council really are.Best value would be served to York if the whole lot (apart from the Greens) were sacked and actually replaced with individuals who could do the job.
The fact is that the the Lib Dems set off on a jolly of their own, giving away OUR ASSETS and depriving a huge part of the electorate (ie the people who live within the city walls)of easily accessible leisure and fitness facilities.
And if anyone is stupid enough to believe that they were going to build a new pool etc on the Kent Street site, go and give your head a shake! It was never going to happen -SOB said that right from the start but no one believed them and it was denied by the council.
We live in a democracy, not a dictatorship. Therefore, we have the right to protest about whatever we want and the freedom to do it. If anyone, including the numpties who wrote this report, want to start fettering that right to protest, or charging people who do protest and therefore cause delays then they should go and live somewhere like Burma, China, Iran etc. That way, they can live in a no protest environment.
Think of the story last week about the footpath on Osbaldwick Lane. One man pilloried for his views by gastly Galloway, haranged by others that complained he was costing the tax payer too much money by protesting and guess what? He WAS RIGHT!! His complaint was upheld - the council and the developers acted outside their authority. They abandoned their court challenges. Why? Because the developers and the council were going to lose, period.
This council is run by muppets who have no idea what forward planning is - all you have to do is look at Hungate for that. They would have ridden rough shod over every local group and resident who objected - that was clear from the start. It wasn't until English Heritage came in that they realised they would not get away with it this time.
If they planned properly, including building in protest time, then the Barbican fiasco would have never happened.
pedalling paul , York says...
12:02pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Kynnersley, Huntington says...
12:58pm Fri 18 Jul 08
bri, york says...
8:27pm Sat 19 Jul 08
rs should spend less time knocking each other and work together for the city.
Your sayYourPress
Add your comment
Register for a FREE York Press account and you can have your say on today's news and sport by adding comments on articles we publish. The best comments may even get published in the paper.
Please register now or sign in below to continue.
FLASHBACK: A Save Our Barbican demonstration outside the Guildhall in York
In this section
- York City sack manager Colin Walker to salvage season
- Santa’s brush with ‘death’
- Pictures of BNP members on web
- Stores ‘army’ to beat theft
- How to be Near-gella
- Truckers cautious as fuel prices fall
- Chance to check on benefit entitlement
- Joint operation between police and paramedics proves its worth as man is rescued from Ouse
- Lights switch-on sparks York row
- Facing the freeze
Sponsored Links
Editor's choice
The Balvenie 15 Years Old ‘Single Barrel’
York whisky evangelist Eddie Ludlow anticipates his first visit to the Balvanie distillery in Speyside.
Feversham Arms, Helmsley
Having made numerous day trips to Helmsley (and no, we don’t own a motorbike) we became intrigued by a crater that had appeared at the Feversham Arms Hotel.
Life in the sloe lane
Bitter sloes join sugar and alcohol in an age-old marriage that goes down a treat at this time of year. CHARLOTTE PERCIVAL meets a man dedicated to the sloe life.
The days of browning
As the garden declines and browns, Gina Parkinson looks for cheer in foliage that is still of interest.
Your Local Services
Local Information
Enter your postcode, town or place name
Eddie Hitler, Usher Park, Haxby says...
10:20am Fri 18 Jul 08
Trying to pass-off the incompetent failings of poor Soviet quality bureaucrats onto a group of protestors - who are entitled to undertake their democratic right to protest - just highlights what a bunch of useless fudging leaderless cadavers the council really are.
Best value would be served to York if the whole lot (apart from the Greens) were sacked and actually replaced with individuals who could do the job.