Dispute after claim “no objection and no opposition” in secret cross party assets group to auction of Kings Mills

The row over the sale of Kings Mills by Wrexham Council has continued, with a claim from the council leader that a secret cross party group voiced “no objection” and “no opposition” to the auction.

The sale of the building, which was first reported by Wrexham.com, resurfaced yesterday evening during the full council meeting during a question and answer exchange between the two councillors.

Councillor Carrie Harper had submitted a question to be put at the start of the meeting about the sale, said Plaid Cymru’s representative on the Corporate Land and Building Strategy Group had expected it to be heard at Executive Board before any decision was made.

She also challenged the membership of that group and the transparency of the decision making process.

Cllr Harper started: “On the 29th of January Wrexham.com ran a story about the council putting up the Kings Mills for auction next month. For members who don’t know, this is an 18th century corn mill in Abenbury, it sits between Caia Park and Hightown.

“The building was gifted to the council by the National Trust and it includes a covenant which states the building must be used as a public amenity for culture and heritage purposes.”

Before Cllr Harper could continue much further the Leader of the Council Mark Pritchard raised a point of order, pointing out that the question Cllr Harper was reading was not the one submitted and in-front of him, which he had prepared a response to.

Cllr Harper disagreed with the point of order, pointing to the constitution of the council and noting it allowed her any preamble to the question as she liked as long as it was inside the five minutes allowed.

The Legal Officer was asked for a view by the Mayor, who was told the constitution was not explicit in such matters, and therefore the Mayor could rule if an introduction was allowed or if a question must be as submitted.

Cllr Harper added: “There is no mechanism currently for us to scrutinise this as it stands.

“The only discussions that have taken place about the future of the building have happened in the Corporate Land and Building Strategy Group.

“Now, that group is not open to the public. But I have seen the papers relating to Kingsmills, and they say very clearly that the Corporate Land and Building Strategy Group intends to make a recommendation about the future of Kings Mills to the Executive Board. So that’s there in black and white.

“But, it didn’t go to the Executive Board. The only explanation we’ve had about that so far, is that sometimes things may go to the executive board, and sometimes they don’t.”

“Now, Kings Mills was also scheduled to go to the Executive Board in March last year, because it was on the Forward Work Program. But again, for some reason it didn’t get there. But there was a clear expectation that there will be public scrutiny in terms of the future of that building, which hasn’t happened.”

Cllr Harper described the process of asset sales as ‘very unclear’ and ‘inconsistent’, adding: “When you look at the makeup of Corporate Land and Building Strategy Group, it has got 10 members, with 6 of those members of the Executive Board, so those members have the majority.

“The only purpose of that group seems to be for the executive board members ultimately to make recommendations to themselves, that sometimes go for public scrutiny or sometimes don’t.”

Cllr Harper announced that the Plaid Cymru group were now withdrawing from Corporate Land and Building Strategy Group, “because there is no openness and transparency”.

She added: “Instead of enabling that to happen a decision was taken to sell it off to the highest bidder at auction. There doesn’t seem to be any clarity in terms of how that decision was made, and certainly no political accountability or public scrutiny because those decisions have been literally taken behind closed doors.

“So my question is, that our constitution state at the disposal of assets has to be done in an open and transparent manner manner. Can the lead member please explain what steps he plans to take to address these concerns?”

Council leader Mark Pritchard replied, initially appearing to read a prepared very formal statement but then moving to off the cuff comments.

He explained: Disposal of assets is an Executive Board function, the responsibility of the Executive Board and in the scheme of delegation to Chief officers in the constitution, it is delegated to the Chief Officer of Housing and Economy under the following provision; in consultation with the lead member, and the local members, to agree the terms of any acquisition and or disposal of land and premises owned by or for use by the council including the final determination of boundaries.”

“The Chief Housing Officer of Economy is exercising the delegation that follows the council approved procedures.

“In this instance, the decision has been made by the Chief Officer Housing and Economy exercising his delegated authority, following consultation, not only with the lead member and the local Ward member, but also the Corporate Land and Building Strategy Group, which met on the 13th of October 2020, which is a politically balanced group reporting to the executive board.”

A peek through the up to now closed doors of the Corporate Land and Building Strategy Group was offered by the council Leader, who said: “There was political support for the disposal, and the exercise of the delegation by the Chief Housing and Economy was supported within the discussion and within that meeting.

“The council has a statutory duty under Section 123 Local Governments Act 1972 not to dispose of land or properties assets for considerable less than the best that can be reasonable be obtained without the consent of the Welsh Minister. Sale By auction is an open and transparent process and is accepted as an appropriate method of disposal to obtain the best consideration that can be reasonably be obtained.”

Moving to a more freestyle approach Cllr Pritchard added: “Can I just add Mr Mayor that when it goes to auction all the covenants affecting the site will remain, and if there’s a listing on it, the listing will be respected.”

“I am a bit disappointed to be sitting here this evening explaining this procedure to Cllr Harper. She is fully aware of the process and I did say in my presentation, that Corporate Land and Building Strategy Group which met on the 13th of October, there’s a representative from Cllr Harper’s group on it. There was no objection, no discussion, not to allow it to go to auction.

“I do believe, because I’ve asked for clarification, that the representative from Cllr Harper’s group abstained. But there was no objection. There was no discussion and there was no opposition for it to go to auction.”

Speaking about the auction he added: “I have to say this because I think it’s important that people of Wrexham understand that we have an obligation and a duty to get the best price and value for land and buildings.

“This group offered the council £10,000, and it’s been valued at £155,000 to go to auction.

“I have no problem in saying this evening, I fully support and endorse the recommendations of the Corporate Land and Building Strategy Group on the way they voted for it to go to auction. You can’t have any more openness and transparency than for it to go to auction. What more can we do as a council and as elected members?”

“I think there’s a lot of untruths being said about the process but I am clarifying them here today.”

Cllr Harper fired back: “The recommendation from Corporate Land and Building Strategy Group was that it was a decision, a recommendation, to the Executive Board. I have spoken to Cllr Gwenfair Jones, she’s here she can clarify this herself, that it was her understanding.

“After reading the paperwork, it’s in black and white there, it was supposed to go to the Executive Board.”

“As regards the group’s offer of £10,000, you’re talking about a community group, a group of volunteers who have entered…”

She added that the site was being put on the auction block by a Manchester firm who is allegedly “encouraging people to travel from anywhere to view that building on Friday” with it claimed no virtual viewing has been offered.

The Welsh Government guidance was pointed to, along with it noted “people in Wrexham can’t get in their cars and drive to this building, because we’re in a level four lockdown”.

Cllr Pritchard was asked, “Is it sending the right message to be encouraging people to travel here from across the UK potentially, to view this building when selling it clearly isn’t urgent, given it has sat empty since 2012?”.

The Council Leader explained he did not want to pass the buck and ‘drag any officer’ into the row, but said it was an operational process and pointed Cllr Harper to enter correspondence with the Legal Officer.

As we noted on the first article on this matter, Wrexham.com had been told the matter was on the agenda of the Wrexham Council Corporate Land and Buildings group last year – and we asked Wrexham Council for a copy of the meeting papers relating to the disposal of the site, and if there were any attendee lists or outcomes.

We noted that a £10,000 bid by a community group for the freehold was now in the public domain, along with the £155,000 starting price at auction – plus a range of legal documents now viewable to anyone registering with the auctioneer.

Wrexham Council told us: “Corporate Land and Buildings Strategy Group is a confidential meeting”.