Croydon councillors demand to see missing documents relating to wiped £69 million loan
By Tara O’Connor, local democracy reporter
A Croydon councillor has raised concerns about missing documents relating to the multi-million pound refurbishment of Fairfield Halls, which was carried out by council-owned developer Brick by Brick.
At a meeting this week, opposition Conservative Councillor Robert Ward told his colleagues that there had “been a history” of documents relating to the refurbishment not being provided.
Cllr Ward claims he requested around 20 documents back in November but has only received half of them.
He particularly wants to see a 2015 report from consultants Mott MacDonald about whether the arts venue had to fully close for refurbishment.
Croydon had loaned Brick by Brick, which is wholly owned by the council, more than £69 million for the Fairfield Halls project.
But in May it cancelled the loan meaning the developer will not have to pay it back and Croydon taxpayers could ultimately end up footing the bill.
At the same time, it replaced the contracts – the authority will now be in charge of any further work that needs to be done rather than the developer.
At a scrutiny and overview committee meeting on Tuesday, Cllr Ward said: “I find this extremely frustrating, I am being denied information I should be being passed, this situation needs to change I’ve put up with it long enough.”
Interim director of resources at the council Asmat Hussain refuted this claim saying that there had not been refusals to provide the documents, the problem was with council staff being on holiday leading to delays in producing information.
But Cllr Ward hit back with: “If something has been lost it needs to be said, it has been lost not to be fobbed off with something that wasn’t asked for.”
And new member of the committee, Councillor Clive Fraser, backed him up saying: “I want to support Robert on this if information isn’tbeing provided I would have thought the best way forward is to produce all that information requested or a justification of why it can’t be provided.”
The comments were made during decision about the council’s decision to take on the contracts from Brick by Brick.
Cabinet member for culture and regeneration Councillor Oliver Lewis told the meeting that this will give the council more control over the completion of works at the arts venue.
He added: “Novating the contracts from Brick by Brick to the council at this stage gives us the best possible chance of completing the works and leaving Fairfield Halls in the best order so we can support BH Live in being a good operator for the venue.”
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