The old Dame hears that Rock is no longer persona grata at Highgrove where the Prince of Wales likes to pontificate on the state of the world.
Anyway, this investigation by Kroll makes interesting reading. Rock was the one who stands accused, in the words of Barry Quirk, of pushing the council to masquerade as a property developer....
But how did he manage to sell off Kensington and Chelsea College so cheap?
Not so smart...or maybe too smart?
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Barry Quirk is spot on saying this was a council masquerading as a property developer.
ReplyDeleteThis report means that members of the leadership team are tainted.
ReplyDeleteWhat is Richard Egan doing still working at RBKC? Thought that he would have to have moved on by now.......
ReplyDeleteVery interested to know more about Richard Egan and his team please.
Delete+1 Yes, Please explore the rabbit hole. How deep is the hole? Where does it lead to? I wonder.
DeleteWhat about Richard Egan's mate, Tony Redpath, late of RBKC?
Delete17:47- The rabbit hole ultimately leads back to the greed and vanity of Merrick Cockell and Feilding Mellen.
Delete@21:01 Further comments are required to clarify what you mean, please elaborate, this is most important. Thank you.
DeleteRichard Egan in his own words:
DeleteAn individual who has combined enthusiasm, passion and high levels of energy with a sophisticated leadership approach to become an extremely versatile and high performing professional. Has a proven track record in generating new business, maximising revenue streams from large estates and motivating teams to improve performance.
Director of Corporate Property Services
Company Name Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Dates Employed May 2013 – Present
Employment Duration 5 yrs 6 mos
Responsible for delivering £1bn of residential development and identifying new development opportunities. Delivering a capital programme of £300m to include building schools libraries and commercial buildings. Managing a £200m investment portfolio with responsibility for growing revenue. Managing £600m of occupied assets, ensuring the provision of high quality space. Managing a £300m tri-borough facilities management contract.
There have been no criminal charges brought against the Council and the TMO for the Grenfell Tower disaster.
ReplyDeleteI am certain that some councillors and some officers could have charges brought against them too.
The beds in Her Majesty's Hotels are rock hard.
Good.
DeleteThis story lays bare what Hornton Street gets up to. Councillors and Officers acting against the interests of residents and taking steps to sidestep the safeguards designed to stop abuse eg attempting to conceal transactions from the public.
ReplyDeleteThis is clear evidence, confirmed by the new Chief Executive, of the brown envelope world operating at the heart of the Royal Borough.
I'm inclined to say, this is not the only case. How about the sales of the land to A1Dominion (Ifield Rd, SW10) circa 2008?
DeleteHmmmm. Estimate sale price £ 36 million. Sold for 'official' amount of £ 25.3 million. What happened to the £ 10.7 million? Vanished into the thin air - or elsewhere, perhaps? Any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteKroll Report is now in the hands of the Met police.
DeleteWill someone from the Met go to the Bahamas to find the £ 10.7 mill?
ReplyDeleteThis is the kind of situation that any self respecting Leader would immediately order an investigation and bring in the police. Cllr Campbell please note
ReplyDeleteThe cow is not interested in the boring idea of carrying out her duties, giving a lead or making an example. Her Leadership is all about Grenfell media appearances to make her famous in the eyes of her Chelsea dinner party friends.
DeleteYour statement is an insult to 'cows', which are very useful. Hardly a description of Dizzy Lizzy, me thinks..
DeleteHowever..
DeleteWe don't know if a jail sentence will be served to Rocky but this is what I call justice. Rocky deserves it.
ReplyDeleteYou lot? Zip it up...we councillors worked hard for you all. What matters it if we have a slice of the cake?
ReplyDeleteOf course the disgraced ex Cllr Phelps should know all about these matters. He was after all one time Chairman of the Planning Committee. And there was the little matter of permissions to convert the London University Queen Mary College in Campden Hill Road, W8, to luxury flats for the "buy to leave" market. Millions of £s worth of value created by the signature of the Planning Committee to allow educational buildings to be converted to residential use.
DeleteResidents were hugely suspicious of this transaction.
And then there was the sale of the Holland Park School playground for £110 million to build more luxury flats for the "buy to leave" market.
The "secret £25m deal" referred to here is a peanuts project. The great days of disgraced ex Cllr Phelps seem to be in the past!
"Worked hard for YOU all"? Codswallop - the correct statement is "Worked VERY hard in OUR OWN INTEREST" All in an effort of Corporate and Individual GREED. Yet, Social Housing issues were ignored with impunity. Existing Social Housing, when it became vacant, was flogged off, with Savills help, as a leasehold. Instead, of allocating the dwelling to the next suitable person on the long HOUSING WAITING LIST. The whole episode simply stinks. What is of a great consolation that ex Cllr Phelpd' social clique, will bring him salmon and cucumber sandwiches, on brown (or white - perhaps a better choice), should be be incarcerated.
DeleteSad Badger is nearly right. But not quite. Salmon and cucumber sandwiches have been overtaken by offshore bank accounts, multiple credit cards, and a bank account at Couts, and assets held in secret in BVI trusts. And Disgraced Cllr Phelps is familiar with these arrangements.
DeleteAnon 08:45 :What I meant was that he would get these niceties to munch on, whilst pontificating about everything else. I guess bubbly would not be allowed to wash these down with.
DeleteI read in one of the BBC articles recently that the prison food is terrible. Potatoes are so hard that a plastic spoon snaps in half. Pot noodles are new currency in prison apparently. I hope RFM is ready for a new challenge and let's not forget Robert Black either. I wonder what he's been up to these days. He must have done a hell of a lot of gardening by now.
Delete8.43, it is EX Cllr Phelps. He is no longer a serving Councillor
ReplyDeleteThat may be so. But he can be called by the Inquiry to give evidence on whatever. Think of getting a 'season ticket' for the Inquiry. Should be very interesting, should,when, the Councillors and Officers, including illustrious Mrs Parker, are called.
Deletebtw, there is a public meeting on Mon 29th October @7pm re: Contaminated soil if anyone is concerned/affected.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.lancwest.com/events/2018/10/29/public-meeting-on-possible-soil-contamination
I understand quite a serious matter - ignored for a while. Should attend and see what it is all about, folks
DeleteSounds like a rogue academic looking for press coverage. Dizzy may have met her match.
DeleteIt's really reassuring that the Council is repeating the same old 'It's OK, it's safe' statement. They said that when the residents of Earls Court raised a H&S question about asbestos back then. So do you believe a 'rough' academic OR the Council? Rock and a Hard place indeed.
DeleteI was interested to see the comment by Phelps. A few years back a resident provided me with a series of images of young boys which would have been perceived by most normal people to be innocent.
ReplyDeleteNot, however, Phelps..... he not only captioned each one with lewd and salacious comments but worse, sent them out to his equally perverted friends using the RBKC server.
Interestingly, when I handed the package to Cockell he saw no reason to take any action. It was only when Myers, the then CE, stepped in that Phelps was forced to stand down.
It says much about how the Council operated then that the leader could even countenance the idea that Phelps remain in post.
Phelps had the insolence to call and accuse me of a vendetta against him which, to be fair to him, was not wide of the mark. Ghastly fellow!
Dirty devil
DeleteDirty old man
DeleteBarry gets carried away. Mr Downes should make allowances.
DeleteDownes and Phelps did not take to one another
DeleteOwl: Barry gets carried away - therefore,, Barry dear, he careful that you don't get washed away by public opinion. Buoyant enough, as seen in recent images, but all what's inflated - burst, in time
ReplyDeleteWhen he is not at his Country House in Melbury Wiltshire (acquired during a period of personal poverty as a Councillor in the Royal Borough) disgraced ex Cllr Phelps still bicycles around Kensington in his black hat and black cape. Drawing attention to himself. But he is getting old and now looks very scraggy. Clothes hanging off, neck sagging, and gaunt looking eyes.
DeleteAll very sad.
Mr Downes is clearly very left wing. There was a Colonel John Downes who was one of the judges who was tried and convicted of regicide and who was also a friend of Cromwell.
DeleteProbably accounts for
Not sad at all 15.35. More like the final solution.
DeleteI am far from being left wing and unlikely to be related to Colonel Downes.
DeleteDownes is one of the commonest of North Country names...
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/the_disturbing_case_of_councillo
ReplyDeleteDisgraced ex Cllr Phelps is an opportunist. For example he would often say that he only joined the Tory Party in Kensington and Chelsea because it was in power. If Labour had been in power he would have joined them.
DeleteYou could not make it up!
It is very disappointing that the selection procedures of the Conservative Party in Kensington and Chelsea does not weed out applicants like disgraced ex Cllr Phelps. And it is even more concerning that Councillors like Phelps are submitted for re selection by their Wards and given responsible Office (eg Chairman of the Planning Committee) in Hornton Street
ReplyDeleteConcerned Resident should consider that there was a failure of Leadership. Clr Cockell, Leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council, gave powerful patronage, favour and protection to Phelps. To most residents it is a mystery why Cockell was beholden to (some say controlled by) Phelps
DeleteIs it possible to make it a policy that Councillors who do not reply to the residents enquiry should be excluded from the re-selection in the future? How do we go about changing such thing? There are far too many conservative 'councillors' who do nothing. We've got to get our money's worth.
DeleteGet enough people onto the Ward Committee to shake it up and make a difference!
Delete"Cockell gave powerful patronage and support to Phelps".
ReplyDeleteIt is said that Phelps "had pictures". Cockell certainly had a secret life. The Dame exposed him charging up luxury Saturday night dinners in New York (on the tax payer) for friends whose "names he forgot". And he flew first class to New York - also charged to Council Tax. And travelled to Heathrow in the Mayor's Bentley.
Ah, well known tactics...or shall I say insurance for the rainy day. That's how Gideon got exposed by an ex-dominatrix who published a book about their....you know. And if anyone remembers The Black Mirror episode? They call it a humiliation ritual, don't they? Everyone must go through it. Funny old boys club thing.
DeleteLets see if the RBKC Governance Review - chaired by Campbell herself with Robert Atkinson as a co-opted co-chair, is more than an expensive and ineffective PR exercise. Next meeting on 28 November - theme: 'How local people expect to be involved in decision-making in the future'. A key demand should be to make Lead Members accountable to resident groups
ReplyDelete