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| CANOPY IN THE PARK |
What a vile Christmas present to Park lovers!
Residents have already forked out millions to keep the massive loss maker going.
Now, instead of the ghastly thing being stored off site, it will be left standing...a permanent blot on the landscape and a monument to the artistic pretensions of Pooter Cockell...our ex fag salesman leader!
The Dame hears that the application will be a mere formality and permission granted with little dissent.
Democracy...Cockell Style!
The financial disaster that is called Holland Park Opera continues to gather pace. The Concorde of Kensington and Chelsea. The failed businessman Merrick Cockell is determined to preserve his operatic pretensions and save another of his vanity projects. So far he has shafted council tax payers to the tune of £10 million for subsidy and is trying to privatise the opera as a way to reduce subsidy. But no one will admit that it is a business plan that does not and cannot work. Leaving the canopy "up" is a trick to save the £100k every year that it costs to take it down and store it. Leaving it out means that it will rot more quickly and someone will need to find another £2 million to replace it. But the useless Cockell will have moved on by then and some poor sod will have to pick up the mess
ReplyDeleteAt present the canopy is stored in Cremorne Wharf which is a Council property. There is no charge reflected in the Borough Accounts for this. Only the cost of dismantling, moving and then erecting the tent every year. This cost is £89k. When Cremorne Wharf is sold by the Council for redevelopment new premises will have to be found to store the tent. This will have to be commercial storage at commercial rates which will increase the current costs considerably
DeleteLocal Government should stay out of the risk business. By inclination and training politicians do not know how to make sound investment decisions. Chelsea Care, Holland Park Opera. The Wedge...
ReplyDeleteThe K&C record is terrible
Why not sell the Park to property developers and give K&C tax payers a tax free decade?
ReplyDeleteIts barmy. Two world class operas down the road (The Royal Opera and English National Opera) and with cheaper tickets too. What is the reason for another opera in Holland Park that cannot pay its way?
ReplyDeleteThe new Board of Opera Holland Park is playing hardball with the Council. They know that their negotiating position is strong because residents are protesting about subsidies and Cllr Cockell wants to preserve his "legacy". They are therefore negotiating relentlessly for three things:
ReplyDelete(i) to keep the canopy up all year and save £200k of fully built up costs to dismantle and store it at commercial rates
(ii) extend the season from seven weeks to twenty weeks (just like Glyndebourne)
(iii) obtain undertakings from the Council to continue operating without paying a commercial rent for land and facilities occupied by the opera and without paying business rates
Residents should be in no doubt that what is emerging is a heavyweight commercial undertaking that will be a permanent feature of the Holland Park
"The great Glory of London" is becoming the "Great pox of Holland Park"
DeleteAnd the business rates "holiday" will set a precedent for every other cultural institution in the Borough to go to Court and claim rates rebates.
This is the only civic opera in the land. Enough said
ReplyDeleteThese comments show what little knowledge the pleb residents of the gloriously Royal Borough have of high culture. Our gifted (and about to elevated to the peerage in Her Majesty's New Years Honours List) leader has been a welcome force against the philistinism of residents. They should feel honoured to know that the taxes are being diverted into amusements that make our distinguished Royal Borough a beacon of cultural enlightenment in a depressing local landscape.
ReplyDeleteI was recently speaking to one of the ragged idiots who voted for me and she said that though she found it difficult to survive on the few pounds a week she earned she was honoured to be able to help pay for Sir Merrick's pleasures, like OHP, Gay and Lesbian Issues in the Middle East and the £100 million party in Exhibition Rd. I felt uplifted hearing her set aside her personal difficulties for the greater cultural good of the glorious Royal Borough
This manifestation is a blatant abuse of power by the Leader of K&C
ReplyDeleteManipulation of assets, Royal Borough style
DeleteIt really sums up how good David Cameron is as a Tory Prime Minister to even think about making Sir Merrick a member of the House of Lords. I am a Tory and always have been and an admirer of Mrs Thatcher; I am increasingly tempted to join UKIP simply because people like Sir Merrick represent a rotten party. A party that has completely lost its way. This latest outrage concerning Holland Park Opera is another example of wasting public money. Sir Merrick under current rules is allowed to hog the position of Leader irrespective as to whether he is doing a good job or not; totally undemocratic in my view. Sir Merrick is arrogant, not particualrly talented at anything and another good example of how power corrupts.
ReplyDeleteIt is terribly depressing to read all of this on Christmas Eve
ReplyDeleteLeave the canvass tent out in the winter and it will rot. Health and Safety will insist on a replacement at the first sign of stress. A five year life is optimistic. This means it will have to be replaced in 2014. Investors will insist on a durable and cost effective concrete roof. What an eyesore that will be!
ReplyDeleteCllr Lord Pooter Cockell, Leader of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Master of all that he surveys, Champion of the Arts, lover of New York restaurants, expense account rat and Trougher in Chief, is turning beautiful Holland Park into a ghetto. It is called "legacy"
DeleteDame, this has to stop
Concorde in the Park
ReplyDeleteAnon 9.15 came up with a first rate idea. In fact I am sure Councillor 'Airhead' Campbell has already thought of it. As she has said selling the playing fields at Holland Park School to pay for the new monstosity meant that the school cost nothing to build. What a great idea. If we sell off Holland Park itself (and why not the new flats here and at the Commonwealth Institute will ruin the park anyway) the proceeds could pay for Pooter to entertain his friends in New York every evning of the week and it would cost the council tax payers absolutely nothing. We could also buy a new Bentley and employ six more people in the Leader's Office and it would cost not a farthing. Pooter for Prime Minister.
ReplyDelete