Battersea Power Station sale is a ‘scandal’ (From Surrey Comet)

Battersea Power Station sale is a ‘scandal’

10:43am Friday 15th December 2006

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From Keith Garner

SIR. You report the sale of Battersea Power Station by Parkview to new owners Real Estate Opportunities (WBN December 6, 2006), but you don't really convey the enormity of the scam that has been perpetrated on the people of Wandsworth over the past 13 years.

Parkview bought the building for £10m in 1993 and sold if for £400m.

In that time they ran up £150m of bank debts buying more sites around the power station and paying consultants.

But this debt has been taken on by the new owner and Parkview are walking away with cash and shares to the value of around £250m.

In that time, Parkview invested nothing in Queenstown Ward, one of the poorest parts of the borough, and achieved nothing in terms of jobs, housing or economic regeneration. The listed building is in a far worse state now than when they came in.

Hwang family members and other senior staff and advisors have received lavish salaries (former borough planner Ian Thompson reportedly received £75,000 for a part-time post) and have indulged in bacchanalian corporate excess.

These people have got rich, but nothing constructive has been achieved in 13 years.

Wandsworth Council has given them every permission they asked for, never questioning their motives or ability to deliver on their promises.

Particular criticism must go to the leader of the Labour Group, Councillor Belton, who has gone along with all this when he should have taken a radically different line.

The Council leader, Councillor Lister, tries to spin the recent sale by saying Parkview has done the groundwork and the new owners simply have to build it. But Parkview's planning permissions are full of holes - for instance, lacking a valid environmental impact assessment.

The new owners are far more likely to come up with their own plans, leading to more delays and yet more deterioration of the building.

The truth is that nothing at all has been achieved in the 23 years since the power station closed and it's Councillor Lister's fault.

It is an astonishing, unprecedented scandal. A failure of the Conservative administration.

A failure of effective party political opposition. And a failure of council management on every level.

KEITH GARNER, Battersea Power Station Community Group

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