Ruff and Tumble Warehouse Sale Unit 4 Oakham Enterprise Park Ashwell Road Ashwell Oakham Rutland

Ruff and Tumble Warehouse Sale Unit 4 Oakham Enterprise Park Ashwell Road Ashwell Oakham Rutland

Oakham Enterprise Park, Rutland County Councils Tenants.

Oakham Enterprise Park, Rutland County Council Tenants

It is often said the tenants who move into the former prison site
are not new businesses and mainly sport orientated, so not that enterprising.

One job according to the official Twitter Account has been created
this year.

The project has cost  millions and the council does not see
much income, tenants don't pay a service charges according
to accounts, due to an endless list of council failings.

Today it has been pointed out to me The Conservative Leader
Roger Begy's daughter in law is employed in a senior position at
RSVP Introductions Limited. Which has become RSVP (Ashwell) Limited
and recently moved to the former prison.

It is alleged they are paying a low rent. Certainly much lower than
what they were paying at the Oakham Office Park.


I know council don't have to make a profit but at a rate of £25 a week
this an irresponsible management of a public investment.

And also very unfair to the Landlords who now have vacant properties around
Oakham.

The drastically reduced rates stink of desperation after many months of critism
from none Tory Councillor for lack of lettings.

Another office suite let today...give us a call to arrange to come and see why they're so popular. 01572 720463. Suites from £25 per week.
— Oakham Enterprise Pk (@Enterprise_Park) April 2, 2015

Conservative Deputy Leader Cllr Terry King, Rutland County Council, Oakham Enterprise Park, Cllr Dewis, Oakham Town Council

Conservative Deputy Leader Cllr Terry King, Rutland County Council, Tax Payers 

Money Is All Mine

If I want to spend 106 contributions from a Oakham Development in the 

neighbouring parish of Ashwell supporting my friends sports club as

the council has done for many years I will.

When I first met Cllr King back in 2010 he came running towards me like

a fierce old tiger pointing his finger, Over the years I have learnt he really

is just a cute little old pussy cat and I now know what the plastic bag is

used for!

At a recent council meeting the subject Oakham Enterprise Park the former prison was

raised, Tory leader Roger Begy said "don't believe all you read on blogs" so does that mean 

we can not believe the facts and figures the council has made available which I published below?

The Oakham Enterprise Park is cost a fortune with very little return.

So many problems, tenants don't even pay the service charge.

It is a fact, this year the costs would  have put the project over budget. 

Of course this did not worry the Rutland Tories they just found a  found a pot 

of tax payers money and  increased the budget considerable at a cabinet meeting 

just in time. The first year there was a small underspend.

Cllr Kings Oakham Enterprise Park in Ashwell is of no benefit to Oakham. 

Most of the tenants have moved out of Oakham leaving behind vacant premises.

Cllr Kings team have even poached a tenant from Oakham Town Council.

The tenants of the gym located in Princess Avenue Oakham are set to move

out in January 2015 after Cllr King's team have negotiated a deal. 

This is a total disgrace as these people known to Cllr Alf Dewis had a quarter of 

the town councils income spent on them to assist their start up of the gym. 

They had two official openings, the first carried out by Cllr Alf Dewis who was Mayor 

at the time and then a few weeks later the High Sheriff of Rutland repeated the opening. 

All to gain free publicity through the local press.

The property in Princess Avenue was valued by Stephen Reed before

it was restored, he gave it a rental value of £12,000 a year.

As I have said before the tenants pay a lot less rent. 

The tenants now want to use their early get out clause contained in the lease. 

Even if they had stayed the full term, the rent would not have covered 

the councils expenditure. Cllr Alf Dewis once said it was a profitable

arrangement. Profitable for who for? certainly not the tax payer. 

I wonder what beneficial deal Cllr Kings team have offered them. 

Is this pay back due to the time Cllr Dewis described Cllr Kings former prison 

site as his big white elephant?

Recently Cllr Dewis made comments at meeting suggesting to another

councillor twice the gym could now be demolished!

So after spending over £60,000 of tax payers money less than two years ago 

Cllr Dewis feels it might be fine to spend another chunk on demolition.

Click on Photos to Enlarge:

Oakham Enterprise Park, Rutland County Council, Former HMP Ashwell Prison, Video & Photographs

Oakham Enterprise Park, Rutland County Council, Former HMP Ashwell Prison, Video & Photographs



Cost over £1,000,000

Located Outside Oakham

Cllr Terry King Conservative Deputy Leader diverts developer 106 contributions meant for Oakham whenever he can. Most recently it was a large chunk of money from Hawksmead meant to provide
community and sports facilitates here in Oakham.

Cllr Alf Dewis at a town council meeting called this project 'Rutland County Council's white elephant' when he was mayor, he added 'I will say more later on' over a year later he remains silent?

Most tenants have moved from Oakham.

Cllr Alf Dewis said at a Council meeting the Vale of Judo Club based in the old prison gym is receiving
a preferential rent. I wonder why Terry King is still supporting with tax payers money what is described as one of the countries most  successful chains?

The gym is now called Ashwell Sports and Leisure Centre? The doors were firmly locked this Sunday afternoon. Strange to give it a name that suggest community use when Cllr King himself said the hall would only be made available to select private clubs and not the general public. I assume the name helps when it comes to claiming even more cash from public bodies such as those displayed on the wall, (Sport England, Lottery)

The local tax payer also paid for the demolition of former accommodation blocks damaged during the prison  riot.

The council is attempting to find a buyer for the mountain aggregate. The Ministry of Justice must have been pleased to have passed on this problem.

I wonder why this place is described as a Enterprise Park, most of the tenants seem to be Sport and Leisure
orientated.






Most of this area is let for soft air and zombie hunting











Large green building gym home of vale judo













The Old Prison Green House location






A fully working CCTV system destroyed? and recently replaced
with a couple of small cameras.






The latest addition behind this gate, located in the former prison
visitors centre is a nursery school.

Cllr Terry Kings 'White Elephant' Ashwell Prison, Oakham Enterprise Park, Could cost Rutland Tax Payer more cash.

Cllr Terry Kings 'White Elephant' Ashwell Prison, Oakham Enterprise Park, Could cost Rutland Tax Payer more cash. 

6.4 The site is subject to a deed with the Ministry of Justice which provides for
potential additional payments to be made to the Ministry of Justice upon
implementation of a planning permission. It is not anticipated that they will
seek to impose any additional payment due to the nature of the development
and any payment if imposed is unlikely to be significant.

Rutland County Council turns to The occult, to raise revenue, séances, vigils, and experiments were carried out on Public Property, Oakham Enterprise Park, Former HMP Ashwell

By Eugene Rochas [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Rutland County Council turns to The occult, to raise revenue, séances, vigils, and experiments  were carried out on Public Property, Oakham Enterprise Park, Former HMP Ashwell.



According to a report in this weeks Rutland Mercury, about 30 Rutland Residents
attended the event.

Conservative Deputy Leader of Rutland County Council told the newspaper
"we are always open to ideas that will generate income"

I used to liken the local police and our councils in Oakham and Rutland to those that appear in the Film Hot Fuzz, I always added I did not know if there were any strange underground secretive organisations
like those shown in the film....

The paper informs us, last Sunday nights activities will be repeated again on  the 11th January
2014

KPMG, Audit Report, Corby Council’s, management, Corby Cube, Oakham Enterprise Park, Progress Report, Cllr, D. Richardson, UKIP

In June of this year KPMG issued an Audit Report on Corby Council’s project management of the Corby Cube. Some of the findings were that:

• There was insufficient member oversight at critical periods of the schemes

• Where established governance arrangements and internal controls did exist they often did not operate as they should have done

• Financial and project management of the schemes was poor

 

We have, time and again, emphasised how it is essential that Rutland Councillors take a keen and deep interest in all projects, seeking and reviewing all the facts, especially the financial detail and implications, since it is we, as Councillors, that have to approve such expenditure in light of all those facts and ultimately be held accountable.

So take for example: On the 20th June 2013, given that there was a “Oakham Enterprise Park Progress Report” in the Places Scrutiny Meeting that night, I duly sent the following email requesting information:

Dear ………………,

The Places Scrutiny Meeting tonight is considering Report 154/2013, Oakham Enterprise Park Progress Report.

I note there is no financial report or detail, which I would have considered one of the most important aspects of the project, especially given the recent criticism this week of Corby Council by its auditors, KPMG, in which I understand they were highly critical of Councillors for not being diligent enough in checking the financial situation and progress of several projects.

In the Risk Management section of the Report it notes the risk for Finance as “High”, I would therefore expect a constant financial update in Reports. Would you be good enough to send a full breakdown of the finance for this project, outlining all costs and income to date. Would it also be possible to do this showing progress against the original Business Plan.

Many thanks.

Yours sincerely,

Councillor D.Richardson

This is the reply I received from the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) (Note: as a consequence I have no idea who sent this):

“The project is being managed within the project budget and business plan expenditure forecasts/income projections as set out in previous report to Cabinet (25/9/12, Report 182/2013) as delegated by Council (Report 14/5/12, Report.98/2012).”

We are willing to hear from anyone who finds this acceptable, since your Conservative Councillors do. No information or detail whatsoever has been provided. To be merely told that all is being “managed within the project budget” of some 9 months previous, for which we have had no interim Report, is, in our opinion, unacceptable. At the very least one would expect a detailed Monthly financial update made available to all Councillors and, as far as we are concerned, also published on the Council website for the public.

However, the Business Plan in Report 182/2013 referred to, was nothing more than a mere half side of A4. No Bank Manager, or anyone else for that matter, would accept such a scant Business Plan, with no detailed breakdown whatsoever. Furthermore, this Report, in our opinion, should never have been exempt; this is public money, your Council Tax and you have a right to know how they plan to spend it. Worse still, the Business Plan had changed significantly from the one of only 5 months previous referred to of May 2012, with Income suddenly over £1M more and Capital Financing costs nearly £1M more, with no detailed breakdown for such a substantial change. Yet Conservative Councillors once again blindly approved this without question.  (That Capital Financing cost will impact on your Council Tax)

We feel it is totally unacceptable that we be treated in this manner as your representative, not providing information when requested, when all we are trying to ensure is that your money is spent to best effect. It is essential we are fully informed and have detailed breakdowns of finance in any project. We do not want Rutland Council to be on the receiving end of a KPMG report which states:

“There was insufficient member oversight at critical periods of the schemes”

However, that oversight can only be provided if that information is forthcoming.

It will be interesting to see how Rutland Council’s Auditors view this?  Especially given their Report below:

Detail of the Corby KPMG Report:

Auditors raise concerns over Corby Borough Council’s regeneration management arrangements

KPMG LLP, the appointed auditors of Corby Borough Council, have issued a public interest report which highlights flaws in the Council’s arrangements for managing significant capital regeneration projects. These are the Cube civic offices, Kingswood estate developments, improvements to the Rockingham Triangle sports complex and the sale of land in the St James area of the town.

The three construction projects involved over £67 million over the last 6 years and whilst all of them involved other organisations the Council has played the major role in managing the projects and bearing related risks. The Council sold the land at St James in 2010 for £3.8 million. During this period the Council has had limited usable revenue reserves over its designated minimum balance of £0.8 million and its external borrowing increased from nil to a high point of £47 million in 2011/12.

The report acknowledges the very real benefits that the regeneration projects have brought to the residents of Corby and the surrounding areas, that external borrowing has since reduced to £36 million and that the Council is starting to take action on the reported weaknesses. However, KPMG found that:

· the Council’s arrangements for managing the projects were ambiguous and ill defined leading to uncertainty as to who should have made key decisions

· There was insufficient member oversight at critical periods of the schemes

· Where established governance arrangements and internal controls did exist they often did not operate as they should have done

· Financial and project management of the schemes was poor

· On the face of it the land at St James was sold for considerably less than best consideration without getting the requisite statutory approval to do so 

· This was compounded because the checks and balances, including the statutory responsibilities of key officers, which should have alerted the Council to the failings, did not operate

The auditors conclude that these have meant that the Council:

· may have breached its statutory obligations and made decisions and against its own internal policies and procedures;

· has exposed itself to greater risk than it needed to have done; and

· would have been in a better position to respond to the significant financial challenges currently facing the Council if the failings had not existed.

The report makes 18 recommendations for the Council to consider covering governance, statutory obligations, Council policy and procedure, financial and project management, use of professional advice and actions of senior officers.

KPMG’s audit director Neil Bellamy said: ‘There is no doubting the very real benefits to Corby residents from the regeneration projects considered in this report. However, these were at the expense of good corporate and financial governance. We found that decision making arrangements were unclear, and that there were significant failings in the design and operation of the Council’s governance arrangements. Together these led to the Council making decisions when it was not fully aware of the financial impact they would have, exposing it to unnecessary and significant financial risk, and which led to a likely breach of its statutory obligations. In our view these placed it in a weaker position from which to address the current financial challenges it faces.

“On top of this it is disappointing that the ‘failsafe’ statutory responsibilities of key senior officers did not operate as they should have done, which would have brought these failings to light sooner.

“It is imperative that the Council learns from the above and that officers and members work together to strengthen governance arrangements and establish and embed a culture and environment where the arrangements operate as they were intended.”

The report will be considered at a meeting of the Council in early July, to be held in public, when the Council will provide a response to the points raised.  The Council will confirm the date shortly.

Copies of the report are available from Corby Borough Council or from the Audit Commission website at 

www.audit-commission.gov.uk/corbypir

Oakham Enterprise Park, Former Ashwell Prison, Open Day

Rutland Council ‏@rutlandcouncil

Don't forget - our open day at Oakham Enterprise Park is tomorrow (Fri) - great chance for businesses to look round http://bit.ly/16QsD4P

Oakham Enterprise Park, Former HMP Ashwell Prison, Open Day

Oakham Enterprise Park, Former HMP Ashwell Prison, Open Day

Rutland County Councils, Oakham Enterprise Park near Ashwell is opening its doors 

so local companies can see for themselves the extensive work that will be taking place 

to create a new business park on the site of the old Ashwell Prison.

a series of guided tours are taking place at Oakham Enterprise Park 

on Friday 12 July between 10am and 3pm.

Full details on the units available are listed on the Oakham Enterprise Park website at: www.oakhamenterprisepark.co.uk

Due to limited spaces available on each tour, those wishing to attend are recommended to 

reserve a space prior to the Open Day. 

Spaces will be allocated on a first come first served basis. 

Email economicdevelopment@rutland.gov.uk for more details.

Oakham Enterprise Park, Ashwell Rutland, New Signage

Oakham Enterprise Park, Ashwell Rutland, New Signage

I wonder if the installation of these signs is a little premature and costly.
And if former Oakham Mayor is correct when he stated at a public meeting
this project could be a bit of white elephant. Then we are likely to see them
laid to rest just like Mrs Thatchers fun park sign in Corby were.