A Perfect Storm - warning?

Having waded through all 77 pages of Claer Lloyd-Jones’ report on the Silver Hill development at the bottom end of the City you could be forgiven for thinking no one comes out well in the sorry saga that stretches back to 2003.  The report, pithily entitled “A Perfect Storm”, sideswipes all involved.  Councillors and Council Officers: “Neither the Council, nor its officers, was equipped in skills or experience to have negotiated a successful outcome”.  The lawyers: various specialist planning and procurement QCs consulted along the way allegedly gave contradictory advice, albeit against a moving legal landscape that pitted EU legislation against UK law. Even “whistle-blower” Councillor Kim Gottlieb who took the council to Judicial Review doesn’t escape, “An issue concerning Councillor Gottlieb’s potential conflicts of interest has been raised with me. This needs to be investigated.” As I write Hendersons, the developers are appealing against the Judicial Review and a report from the council officers to councillors’ questions, among other things, Ms Lloyd-Jones’ methodology.  The council has given the Hendersons an ultimatum to get started with building and just to add spice to the heady mix the deadline for the essential Compulsory Purchase Order to acquire the land expires on 19th March and only the developers have the ￡30 million needed to make the purchase.

This whole story turns around how councils set about promoting the redevelopment of an aging city centre.  Common sense (never mind the law) dictates that the process should start with a wide net attracting a range of opinions and potential developers from which to draw the best possible solution for the city and its inhabitants.  However, thinking they had the best deal possible, the council decided to go exclusively with an outfit called Thornfields. When they subsequently went bust the deal was acquired by Hendersons.  If all had gone to plan the Wintonians would have seen development completed in 2012. 

At all stages Councillors, relying on advice from their officers backed up by eminent barristers, felt they were in the right and were dumfounded that they lost the Judicial Review. Hence the enquiry, costing to date ￡66,000, to find out how it happened and what went wrong.

The protest campaign styled itself “Winchester deserves better.”  And who can argue with that?  But are there bigger issues at stake here than merely a city redevelopment?  Possibly.  Perhaps the democratic process itself is part of the issue.  Since 2003 no fewer than 10 different council leaders have been at the helm, all understandably deeply involved in Silver Hill.  The leaders have been of varying political stripe but that is not as significant as it sounds as there was broad cross-party support for the scheme.  What is clear is that although the council decisions are supposed to be Councillor led, the democratic process requiring a third of the council to be up for re-election every year, according to Ms Lloyd-Jones, took the collective eyes of both Councillors and officers off the ball.

This scheme was just too big for this to happen without tears.  Property developers are notorious for “nibbling” - trying to vary a development agreement to their advantage.  At one stage they wanted affordable housing to be built elsewhere (the unspoken reason being that the “unwashed” affordable tenants would lower the tone and reduce the marketability and achievable rents in the upmarket part of the development).  Resisting such overtures requires resolve and consistency - hard to achieve if the complexion of the council keeps changing every year.

Winchester Council is party political and as such councillors are required to be loyal to their group (although interestingly Councillor Gottlieb suffered no obvious sanction from his party when he went against his colleagues).  Groups can sometimes be guilty of “groupthink”. This is the phenomenon where people take or acquiesce to group decisions that they wouldn’t come close to entertaining if asked to take individual responsibility.  Perhaps that’s what happened here.  “My party is in favour and there is cross-party support.  How can I as an individual gainsay that?” 

 Apparently there are moves afoot in Winchester to field Independent candidates for May’s council elections.  Perhaps such Independents would lessen the tendency towards groupthink.  Winchester deserves better.  It certainly does. Let’s hope the Silver Hill debacle at least inspires a greater turn out at the polls.