Is Sir Steve Bullock a crook

[syd]

So Steve Bullock awarded a charity £500k. He a trustee and they are going to make a fortune in property sales. Labour just keep getting better!

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... ing-claims




In a further extraordinary twist to the Millwall compulsory purchase saga the Guardian can reveal that Lewisham council awarded half a million pounds of public money to the foundation at the heart of the land-seizure scheme based on a report containing significant misleading claims.

The false information relates to claims of a funding deal with the prestigious sports body Sport England. These claims have been made repeatedly by the Surrey Canal Sports Foundation, whose directors include Sir Steve Bullock, the mayor of Lewisham. The foundation is a charitable company set up by Renewal, the offshore-registered developers who stand to be granted the right to build on Millwall’s land at the Den.


Millwall stadium controversy intensifies as false funding claims revealed
Read more
The Surrey Canal Sports Foundation exists to raise funds to build a £40m “sports village” – known as the Energize Centre – that is vital to the entire development. The Bullock-associated foundation made the misleading claims of a £2m funding agreement repeatedly during the process of securing the £500,000 grant of public money toward this total. These claims are made in company accounts, a pitch brochure and a council funding recommendation report, all of which carry the mayor’s name.

In reality there is no funding agreement with Sport England. Nor is there a current application for funding. A Sport England spokesman told the Guardian: “In 2010 we received a funding application from the Surrey Canal Sports Foundation, but this was subsequently withdrawn in 2013. We therefore have no funding agreement, of any kind, in place with them.”

The Guardian also understands that the Charity Commission has started looking into the Surrey Canal Sports Foundation. That news has emerged a day after the Guardian reported the inaccurate claims of the Sport England funding agreement. The Charity Commission has not divulged what it is examining.

[stuart]

Yes I read that article in the Guardian. But I can't see suggesting the mayor is a crook follows. Well not on my understanding of it implying trousering cash for self-gain. A very serious and criminal allegation.

I am not qualified to comment on whether the Guardian's allegations are true or are illegal in any way. But if you value housing more than football parking then you would expect the council, the mayor to sponsor and support organisations that can alleviate the borough's acute problems and government targets by using what land is available to do so. If the Football Club won't agree then why should they not use a CPO? They may have overstepped the mark and created conflicts of interest. If so that is bad.

But Steve personally pocketing cash? Where's the evidence? Should we be muddying the waters here by making cheap political jibes and not concentrating on what may or may not have happened?

Stuart

[syd]

Well he's a trustee of a charity that got awarded £500k from our council taxes. Most people with integrity would have probably avoided that situation.

I've lived in lewisham for 17 years and I've seem improvements to Deptford, Forest Hill, Greenwich, Honor Oak and Brockley.


Sydenham with its high density of social housing has been left to rot so forgive me if I question his leadership.

[stuart]

Well he's a trustee of a charity that got awarded £500k from our council taxes. Most people with integrity would have probably avoided that situation.

Did he award the money without full disclosure? That would be crooked. Did he take some of the £500k? That would be crooked.

Being a trustee of a charity is a civic service. It can cost dearly as I know too well. Not be willing to take on such a duty would worry me more. Even so does lacking integrity make you a crook?

Don't dodge. You have made the innuendo. Are you going to stand by it with evidence or withdraw?

Stuart

[syd]

My mistake. Bullock is a director not a trustee. I'll get the accounts to see how much he was paid

[stone-penge]

http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/charity-co ... le/1421573

The Charity Commission has opened a case into the sports charity at the heart of a controversial £1bn development scheme involving a compulsory purchase order of land around Millwall Football Club’s ground in London.

The sports charity the Surrey Canal Sports Foundation has claimed it received a £2m funding pledge from Sport England for a sports facility on the proposed development, but this has been denied by the funder itself.

!.Renewal , the development company was set up by the previous Mayor and the previous CEO of Lewisham council.
2.The ownership of Renewal has now become opaque as it is now owned by 2 offshore companies.
3. The Surrey Canal sports Foundation was set up by Renewal and has Bullock on the board.
4.The council awarded £500k to the foundation, in part due to the claim it had £2 million promised by Sports England, which is not true.

[simon]

"But if you value housing more than football parking then you would expect the council, the mayor to sponsor and support organisations that can alleviate the borough's acute problems and government targets by using what land is available to do so. If the Football Club won't agree then why should they not use a CPO? They may have overstepped the mark and created conflicts of interest. If so that is bad."

Stuart this isn't about the housing v football parking. Its about housing v Millwall Community Trust land, which houses the MCT base the Lions Centre. The MCT does some great work and has done so for the past 25 years https://www.millwallcommunity.org.uk/. The land also houses a number of small businesses and a healthy eating café and catering business.

The Renewal plans aim to replace Lions Centre with the Energize centre, which will be run by the SCSF, which is why the SCSF is central to Renewal's plans and why the fact that isn't properly funded, except for an extravagant £500k from Lewisham (wonder how many Libraries that could have kept open), is a matter of concern.

There are a number of questions that need answering about the CPO and the relationship between the Lewisham and Renewal and a lot of them could be answered if Renewal were transparent about who it is ultimately owned by. All we know for sure is that former senior council official Mushtaq Malik is a director, as is his daughter Jordana Malik. She acts as Renewal's spokesperson and claims that the reason the owners want to hide behind an off shore trust is that some of them are local. Really? So what if Sir Steve was also a director of Renewal? That wouldn't look good would it?

For the record, the last time the Mayor's cabinet voted on the CPO Rachel Onikoski abstained and Chris Best voted in favour. Liam Curran is opposed.

It is perhaps unfair to ask if Sir Steve is a crook, but until the ownership of Renewal is revealed, it is a question that will continue to be asked.

[stone-penge]

Lewisham's structure of a powerful executive in an elected mayor (Chosen by Lewisham labour party members only) and the fact it is a one party "state" in local government means it is poorly scrutinised and is in some ways effectively a local government dictatorship.
It seems to me most councillors are at best tolerated or patronised but then ignored by the technocrats such as "3 day Quirk" and his executive colleagues.

[leenewham]

Follow Cllr Alan Hall on this. I think he's been brilliant.

[simon]

Bullock now facing open revolt of 45 out of 54 councillors and the whole scheme to be reviewed. Well done Alan Hall. Shame on any councillors still trying to push this scheme though.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... am-council

[leenewham]

There is a petition to make Steve Bulock resign over this:
https://www.change.org/p/steve-bullock- ... ll-scandal

I'd love to know who voted for/against the CPO.

Lots more info here:
https://twitter.com/barneyronay

[simon]

"I'd love to know who voted for/against the CPO."

I'm sure there must be a record of who voted which way at the cabinet meeting. All I know is that Rachel Onikosi abstained and Chris Best voted in favour of the CPO.

Signed the petition.

[leenewham]

I'm not surprised Simon!

[whittler]

It's my understanding that Steve Bullock won't be standing for another term and is stepping down as Mayor in the very near future, so would it be more pertinent to start considering who might be selected as Lewisham Labour's new Mayoral candidate, rather than campaigning for Sir Steve's resignation when he'll be gone soon anyway?

Just a thought...

[leenewham]

I'd vote for Alan Hall.

[ALIB]

Being a crook, implies illegal activity. I would suggest Sir Steve has probably used his influence to gain monies for a charidee he is a trustee of. The charidee would be hopeful that he'd use his contacts in such a way.

I would suggest the question should be: "Are all politicians as bent as a five bob note ?"

and the answer would be : "We all have self-interest at heart"

[whittler]

Lee, i reckon a lot of people might now be with you on that one...

[syd]

I'm glad I asked the question,

I was shocked when I read about him in the Guardian. Lewisham Labour are bloated, lazy and think they have the right to rule.

That windswept "landscaping" at the corner of Sydenham and Kent House Road got rid of the beautiful cherry blossom tree without consultation or notification. At that point I woke up to the fact that this council thinks they can do as they please to my home. I bet that wouldn't have happened in a throughly middle class area like Blackheath or Greenwich.

They must be challenged.

[sparticus]

I was shocked when I read about him in the Guardian. Lewisham Labour are bloated, lazy and think they have the right to rule.

They have the right to rule because they are elected to do so by the voters of Lewisham.

[stone-penge]

Can't wait to read the outcome of "independent" inquiry that is to be commissioned by the Lewisham council's Cabinet & Mayor to look into the activities of Lewisham council's Cabinet and Mayor in the Renewal/ SCSF/CPO saga,


I wonder if they will find any wrong doing?