Today's council meeting that could have finally given the green light to Imperial Wharf station seemed too momentous an occasion to miss, so I popped along, and this is what I found.I was going to make a joke at their expense, but then I spotted this in the agenda:
The Cabinet is invited to resolve [...] that the public and press be excluded from the meetingSo that was a waste of time*. We'll just have to wait for the press release.
Anyway, the budget contains a lot of juicy information anyway. They've acquired a huge pile of cash:
• The Committee also agreed to reallocate to the station £750k of Section 106 funds initially earmarked for expansion of primary schools required for Imperial Wharf but no longer considered to be necessary. This, together with interest earned on the station Section 106 account since 2000, amounts to a total of £4.25 million available from St GeorgeThat's over £7 million. The final price for the station is a secret (though it was £7.93m), but Hammersmith & Fulham Council are apparently willing to pay the remainder, including if any of the above deals fall through. They'll be paying St George to handle construction of the station. Network Rail and Transport for London don't seem to be involved at all, beyond being consulted on the design.
• £1 million from Transport for London complementary measures for the western extension of the congestion charge (already received and with interest accruing).
• £1 million from the Lots Road power station development, payable on commencement of development on the land in Hammersmith and Fulham.
• Up to £650,000 on offer from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (subject to a Council decision)
• £300,000 Section 106 funding from Chelsea Harbour design centre, payable upon commencement of development.
• £60,000 Section 106 funding already received (with interest accruing) from Sainsbury’s, Townmead Road.
* It does also say "Members of the Public are welcome to attend" in bold on the front page, so I am quite grumpy
Tory Council for you!
ReplyDeleteAnd they claim to bring more accountability if Boris gets in as mayor?
Everyone welcome to attend the meetings, everyone except the councillors!
Here's the announcement.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lbhf.gov.uk/Directory/News_and_Media/Press_office/Press_releases/96590_Imperial_Wharf_station_saved.asp
Grr. Why don't links wrap. Anyway, it's at the H&F website. Cabinet approved the funding package.
ReplyDelete"The Cabinet is invited to resolve [...] that the public and press be excluded from the meeting"
ReplyDeleteI find this very concerning. Why did they decide this?
This exclusions should only be used in extreme circumstances, I find it hard to understand why a decision about a railway station counts as such.
Please keep up this excellent blog, the effort you put in is amazing (was very impressed by your map of bank station)
Regards
Chris
@U - I wish I'd known you were coming to HTH; it would have been a pleasure to buy you a consolatory pint in the Salutation over the road whilst the business was in progress.
ReplyDelete@Chris - quite simply there was information contained within deemed as commercially confidential and, as such, not for the public domain. We're pretty good at telling people as much as we're legally allowed to within the confines of such reports. I work at H&F and, even as a senior officer, I wasn't allowed access to the relevant confidential papers.
It takes a special talent - or persistence - to uncover the real truth... keep watching this space! ;-)
THC