Bidding process ‘unfair to people of Helensburgh’

THE process of determining the final bidders for Helensburgh’s Waterfront site has been unfair to the people of the town, a councillor has said.

Discussion on the fate of the site took place at a meeting of local councillors on Tuesday, March 12 – but all details of the five remaining bidders remained confidential to the public.

Two of the five bids have been identified by council officials as preferred options – but it was also confirmed that councillors could express a preference for any or all of the other three.

Councillor Fiona Howard (Labour, Helensburgh Central) said: “I am a bit disappointed we have got to two preferred choices without any consultation with the area committee.

“We were promised right at the beginning of the process that we would be consulted all the way along the line.

“And here we are with five bidders, two of them chosen not by us, not by anybody other than council officers. I really do not think that is a fair way to treat the people of Helensburgh.

“They need to have their representatives having a good look at all five candidates, including speaking to them face to face. It should be what the people of Helensburgh want.”

Conservative councillors Gemma Penfold and Gary Mulvaney insisted the criteria and process had been agreed upon by all members of the area committee at a previous meeting.

Councillor Mulvaney said: “We agreed this process, and if you were not clear about that process six to nine months ago then you should not have agreed it.”

Councillor Howard responded: “I am not arguing with any of that. What I am arguing about is that we were promised we would be kept briefed on each part of the process and have not been.”

Councillor Ian MacQuire (SNP, Helensburgh Central) added: “You said we were discussing all five bids. Does that mean the two recommended, we do not have to agree? If we decide we would rather have one of the other three, can we turn that around?”

Mr McLaughlin said: “It is up to the committee on that, but the recommendations we have put forward today, we will make sure these are made very clear to the policy and resources committee.”

Dr Peter Brown, acting convener of Helensburgh Community Council, pointed to the Disposal of Land by Local Authorities (Scotland) Regulations 2010, which state that councils are not required to simply accept the best price when selling off land.

Dr Brown also failed in his bid to have more information about the waterfront bidders – both the two on the ‘preferred bidder’ list and the three that are not – put into the public domain at the meeting.

Dr Brown wanted two of the appendices listed as ‘exempt’, from which the press and public excluded, to be made public – one a summary of the five proposals, the other an assessment of the five proposals by a council official.

Councillor Penfold replied: “These are exempt for a reason, and we will not be sharing them with the public.”

Dr Brown also said a retail study on the town, carried out by commercial property consultants Colliers, which was used to inform the selection of the two preferred bidders, was based on out-of-date information. He said the data on which the report was based mistakenly described The Toy Shop in the town as being “part of the Jolly Giant Toy Superstore”.

The latter went into receivership in 2002; The Toy Shop was founded in 2006.

He said: “Given the holes and inconsistencies in Colliers’ underlying data and resulting conclusions, will councillors accept that there is clear evidence that additional retail in Helensburgh’s town centre will adversely affect our existing shops?”

Colliers has been contacted for comment. For more on Tuesday’s discussion of the waterfront, see helensburghadver tiser.co.uk.