Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Approval given for high-rise homes
PLANS to build high-rise apartments with no affordable flats in the Bedminster area of Bristol have been approved in the hope it will “revitalise” the suburb.
The revised plans to redevelop St Catherine’s Place shopping centre got the go-ahead on Thursday after a larger project with 17 per cent affordable housing failed to get past city planners.
Bristol City Council rejected the developer’s original proposal for 205 homes in five blocks, along with shops, offices and a cinema, in East Street, in January last year.
That decision was upheld at appeal, with a planning inspector agreeing the scheme was poorly designed and would have an adverse impact on the area.
Now a planning committee has approved Firmstone’s scaledback plans for 180 homes, fewer shops and no cinema, despite continued concerns from dozens of residents and councillors’ own reticence over a number of aspects of the plan.
The new plans mean the tallest residential block is now 14 storeys instead of 17 storeys, but there is no affordable housing promised any more.
Committee members shared residents’ concerns over the lack of affordable housing and the height of the tallest building, but were keen to revive the East Street shopping district and voted by a majority to approve the scheme as recommended by officers.
Firmstone says it is not “viable” to provide any affordable housing as part of its Section 106 planning obligations.
The council has a 30 per cent affordable homes target for developments of more than 14 homes, but an independent assessment found it was not possible to promise any on the site at this time, according to an officer.
“Some sites are difficult to develop and this is one of them,“he said.
The council received 59 objections to the plans from the public, one from a local councillor, and 43 people wrote in support of the scheme.
Amandine Tchou, a cafe owner and resident of East Street, said it was like a “ghost town” at times and needed more people living and shopping there.
Simon Dicken, chair of the Bedminster BID, said: “I cannot overstate how much we need this development to turn around the fortunes of what at times can seem like a forgotten part of Bedminster.”
Outline planning permission was also granted to develop three more plots of the land in the immediate area for residential and commercial use.
AMAN who sold £6.5 million worth of flats that didn’t exist in a prominent hotel building he didn’t own has been given a jail sentence – for contempt of court.
Sanjiv Varma did not appear for his sentencing at the High Court of Justice on Thursday, but a judge sentenced him to 21 months in prison for eight counts of contempt of court.
Varma set up a company called Grosvenor Property Developments, and drew up plans to convert the former Grosvenor Hotel building close to Temple Meads station in Bristol into student flats.
He engaged city centre estate agents and sold flats for £99,000 each, with a £50,000 deposit.
But Varma didn’t own the building and disappeared after council planners told him it was unlikely that he would get planning permission for the scheme.
As the project collapsed, an investigation by our sister website Bristol Live revealed that the investors had lost their money, Varma had spent the money, and the victims of the property deals faced years fighting to get their money back.
The company went into administration in 2018, and a court appointed official liquidators who were tasked with pursuing Varma and recovering the millions that people had handed over as deposits for flats that didn’t exist.
Over the course of the next three years, the liquidators discovered that Varma and his family had lived a lavish lifestyle, with spending sprees in upmarket stores such as Harrods in London, in the south of France and Moscow.
The High Court heard he made a total of £9 million from the deals, gave £2 million to his son, spent £5 million buying jewellery and diamonds in India he said were his own family’s heirlooms, and transferred money around accounts in London, India and Dubai.
All the time, Varma told investigators he was just an agent working for the company, and the money went to a mysterious other person who investigators never found and the High Court eventually accepted did not exist.
He was charged with eight counts of contempt of court, including breaching asset disclosure orders made in support of freezing orders, and of having made false statements both in witness statements and in affidavits.
At one point, Varma’s passport became the subject of a major investigation because he refused to allow investigators to see it, it was damaged with pages ripped out and he claimed in court that his dog had eaten it.
Eventually, the liquidators and the court’s actions turned from trying to retrieve the assets to charging Varma with contempt for his persistent failures to abide by court orders and provide truthful information.
He was found guilty last summer of those charges of contempt of court, appealed against those convictions but lost that appeal, and was finally sentenced by the
High Court on Thursday.
Varma failed to attend the hearing but was represented by both solicitors and counsel. He was sentenced in his absence to 21 months in prison, and an order was made by the judge for his arrest.
The Judge, HHJ Johns, also ordered that Varma pay £268,000 in court costs.
Seamas Gray, from law firm Gunner Cooke, who has been prosecuting Varma, said the sentencing hearing was the latest in a complex and ongoing fraud litigation that has involved more than 30 hearings and three trials in London and Dubai.
“This was a very challenging case, both in its intensity and in litigating against a party who had no compunction in lying on oath, in sworn affidavits and in witness statements supported by a statement of truth, falsifying documents, and willingly disregarding court orders including disclosure orders and other serious High Court orders with penal sanction,” he said.
“To complicate matters further, we were dealing with monies often transferred through solicitors’ firms, between jurisdictions, and all the while with Mr Varma hiding behind various phantoms in the form of various companies, with nominee directors and shareholders.
“Key to our success was acting quickly and decisively, but proportionately, at each stage of the proceedings. Obtaining a passport order against Mr Varma at an early stage was critical in ensuring he could not flee from the jurisdiction,” he added.
Gunner Cooke partner Alyson Reilly added that the sentencing would not be the end of the story. The money he took still has not been recovered.
“While today’s sentencing is a significant milestone in the case, it certainly isn’t the end of the road,” she said.
This was a very challenging case... against a party who had no compunction in lying on oath SEAMAS GRAY
FORMER Countdown queen Carol Vorderman is stepping out of the limelight for a quieter life, saying she is fed up with being treated as a “commodity”.
The maths whizz, who made sums sexy as co-presenter of the popular numbers show from 1982 to 2008, says she will now just do what she wants to do, including a DNA documentary with her scientist daughter.
Despite regularly posting pictures of her super-toned body on her Instagram page to her near 84,000 followers, the 60-year-old mum of two says her career has been dogged by ‘sexism and misogyny’.
Carol, who lives in Bristol, said: “When you’re a celebrity woman – particularly one of a certain age – you are treated as a commodity.
“If I’m not on telly again, it doesn’t matter – the world will keep turning.
“I’ve done it all – and I know the reality of being the biggest name on telly and being on the front pages of the papers for years.
“And it’s not something I want to carry on with – the intrusion can be a problem.
“‘Now I just want to do the bits I want to do – such as a documentary on the essence of DNA, looking at nature versus nurture, with my scientist daughter Kate.”
Speaking to The Lady magazine, the multi-millionaire business woman and bestselling author of education and other books added: “Financially I no longer need to work.”
And she said that it was the older generation, not youngsters, who gave her a hard time, starting when she wore a short blue dress at the Baftas aged 39.
She said: “Misogyny is ruining a generation of girls.
“It’s really weird, because young men generally don’t think that of girls – they’re much more openminded about what girls can do, they don’t have any hang-ups about girls being successful.
“Lads in their 20s just assume girls are going to be successful – that’s how I brought my own son and daughter up.
“Young people are much more free in their heads.
“It’s older people – those in their late 40s upwards who can be misogynistic and ageist about women.”
And her Instagram page continues to attract what she sees as condescending comments about how good she is for her age, saying: “It’s just one side of me.”
Carol has certainly proved her own designer genes after downsizing from size 14-16 to a 10 by ditching unhealthy eating habits.
She wrote best-selling books about
Lads in their 20s just assume girls are going to be successful – that’s how I brought my own son and daughter up CAROL VORDERMAN
her Detox Diet, a 14-day plan that she still follows twice every year.
She also revealed that she even conquered hormonal depression during her menopause.
She said: “It lasted three to six months.
“But I realised that it was linked to my cycle, so I consulted a professor who put me on bio-identical gels [for natural menopause relief] and that cured it within 48 hours.”
THE allocation of £10 million of Government funding to a Somerset theatre was a “wonderful surprise” at a “dark, dark time” for the industry, the manager of the venue has said.
On Wednesday, it was announced in the Budget that the Octagon Theatre in Yeovil would be given the money to help pay for renovation of the venue.
The project will see the capacity of the main auditorium rise from 622 to 900.
A fly tower, to be used in the staging of shows, and two smaller performance spaces will also be constructed at the venue, which is maintained by South Somerset District Council.
The total cost of the project is £23 million.
Adam Burgan, arts and entertainment venues manager for South Somerset District Council, said the funding announcement was a “wonderful surprise”.
“We found out along with the rest of the public when it was announced in the Budget,” he added.
Mr Burgan said it had been a “dark, dark time” for the theatre industry during the pandemic.
“It is very strange that our theatre that’s normally so full of life and energy and excited audiences has been quiet for such a long period, but I think coming out of the pandemic, the investment in this project is a really key part of the recovery,” he said.
Mr Burgan said investment in the arts will “bring us all back together to help us make sense of what we have gone through”.
He added the funding will help provide an “economic boost” to the area by creating new jobs.
“I think for us, Somerset has deserved this kind of investment and it is great to see it coming, especially into the rural area that we serve.
“We will be able to sell a lot more tickets and let a lot more people in to see those really, really popular events.”
More touring musicals and plays will also be able to be staged at the theatre, he added.