Tuesday, May 08, 2007

FLO, FLO, QUICK-QUICK, FLO!

AN inquiry has been demanded into the conduct of Lib Dem Executive Member Flo Clucas over the future of the former Irish centre on Mount Pleasant.
See also City of the Dead for even more shocking details!

Councillor Clucas used her position on the council to promote a hair-brained scheme by Dance Liverpool, of which she is Chairman, to take over the derelict Wellington Rooms.
She repeatedly explored with council officials different ways to put pressure on the owner of the Grade 2* listed building which would force him to surrender his leasehold.
She was also behind a bid by the city council to issue a Compulsory Purchase Order on the building so that Dance Liverpool could then happily waltz in.
Amazingly, Clucas promised planning officials that the city council would fund the £50,000 cost of a public inquiry into the CPO (although it's not her money, ed)
When the problems of a lengthy CPO were pointed out, Clucas then argued it would be better for the city council to quickly buy the building for at least £200,000 - and then hand it over to her own organisation! (shurely some conflict of interest here? ed)
Her £200,000 bid came despite the District Valuer valuing the extremely dilapidated building at just £1, with an extra £3million to renovate it!
Clucas, who is a Director of Dance Liverpool, also had planning officials running around like headless chickens pursuing European money for her madcap one-woman scheme.
Clucas strongly urged officials to submit a bid for Euro money to allow the scheme to go-ahead. By complete co-incidence, she also Chairs the European Objective 1 Funding Committee which doles out huge amounts of public money. (what an incredibly strange co-incidence, ed)
There is no record that Clucas declared her interest as a Director of Dance Liverpool at the extraordinary meeting with the city council's Planning Service on 19th December last year.
Official notes of the meeting reveal that Clucas lobbied hard for the organisation, despite serious questions about whether Dance Liverpool had a credible Business Plan (they did not, ed) or whether they had a realistic timetable to convert the Wellington Rooms (ermmmm, it was all to be miraculously completed next year!, ed)
Cynical observers might conclude that wearing her Dance Liverpool hat, Councillor Clucas seems to have managed to bully weak council officials, including Planning chief Nigel Lee and Conservation chief Steve Corbett, into agreeing a series of action points from the meeting which would all benefit her own organisation.
Nothing could be further from the truth of course.
They might have agreed to everything she wanted, without her having to "lobby" them so persuasively at all. Such as
  • prepare a CPO timetable and report for the Exec Board

  • contact other council officers about bidding for Euro money

  • try to get legal action taken against the current owner

  • review the council's plans for the city centre to make sure the Dance Liverpool scheme fitted in

  • even get an invite for Clucas to a 'Stop the Rot' meeting so she could promote Dance Liverpool's plan.

(We wonder if any other member of the public would be able to get the council's planners to do all this work for them? ed)Councillor Clucas has still not declared her interest in Dance Liverpool on the city council's Register of Member's Interests. We shall be returning to this story again..........

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another good one, Tone, as promised. Talk about a stitch-up!

Anonymous said...

Flucas loves CPOs - she approved forced evictions of countless innocent home owners when head of housing under the hated New Heartlands clearances.

Glad you're keeping an eye on her.

Anonymous said...

Looks like Frank isnt the only one with Sticky fingers and hidden agendas in this administration then - Do we really have to wait until next May now to be rid of them!

Anonymous said...

This is uncannily reminiscent of Dr Dogs pulling of strings for his boxing club - Is Flucas Dr Dog in a dress - theyve got the same insane grin after all

Stori Blare said...

Although I have no time at all for Tory's, of which Clucas is one, how did she force others to agree or put pressure on others to agree her plans?
Did she threaten them with her chins?

I would be very interested in how the other's involved can justify or prove she bullied them or ordered them?

I was not aware she had the authority to order anyone to break the law?
I'm confused?

Will Dance till your chins fall off inc be on the summer pops?
Maybe they will turn up on the Culture Programme?
What about her husband's skittle band?
Are you sure that Clucas is a woman?
and how do you know?

Anonymous said...

Surely this bullying cannot be tolerated. If the allegations made had been made against a private individual or indeed against an employee of a company then the matter would be referred to the police. Whose responsibility is it to investigate this? The council? If so surely immediate suspension from office would be the initial recourse? The police maybe? Lets hope so.
Will the owners planning be reviewed now without the hinderance of the future ex councillor's influence? If not (and indeed if so) does he have a right to any compensastion for his costs? Lets hope this doesnt get too messy and finish up costing the tax payer even more money.

Anonymous said...

Those Chins are bought and paid for

Anonymous said...

With tax payers money as well thank you very much.

Anonymous said...

Good girl - I amso veryimpressed by your ingenuity xxx

How the council use Ripa to spy on you....


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