Issue - meetings

Reporting Person – Peter Bryant

The Leader reported that a petition had been submitted in accordance with the Council’s scheme for dealing with petitions, requesting that the Council appoint an oversight committee to determine if there had been material breaches of the £250m Loan Agreement with GolDev Woking Ltd.

The petition contained 115 confirmed signatures and 9 unconfirmed signatures in the following terms:

“We the undersigned petition Woking Borough Council to Appoint an oversight committee to determine if the Loan Agreement with Goldev Woking Ltd should be voided.

We ask that Woking Borough Council appoint an oversight committee to determine if there have been material breaches of the £250m Loan Agreement with Goldev Woking Ltd.

The reason for this request is that there have been two changes that appear to be in breach of the Loan Agreement. Council Tax payers have tried eliciting replies from WBC Finance Department however the department repeated fails to reply.

The material changes to be considered are a) the ownership of the Borrower "Goldev Woking Ltd" has changed materially since the Loan Agreement was struck and appears to breach "18.6 Material adverse changes" b) in breach of the Loan Agreement Section 19.9 Goldev Woking Ltd has taken on board Security with Frith Holdings Ltd. The only security should be WBC acting as the only beneficiary in the event of difficulties.

As stated above in light of this we ask that an oversight committee be appointed and if they feel appropriate that the Loan Agreement is voided.”

The Petitioner, Mr Jeremy Instone, spoke in support of the petition.  The Leader advised that Officers had set out in their report the reasons why it was not believed that the Loan Agreement with GolDev Woking Limited had been breached.  However, the Leader stated that the Executive was happy to appoint a task group to examine this advice in detail.  It was suggested that a task group be set up consisting of three Executive Members and chaired by an independent member.  Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee would also be invited to attend the task group.

The Leader thanked Mr Instone for attending the meeting and presenting both petitions.

RESOLVED

That  (i)    the petition be noted; and

          (ii)   a task group be appointed to examine the advice of Officers in detail.

Reason:   To agree a response to the petition.