Hammersmith slams former leadership over ‘morally wrong’ Earls Court sale
Hammersmith & Fulham Council has demanded the former Conservative council apologise for supporting Capital & Counties’ plans for Earls Court and the deal to sell its estates.
The council has criticised the previous Tory administration, along with Greg Hands, MP for Chelsea & Fulham, for “causing such huge levels of anxiety and worry to thousands of people living in council homes across the borough”.
It said it was “morally wrong for the former Conservative administration to have sold the estates against the residents’ wishes”.
Hammersmith & Fulham Council has demanded the former Conservative council apologise for supporting Capital & Counties’ plans for Earls Court and the deal to sell its estates.
The council has criticised the previous Tory administration, along with Greg Hands, MP for Chelsea & Fulham, for “causing such huge levels of anxiety and worry to thousands of people living in council homes across the borough”.
It said it was “morally wrong for the former Conservative administration to have sold the estates against the residents’ wishes”.
The comments were included in special motion documents ahead of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham meeting next week, when the current Labour-led council will be called on to face residents of the West Kensington and Gibbs Green estates.
In 2013, the former leadership agreed to sell the two estates to Capco, in exchange for £105m in cash and a requirement to deliver up to 760 replacement homes.
Last November, this was undone when residential heavyweight Delancey acquired Capco’s stake in the Earls Court Partnership and flipped the estates back to the council.
LBHF criticised the low price negotiated in the sale and the meagre amount of affordable housing, which was deemed not to be affordable.
In the documents, it alleges: “It was also one of the worst property deals done by any local authority in modern history.”
LBHF thanked its current Labour leadership for securing the return of the estates and the residents “for their bold fight and their resilience”.
The meeting comes as the residents pursue a second attempt to take control of their housing, which could ultimately see the homes transferred to a new community-owned housing association.
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