Five Houses For £1 In Scotland!

[TwentyOneEleven]

Brother-in-law of First Minister buys five houses for £1

By Angus Macleod, Scottish Political Editor

(Taken from: Times Online - 29 May 2006)

SCOTLAND’S First Minister was facing demands last night to set up an inquiry into a controversial land deal involving his brother-in-law.

A company part-owned by Robert McLuckie, the brother of Jack McConnell’s wife, Bridget, bought three quarters of an acre of land for £1 as well as five houses on the site of a former hospital in Banff, also for £1. Details of the sale have been met with widespread local anger.

Councillor John Cox, from Banff, said that news of the deal had come as a complete shock and added that the community had been devastated by the closure of the hospital. “How could this ever happen? A full public investigation needs to be launched to find out why the land was allowed to be sold for that price,” he said.

Ladysbridge Hospital in Banff, which cared for people with learning difficulties, closed its doors in 2003. A local developer bought most of the grounds at market value so that the site could be transformed into a village...

[delboypass]

Sounds like another cause for the police to investigate - probably happens all across the UK every day though.

No-one gets rich working honestly.

And of course the police will find that nothing wrong happened as per usual and all forgotten about in 2 weeks.

[Justice]

The system is so corrupt that we need to close it all down and start again and by that I mean riots on the streets as the Mafia will no relinquish it’s turf without a fight.

Day after day this type of thing happens and so little is reported and this shows that the MP’s control the media, ask for justice and you then find the police and also the judges are all in it too.

Normal people without dirty connections should run the country and next time make sure they are not allowed to seize power from the people and every Penney they spend is full accounted for and don’t let any MP have outside interests as this just helps them launder the big brown envelopes.

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

Sleaze Nation

Wales is even worse than England and Scotland - a public sector and quango hell awash with unctuous scumbag baby-boomers up to their necks in sleaziness and vileness.

Edited May 29, 2006 by gruffydd

[New Darker Law]

I'm sorry, I'm no fan of Nu-Labour but this posting is a little unfair.

Let's look at the facts:

3/4 acre of land and 5 houses sold for the sum of £2. The proviso being that for a 20 year period the buyer can only use the land and properties for the care of the sick/disabled.

The hospital had already closed in 2003 and was an expensive drain on NHS Scotland resources.

If the buyer decides to use the land or buildings for anything else then they must pay the Scottish Executive £250,000 or so. This may (or may not be) market rate for said property.

My conclusion:

So long as the exit penalty is there or there abouts market rates, everyone benefits from this.

I'm all for rooting out corruption and jailing those with their snouts in the trough, but I'm not in favour of witch hunts.

NDL

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

New Darker Law - What if you just sit on empty buildings answer me that!

[New Darker Law]

New Darker Law - What if you just sit on empty buildings answer me that!

Look, I'm not saying there is no wrong doing here. All I am saying is, that it isn't cut and dried sleaze/corruption.

To answer your question, if they just sit on the buildings for the 20 year period, that's 20 years of upkeep/maintenance/security the Scottish NHS don't have to pay for. A good deal in my book.

NDL

[Dames]

I'm sorry, I'm no fan of Nu-Labour but this posting is a little unfair.

Let's look at the facts:

3/4 acre of land and 5 houses sold for the sum of £2. The proviso being that for a 20 year period the buyer can only use the land and properties for the care of the sick/disabled.

The hospital had already closed in 2003 and was an expensive drain on NHS Scotland resources.

If the buyer decides to use the land or buildings for anything else then they must pay the Scottish Executive £250,000 or so. This may (or may not be) market rate for said property.

My conclusion:

So long as the exit penalty is there or there abouts market rates, everyone benefits from this.

I'm all for rooting out corruption and jailing those with their snouts in the trough, but I'm not in favour of witch hunts.

NDL

So a fiver for a business which will no doubt get plenty of help and be at the top of council lists for residency is ok then is it?

Jeez , you couldnt make his stuff up really.

Large snouts in the trough as usual.

D

[delboypass]

all were saying is that the deal could of been at a public level rather than to his cousin or brother etc... which of course is always going to raise eyebrows.

Jack McConnell is up to eyes in backhanders and sleaze though.

[Elizabeth]

New Darker Law - What if you just sit on empty buildings answer me that!

My thing is, in 5 years time they will declare that they can't make a profit looking after vulnerable and sick people and apply for planning perission for something else. They will get it. To achieve this they might even send the original company into receivership and move the whole thing over to an unregulated sale, without scrutiny. Unless the condition has been written into the deed rather than as some weakly written secondary condition of sale this may well be legal. The whole thing will be bulldozed by short memory and deliberate separation of profit from source.

If they wanted to sell they should have auctioned it. If they wanted a peppercorn sale for this purpose they should have put it out to open tender. If there was not open tender process with objective requirements for bidding, raising the issue is not engaging in a witch hunt. It is merely the deocratic right to demand due process, the right of individuals and organisations to be treated on a level playing field and the right of citizens to fair scrutiny of government activities. These are safeguards that protect everyone, and give everyone an equal opportunity to compete. The resources are not theirs to cut private business deals that lock out the possibility of better competition.