The Lodge in Carshalton being sold off at a million-pound discount is not the only deal that demonstrates that the Council is not being careful with taxpayers' money.
Across the borough, money has been wasted on experimental pedestrian crossings in Hackbridge and outside Sutton Station as well as on buying a plot of land for a new school which turned out to be much too small. To do that at the same time as cutting vital youth and waste services is simply wrong.
Council officers valued The Lodge in Carshalton at £1.6 million, so why are Lib Dem councillors selling it for £1 million less to a group closely linked to them? The plan is to convert most of it to flats and use the rest as a new HQ, keeping all the profit from the flats.
We think the council should throw it open to competition. Anyone with a good idea for this beautiful building should be invited to speak up, then the council can compare them and pick the best. But very few people even knew it was up for sale. Local Conservatives said we should invite alternatives and compare them fairly, but the Lib Dems refused.
The Lib Dems are now accusing the Conservatives of wanting to sell it off to a developer at the highest price. That’s not true. We just think it’s wrong to sell public assets at below fair price, without giving anyone else a look-in. The Lib Dems use their huge majority on the council to do what they want. Vote Conservative and help make sure someone is there to stop them and hold them to account.