John Stevens · @pzj_1
1st Jun 2015 from TwitLonger
Mr John Mason MSP
This is all about a conversation I had with a prominent politician in the Scottish Parliament Mr John Mason.
John sat on a committee in the Glasgow Council which sold Westthorn at a vastly reduced price due to ''abnormals'' to Celtic PLC. I decided to test John's memory surrounding these events with some basic questions. Here below was the questions put to Mr Mason which were very basic.
1) What document was provided to that Council Committee justifying the 3.515 million discount abnormals?.
2) Did the Glasgow Council commission their own Geotechnical report to counter any report that Celtic PLC had commissioned?
3) Did you or any of the committee that agreed the sale of Westthorn at the discounted price have access to any Geotechnical report?.
John's reply was very simple 'I was a councillor for 10 years and took part in many meetings during that time. The meeting you refer to was over 7 years ago.
I am afraid I cannot remember any of the detail you are asking for'
So I decided to push him a little further and asked him would it be possible for him to seek out some source material, because as a former councillor I was confident he could do this.
John as a former sitting councillor replied 'I think you face a problem with this as it is so far back in time'. He went on 'My understanding is that 7 years is a general timeframe that organisations keep records. I myself generally keep committee papers for a few months but certainly not for 7 years'.
So John Mason who sat on the committee that decided Celtic PLC were to receive a massive discounted price at Westthorn felt nothing could be retrieved by him in regards just what was discussed around any reports he or others may have seen.
At this point I provided Mr Mason with a document, which confirmed that there were no issues at Westthorn regarding the land, and that the body who confirmed this was the very department who would have known if this was the actual case.
John had no real argument when presented with this document and to be very blunt he began to quote and in my opinion deflect from the whole situation. John began to make some strange assertions without providing any links to confirm what he was saying.
But John then stated this after being confronted with real facts and documents. 'On the broad principle that strange things have happened in Glasgow City Council over the years, I would not question that! 'Sometimes the Council has got good deals and sometimes bad deals'.
So it appears that Mr Mason admits that strange things happen within the corridors of George Square.
Mr Mason was then presented with the methodology of how the Glasgow Council arrived at the price for Westthorn as he appeared to say that all land was 'valueless' in the East End of Glasgow.
'I note you say this was ‘prime land’ and I do find that a bit surprising. Much of that area of Dalmarnock and Parkhead have sat empty and derelict for many years with no interest in them. One of the aims of Clyde Gateway has been to improve contaminated land so that there would be interest in it. I fear that land in this general area has not been worth much in the past and is still not worth much today'.
It did appear at this point, that despite sitting on the committee that decided that Celtic PLC were to receive a massive discount at Westthorn, that he did not know how the price was calculated or even if he saw a report giving the reasons why this was to be the case. In his measured opinion all land in the East End was worthless.
I reminded John, that Kier Homes has very successfully developed next door at Belvidere and that would have made Westthorn very ''prime''. Here his measured reply.
'I do not think the Keir Belvidere development has been a huge success. Development completely stalled at one stage'.
Despite everybody hailing this development as an outstanding success http://www.bellingram.co.uk/assets/0005/7585/Daily_Express_6_Sept_2013.pdf and here http://www.gspc.co.uk/solicitor/14802-kier-homes-belvidere-village/ were Belvidere is described as 'highly sought after development', Mr Mason MSP believed it was a failure.
Unable to counter argue with documents provided to him, and sending no links or providing any proof of any of his claims, despite being asked to do so, Mr Mason grew exasperated and simply stated
'If you are asking me if Glasgow City Council has made some duff deals over the years and not got as much for land as it might have, I would absolutely say yes. If you are asking me if it is corruption or incompetence, I would say it is normally incompetence!
There you have it, Mr Mason believed that despite ignoring its own data which the GCC had plenty of source material it could have called upon, data they commissioned over the years at considerable expense to the people of Glasgow, data they had gathered from Government bodies, totally ignored, Mr Mason conclusion was it may have been incompetence!!
That is a frightening statement, that sitting in the Glasgow Council at this minute in time are people entrusted with public money who are in the words of John Mason possibly 'incompetent with public money and who have agreed to duff deals!!
So when a public representative who sat in on the sale of land heavily discounted, and was asked for his version of events which he could not provide, and was presented with documents from Government bodies, which had been verified, and failing to provide any links to his statements, when asked to do so, reverts to type with this reply.
'I am not convinced that there is any real substance to all this but wonder if it is just driven by a hatred of Celtic'.
Ladies and Gentlemen I give you Mr John Mason MSP.