This page is provided partly due to recent suggestions by Camden that Camden can be excused and therefore do nothing about a situation because it took place many years ago. It is intended to help getting a sense of the relative times. Also, where there is a suggestion that people were not responsible at the time of critical events, this can help with the record. Reference can also be made to the page under Miscellaneous "News updates 18.1.2009 - 21.9.2018" Earliest at the top. Summary and underneath the summary, more detail
Summary Dates * = more detail in section below
2004 January 14th* Executive Meeting, Item 16. "Site at Prince of Wales Road/Dalby Street/Talacre, NW5" See here Council Meetings, Resolutions and Council Page which includes minutes as a link
2004 April 7th. Executive Committee. See here Council Meetings, Resolutions and Council Page which includes minutes as a link
2004 September 30th. General Purposes (Development Control) Sub Committee. See here Council Meetings, Resolutions and Council Page which includes minutes as a link
2004 December 23rd s106 agt signed LBC/CHA/TRAC for one-way scheme
2005 April 19th Conditional Sale agreement £640k signed, half payable on effectiveness, balance exchanged of Overage obligation. See here, it is the defining document for the Overage obligation, still current in 2021
2005 December 15th. General Purposes (Development Control) sub committee Item10 Application 1. 52 7 52a Prince of Wales Road, Travellers Site to rear, (part) Dalby Street, (part) Wilkin Street Mews, NW5, See here Council Meetings, Resolutions and Council Page which includes minutes as a link
2006 January 10th s106 re two-ways scheme signed LBC/CHA/TRA
2006 January 10th* “Second Property Contract” signed by Camden and TRAC Properties per Land Registry. Existence denied by Camden,
2006 April 4th [LBC not a party]. “Conditional Agreement” for sale of “52 Prince of Wales Road and property relating to Dalby Street”. Seller TRAC, buyer Cornwall Overseas Developments Ltd
2007 February 16th/17th Public Exhibition at Talacre Sports Centre.
2007 March 20th* Exec Environment sub committee meeting. See below for Decision Sheet
2007 July 6th Supplementary Sale Agreement signed increasing cost from £640k to £651k, half payable at effectiveness, balance foregone in exchange for Overage obligation. Small increase in land cost
2008 Jan 9th- 12th. Public Enquiry documents available for inspection. It was apparent to Nick Harding (NJH) that at least one crucial document was missing and he felt that the behaviour of the relevant department of the Council was highly suspect. That is what caused him to attend all of the Public Enquiry.
2008 Jan 15th-18th Public Enquiry held near St Paul's Cathedral there being we were informed nowhere suitable available in the borough of Camden. Documents here. Those in attendance included Aidan Brookes (Camden Legal dept), Assaf Laznik (Findon Urban Lofts), Peter Cuming, Nick Harding, Cllr Penny Abrahams.
2008 Jan 21st Letter to A Maughan cc Aidan Brookes re Public Enquiry. 1st recorded involvement thru NJH of AM and AB, re s106 found,
2008 Feb 25th Public Enquiry report issued.
2008 June 19th Environment Sub-Group met and passed resolutions favourable to scheme
2008 Sept 5th* 3 documents signed.
Transfer LBC/TRAC
Transfer TRAC/Cornwall REFERS TO AN APPARENTLY NON-EXISTENT CONTRACT CAMDEN/TRAC OF 10.1.2006
Grant of Rights Cornwall to Camden
2008 Sept 30th Re-execution of 10.1.2006 s106 agreement LBC/Cornwall. One version had a missing page that we pointed out to Camden and Supplementary s106 agreement LBC/Cornwall. Can be found here. Be aware that the s106 agreements are different from the Land Sale agreements
2008 November 5th Certificate of Lawfulness granted
2009 June 26th* NJH to Mike O'Donnell asks about reference to Overage in a non Camden document. Contains very informative table of meetings etc
2009 June 26th 1st FoI from NJH. It refers to the Conditional Sale Agreement which later he requested confirmation of its being the true agreement. Found on the Land Registry at or before 26.6.09.
2009 October 6th* NJH to David Tullis re error in Land Registry about a "2nd Property Contract".
2009 November 10th* David Tullis reply to NJH's of 6 Oct 2009
2010 January 25th* Refusal Notice, stopping further FoIs by declaring NJH to be "Vexatious"
2010 May 10th. Complaint to Information Commissioners Office re FoI Refusal Notice
2010 October 5th Complaints sent to Local Government Ombudsman
2012 June 20th. Earliest email traffic on NJH Yahoo account (important as email correspondence not always easy to find following a burglary at NJH's address when computer stolen).
2012 Sept 10th. Aidan Brookes informs NJH that because of the decision making him vexatious (for FoI purposes) he wouldn't correspond further. He referred to NJH to Andrew Maughan of 10.9.12 but I can't find any email of that date and it must be what was sent on 4.8.12 re errors on LR about s106s etc. Very detailed and worth reading so copied below under 2012 August 4th
2012 Oct 4th* NJH to Andrew Maughan re Sup and Re-ex s106 agts on LR
2012 Oct 10th*. Aidan Brookes (Legal Dept) refuses to correspond due to "vexatious" decision of 25.10.10 (the same reason used on other occasions). See below for detail.
2013 June 20th. Sales of property by Cornwall British Virgin Islands to Hazlewood BVI per Land Registry on 20.8.13
2013 July 1st. The 36 private Leases put on sale
2014 May 22nd Local govt election. Haverstock Councillors elected. Alison Kelly (Lab), Abdul Quadir (Lab), Abi Wood (Lab). Previous Cllrs each of whom stood for re-election and lost, Alison Fraser (Libdem), Matt Sanders (Libdem) , Rahel Bokth (Libdem).
2014 May 27th*.. Response to FOI (not from NJH) of 28.4.14. confirming Overage remains an obligation as defined in the Conditional Sale agreement. See this date in detailed area below
2014 Oct 10th to 17th.. Citidwell Ltd traffic survey and comparison with NJH 10 to 17 Oct 2014
2014 Nov 5th Land Registry ban preventing publishing names of owners of flats
2014 Occupation of private flats sold for £20,757,590
2016 Jan Sam Monck, Asst Dir, Environment and Transport, left Camden and joined TfL.
He along with David Jenkins, were the main Camden officers responding to Cllr Alison Kelly and others, For most of 2015, emails to Sam Monck were answered by David Jenkins
2016 Sept 6th Camden says “Independent external consultants” had been employed but won't provide details
2017 Oct 23rd Camden says “The assessment is being carried out with the support of external legal, technical, and professional advice”.
2018 April 6th Camden says input has come from "lawyers and enquiry agents".
2019 April 23rd Camden's FoI reply says they don't know if any Overage is owed or from whom it would be payable
2020 Feb 3rd Camden says that “Further legal advice from external counsel” has been received
2020. Oct 5th Zoom meeting Cllr Danny Beales, Cllr Richard Olszewski, NJH, Brian Lake
2021 May 13th*. Camden to NJH referring to 2 major errors by lawyers causing Overage which is admitted to be due and saying that due to a failure by Camden's legal dept it is unenforceable
Detailed Documents referred to in the Summary above
Consideration was given to a report of the Chief Executive.
RESOLVED –
THAT the property be declared surplus to requirements and the sale of the Council‟s
freehold interest be approved in principle at the open market value, subject to:
(a) The Head of Property Services being satisfied that the final terms represent the
open market value;
(b) The Director of Housing being satisfied with the final details of the affordable
housing provision, including Housing Corporation grant, where appropriate;
(c) These details be approved by the Executive before a final decision is taken;
(d) The Director of Leisure and Community Services being satisfied with the final
detail of the scheme, insofar as it impacts upon the adjoining Talacre Sports
Centre and Talacre Open Space; and
(e) Receipt of detailed planning consent;
(f) The agreements the developer enters into with the travellers and Community
Housing Association proceed; and
(g) Receipt of consent from ODPM to the sale as necessary.
ACTION BY: Chief Executive REASONS
For the reasons set out in the report.
2006 January 10th “Second Property Contract” signed by Camden and TRAC Properties. This was recorded in the public domain as existing as found on Land Registry site by NJH. Camden denied its existence and the legal dept said that as it was not a party to such an agreement, it couldn't get reference to it removed from the LR site.
2007 20th March. Decision sheet (prior to Minutes) of Executive (Environment) sub-group meeting.
LONDON BOROUGH OF CAMDEN
EXECUTIVE (ENVIRONMENT) SUB-GROUP
20TH MARCH 2007
DECISION SHEET (Issued 22nd March 2007)
These decisions will be implemented on the expiry of five working days, unless there is a call-in of any of the decisions to the appropriate Scrutiny Committee (for details on how to do this please contact Kayode Adewumi on 020 7974 5642), in which case any such decision may not be implemented until the resolution of the call in process. If no request for call in is received by Tuesday, 27th March 2007 then the decisions will be implemented.
Please note that this decision sheet is not the official record of the meeting. The decision sheet is an early note of the decisions that were made that we publish to help the call in process. Once the minutes are published, the decision sheet is no longer available. The minutes are the official record of the meeting and of the decisions taken. They will be issued shortly. The Executive (Environment) Sub-Group will be asked to confirm that the minutes are correct at the next available Executive (Environment) Sub-Group.
APOLOGIES
An apology for absence was received from Councillor Ben Rawlings and an apology for lateness was received from Councillor Andrew Marshall.
DECLARATIONS BY MEMBERS OF PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS IN RESPECT OF ITEMS ON THIS AGENDA
Councillor Keith Moffitt declared a personal interest, as he was a member of Living Streets. Councillors Keith Moffitt (Leader) and Mike Greene (Executive Member for Environment) declared a personal interest as they had attended the exhibition of Dalby Street.
DEPUTATIONS
Two deputations were received and noted in respect of item 7 on the agenda, Stopping up of Dalby Street and Associated Highway Works on Prince of Wales Road (CENV/2007/21) from:-
o Luke Akehurst – Director Weber Shandwick
o Nick Harding – Living Streets (Pedestrian Association)
4. TO 6 NOT RELEVANT TO TALACRE PROJECT SO OMITTED HERE
ANNOUNCEMENTS
7. STOPPING UP OF DALBY STREET AND ASSOCIATED HIGHWAY WORKS ON PRINCE OF WALES ROAD (CENV/2007/21)
Addendum to the report was tabled covering the issues below:-
It corrected an error in paragraph 2.16 on the issue of the loss of residents’ parking and
It expanded on the issues officers had considered in assessing the implications of the stopping up anomaly, as set out in paragraphs 2.41 to 2.45 of the report.
The following concerns and issues where raised by the Sub-Group and Members requested officers to ensure that these issues were addressed prior to the approval of the Servicing Management,
Temporary Access, Permanent Access and Pedestrian Access Plans by the Assistant Director (Planning):-
· The need for speed humps to be reviewed and if possible removed from the New Dalby Street;
· Officers to meet with Nick Harding, Camden Contact, Living Streets, (Pedestrian Association) and Camden Cycle Campaign to determine the final width of the zebra crossing island;
· The Access Plans to include details of the Traffic Marshall’s, including assurances that they will be suitability qualified and receive relevant training for the job;
· In the temporary access plan, the developer to amend their proposals to ensure that three vehicles could be stacked up without obstructing visibility and the footway on Prince of Wales Road;
· Officers to obtain assurances that the timescales within the temporary access plan would be adhered to particularly during Stages 3 and 4 and investigate the potential for imposing financial penalties if the timescales were exceeded.
· During construction vehicles should not use the lay-by in Prince of Wales Road except as a holding point for service delivery (for a maximum of 1 minute).
· That the six parking spaces lost as a result of the scheme be replaced within the CA-F controlled parking zone at the developers costs;
· The developer and officers need to revisit the detailed design of the crossing at the mini roundabout with a view to reducing potential conflicts between pedestrians and vehicles dropping off or picking up visitors to the Talacre Sports Centre;
· Officers are to ensure that New Dalby Street and the pedestrian access route are well lit.
RESOLVED –
(i) THAT the objections to the draft stopping up order can be satisfactorily addressed, subject to the approval of the highway works on Prince of Wales Road and the four access plans, and officers should refer the matter to the Greater London Authority stating this view.
(ii) THAT the highway proposals for Prince of Wales Road be approved, as shown in the revised drawing in Appendix J.
(iii) THAT the Assistant Director (Planning) should note the comments provided by the Executive Sub-Group when deciding whether to approve the draft Servicing Management, Temporary Access, Permanent Access and Pedestrian Access Plans.
8.-12 NOT RELEVANT TO TALACRE PROJECT SO OMITTED HERE
CAMDEN LOCAL DEVELOPMENT SCHEME (LDS) 2007 (CENV/2007/37)
CHAIR
Contact: Jennet Moseley. Telephone no: 020 7974 5204 E-mail: jennet.moseley@camden.gov.uk
MINUTES END
2008 Sept 5th. Several documents signed.
#5, #6 and #7, all dated 5.9.08. Several documents were signed on the same day. I don’t know in what order or if the order makes any difference. #5 and #7 were registered at the Land Registry by Camden’s solicitor. 6 was not registered, but appeared to have been referred to in #7
#5. 5.9.08. Camden to Trac Properties Ltd. Document TP1. See TP1 here. Transfer of 3 property titles from Camden to Trac ie NGLs 224388, 894503 and 889589, for £325,000 (as in 4 above). Signed under seal by Mayor etc for Camden. C Fulford for Trac whose signature was witnessed by Beachamps, solicitors. Filed at LR by Berwin Leighton Paisner, solicitors for Camden. The Definitions clause includes
“l.l. ln this Transfer the following words and expressions shall have the following meanings:-"Agreement" means the Conditional Agreement dated 19 April 2005 for Sale and Purchase of the Property made between the Transferor [Camden] and the Transferee [Trac] as varied by a Supplemental Agreement dated 6 July 2007 made between the Transferor [Camden]and the Transferee [Trac].
#6. 5.9.08 Contract or similar between Trac and Cornwall. Not on LR and we don’t have a copy. However, it is referred to in #3 above dated 4.4.06 and #7 below where it says it is on the same day ie 5.9.08 – see there. It evidently includes for the transfer of the land in #5 above to be transferred from Trac to Cornwall.
#7. 5.9.08. Between “Grantor” Cornwall Overseas Developments and “Grantee” Camden. Document TR1. See Title 5 here. Signed by Yotan Yinhal of Cornwall and the Mayor etc for Camden. Filed at the Land Registry as an “Official copy” by Berwin, Leighton Paisner (Camden’s solicitors).
Refers to #6 above ie the transfer by Trac to Cornwall on the same day and to the transfer of the same 3 property titles as in 5 above from Camden to Trac. It includes several pieces of text, relevant to the Overage obligation etc, including
“12.1. The following expressions have the following meanings:- “Second Property Contract” means the conditional agreement for sale dated 10 January 2006 made between London Borough of Camden (1) and the Transferor (2)””. Later references appear in clauses 12.2., 12.2.7, 12.5 and 12.5.4.
2009 June 26th NJH to Mike O'Donnell
3. Overage ie Share of Development Profit
"Rather similar to 2 above, is the situation with regard to the share of development profit of “overage”. This is referred to as being an obligation in the first ie 19.4.05 conditional agreement by Camden (including by Chris Day in his note to the Inspector). The developer, on the other hand, refers to the 10.1.06 agreement. Since I haven’t yet seen the 10.1.06 agreement, I have no means of knowing if the text on “overage” is identical in both agreements."
2009 Oct 6th NJH to Dave Tullis reference to Overage
The contract between TRAC and Cornwall dated 5.9.08 which is on the Talacrefacts site http://sites.google.com/site/talacrefacts/ and was obtained from the Land Registry says that the Second Property Contract, dated 10.1.06, included the “overage” provisions. The prevailing (de facto only) planning approval at that date was the 2005/4187/P one which was, as described above, significantly different from the 2004/2089/P approval. Thus any overage provisions in the Second Property Contract should be more relevant than those under Clause 10 and the second schedule in the Conditional Sales Contract of 19.4.05.
2009 Nov 30th Dave Tullis to NJH response to 10.10.09 re Overage
"3. Land Registry Entry
With reference to the land registry document that mentions the second transaction, and upon further investigation, the Council's legal department have stated that this error occurs in a document to which the Council was not a party, please note that this document is mentioned in another title, not the Council's title document and can only therefore be rectified by the parties to the document by way of deed of variation to the original documents made between them. This error will be brought to the site owner's attention."
2010 January 25th Refusal Notice, stopping further FoIs by declaring NJH to be "Vexatious".
See FOI Requests refused as vexatious here. The Refusal Notice is an attachment at the bottom "FOI M Warby 25.1.10 vexatious etc"
2012 August 4th, NJH to Andrew Maugham, Borough Solicitor (see 10.9.12 above)
Dear Andrew Maughan
I have now established that the Supplementary s106 and re-executed s106s for this development have at last been registered at the Land Registry and have scrutinised them.
Because of the importance of the sup s106, I have put what follows onto the Latest News page of www.savetalacre.co.uk. It is obviously an amateur effort and I have included a clumsily worded health warning – not least because the developer has in the past threatened me.
What I have omitted because they seem pedantic in the context, are the following in case they are of interest:
1. The drawing referred to in clause 2.12 of the Re-executed s106 bears no resemblance to the Plan X drawing provided. It was and is clearly an error. I pointed this out in two FoI requests but Camden, in its wisdom, decreed that they and five other requests were “vexatious”.
2. The date of the planning consent letter is wrongly shown as 10.1.2005 when it should be 10.1.2006. Usually that has been changed in longhand, but not in the versions on the Camden web site or the Land Registry. I mention this for completeness – I can’t imagine it being important.
In view of your department’s unwillingness to respond to what I have sent in the past, I am not expecting anything of substance in reply. I can only hope that this gets read and any relevant action is taken..
THIS IS WHAT IS ON THE LATEST NEWS PAGE OF WWW.SAVETALACRE.CO.UK
“Saturday 4 August 2012 Update
This follows our update of that of 27 July. We have now received from HM land registry copies of the documents which should have been registered there by the developer in October 2008, following the signature of the Supplementary s106 and Re-executed s106 agreements. They reached the Land Registry around 19th July 2012.
Unlike most s106 agreements, this Supplementary s106 agreement contains conditions which we believe are hugely important for anyone contemplating buying a lease of one of the 36 private flats (eg adding £,000s to annual service charges) and for others who have what is termed “an interest in the land”. Hence the detail provided here. What follows is not written by a lawyer and, of course, is no substitute for the due diligence work usually carried out by a buyer’s solicitor shortly before completion. What we hope is that no purchaser will reach a late stage in his decision making without being aware of what he is potentially taking on.
Any member of the public can obtain copies of these agreements by completing Form OC2 and paying a total of £12 for which you can ask for any or all of the documents referred to on the Land Registry site for NGL637463 by ordinary mail (snailmail) – usually arriving within three days in the UK. The completed form needs to be sent to HM Land Registry, Croydon Office, Trafalgar House, 1 Bedford Park, Croydon CR0 2AQ. To find out what documents are available, a search of NGL637463 on the web check site with payment of £4 provides an extract of what is on the Land Registry and available. An extract at 19.7.12 can be found as an attachment at the bottom of this page ("19.7.12. NGL637463-1.pdf").
Our request for these new documents has produced basically what we show in attachments at the bottom of the Planning Agreement page of this site. In addition, the Memorandum and Articles of Association of Cornwall Developments Ltd (reg. In the British Virgin Islands) is provided by the Land Registry. Unlike in the version on our Planning Agreement page, the drawings for both agreements were not collated in the version sent from the Land Registry though the meaning is clear enough in the copies we received.”
Nick
2012 Oct 10th. Aidan Brookes refuses to correspond with NJH due to "vexatious" decision of 25.10.10. See below for detail.
Dear Mr Harding
I have been passed your e-mail of 31 August 2012 by the Borough Solicitor .
As you are aware a decision has been made that the Council will not enter into any communication with yourself in relation to the Dalby Street Scheme and you were declared a vexatious correspondent for freedom of information purposes on 25 January 2010 in relation to the matter.
That being the case the Council will not be responding to your e-mail.
For the avoidance of doubt please note
(i) any correspondence between yourselves and any third party is entirely a matter for yourself and the Council does not wish you to forward it any such correspondence. However given the nature of the correspondence we would suggest that if you wish to contest the matter you seek independent legal advice.
(ii) the Council will not (as you may be suggesting in your e-mail) provide you with what would amount to any form of legal advice on the matter.
I trust this clarifies the situation
Aidan Brookes, Principal Lawyer, Legal Services, London Borough of Camden
2014 May 27th. LBC to JMcC. Response to FOI of 28.4.14. confirming Overage remains an obligation as defined in the Conditional Sale agreement.
Thank you for your request for information, received on 28 April 2014. You requested:
1. I refer to the Conditional Agreement for Sale dated 19 April 2005 between Camden and Trac Properties Ltd for the sale of the Travellers Site and Dalby St at Talacre.
Please inform me as to the present status of the “Overage” agreement within that document.
Response
The present status of the “Overage” agreement is that the liability to pay overage is triggered by the occurrence of the Relevant Date as defined in the Conditional Agreement for Sale. The Relevant Date will be the latest of one of three events set out. In brief (and in general terms) such three events are (1) practical completion, (2) completion of sale or letting and (3) occupation.
I am informed by the Council’s Property Services Division (“PSD”) that such events could well be approaching, but none has not as yet taken place. My colleague in PSD is monitoring the situation.
2. Please include in your response: Any changes in the agreement to the one registered at the Land Registry
Response
There was one variation made to the Conditional Agreement for Sale, but such did not relate to the overage provisions in such agreement.
2021 May 13th. Camden to NJH referring to 2 major errors by lawyers causing Overage which is admitted to be due and saying that due to a failure by Camden's legal dept it is unenforceable.
Dear Nick
Your email below has been passed onto me for a response.
I am sorry if you didn’t receive the further communications that you were expecting.
However I don’t agree the Council has failed to be transparent around the case. Our legal position has been openly disclosed in public statements and has been the subject of open debate in the press. It seems to me that public disclosure of a legal position in a public statement is an exceptionally transparent thing for any Council to do. Additionally, the matter was discussed at great length with you in your own meeting with Cllr Olszewski and Cllr Beales in October 2020.
There is very little that can be added to what Cllr Olszewski and Cllr Beales have already said to you in their meeting. Unfortunately this is not something the Council can “solve” (to use your phrase) -because of the mistakes made in 2008.
As Cllr Olszewski and Cllr Beales told you, when the land was sold in 2008, whilst the terms secured public benefit and met the legal requirement to obtain market value, a fundamental mistake was made by the lawyer who drafted the overage clause in that a charge was not registered. The fact that ownership of the site then passed through a chain of companies registered outside jurisdiction and that the Council effectively consented to this was also very unhelpful but the fundamental error was the that the lawyer dealing did not protect the overage provision through registration of the charge.
We don’t consider the amount of overage was likely to be the figure you quote but nevertheless it was still significant.
However, the essential fact is the overage was not secured in a legally enforceable way.
We can’t retrospectively change or correct the fundamental error from 2008. The officers who dealt with the Land Sale left the Council many years ago so they can’t be “held to account” for the mistakes or even be asked to explain what happened.
Furthermore, at a time of huge pressure on resources, it would be a waste of Council funds (which otherwise could be spent on services to our residents) in pursuing a legal case I am advised we will not win .
But what we can do- and are doing is -is to try to make sure the mistake in 2008 is never repeated. Overage provisions can never guarantee delivery of payment but we do regularly recover significant overage –in 2 recent cases we recovered payments of circa £1,000,000 and £2,000,000 respectively . Furthermore our practice now is to ensure overage provisions on major land sales are checked out by external lawyers.
Even though my response doesn't add to what has already been in the public domain for some time, the case has at least brought the issues around overage clauses into sharp focus –and that is why we are always so careful now in ensuring we do all we can to ensure such clauses actually deliver payment . So I hope this is helpful to you in that sense.
I also hope this is helpful to you in providing further clarification and closure of the issues. Unfortunately we can’t re-open the fundamental error made by the lawyer in 2008 in this case and recover overage on top of the market value sale price. Obviously it is a matter of regret that mistakes were made by the officers who worked for the Council in 2008 but we can’t turn back the clock 13 years. Hence it is very difficult to see what purpose would be served either for officers who are being diverted from very real and immediate priorities (including recovery of overage on other cases) or yourself in engaging in further correspondence revising the same points around the 2008 error.
Regards
Martin
--
Martin Olomofe
Head of Asset Strategy and Valuations
Telephone: 0207 974 1426