£2.8m Saddlers Centre loss shock: Questions raised over council purchase

The latest accounts for Topland (Saddlers Walsall) Limited show the firm made a loss of £2.8m in the 2015/16 financial year, while it also declined in value by more than £600,000 from £16m to £15.38m.

It comes as Walsall Council is ‘weeks’ away from completing the purchase of the centre for more than £13m and has justified its huge outlay by saying the centre will make money for the council. It claims it will net the authority £835,000 per year, despite the accounts showing it is losing money.

The authority needs to save £86m by 2020 and has shut nine libraries and slashed hundreds of jobs in the borough in an attempt to make savings.

But the latest findings have led to politicians questioning the purchase of the Saddlers Centre. Councillor Mike Bird, the leader of the Conservative opposition in Walsall, said: “I have already asked the chief executive to investigate this. I am led to believe that when my group asked at the council meeting if anyone had seen the accounts they were told they were not available as they were part of Topland as a whole.

“These accounts beg the question – how safe is the money that we are putting up for the people of Walsall?

“I am very concerned that this purchase no longer seems to be what was proposed.”

Former mayor and councillor Pete Smith added: “It seems that this purchase has raised more questions. If the accounts seemed to be pointing to a gloomy rather than a rosy future for the centre, why should cash-strapped Walsall Council step in to take this on? Were all of the councillors armed with the full facts before the decision was made?

“The leadership of Walsall Council must now make a full and frank statement as to what details about the company were known before the decision was made to purchase the Saddlers Centre, Walsall Council taxpayers need reassurance that they haven’t been ‘sold a pup’.”

Walsall Council said it carried out ‘due diligence’ regarding the purchase of the centre.

A council spokesman said: “Full due diligence was undertaken by leading international commercial property advisers Cushman & Wakefield and legal advice and due diligence was provided by external legal advisers Freeths LLP. The council’s cabinet took account of all of this advice in its decision making process and remains satisfied that the investment is a sound one which will bring in income of some £835,000 per year. This is income which the council wouldn’t have otherwise had available to provide much valued services to its residents.”

The Labour-run authority made the decision to purchase the centre at a private meeting earlier this month.