the council's latest favours to the rich
On Monday, the Evening Post published the latest leak from the city council's Head of PR, Peter Holt to the paper's Ian Onions about Bristol City's new stadium. “A complaint has been made to the European Commission in an attempt to derail plans for a new stadium at Ashton Vale,” the paper thundered.
As usual our local newspaper and the council's top PR man are completely out-of-the-loop and therefore unable to provide any details of this complaint beyond claiming, “It centres on two council-owned parcels of land given to Bristol City FC to allow the stadium project to go ahead. The complainant alleges the club secured an unfair advantage when the land was transferred.”

Now the Bristol Blogger can exclusively bring you the gory details of the complaint. In fact, attached is a copy of the actual complaint now in the hands of the European Commission.

It is indeed about the city council providing unlawful state aid to the football club by exchanging two parcels of their land - one at the club's existing Ashton Gate stadium, the other prime housing development land at Ashton Vale - for subsidised gym memberships at the new stadium and some limited use of their conference facilities.

The specific issues in the complaint are:

- the valuations of the land were not independently produced

- the land was only valued by a council employee and only one valuation obtained

- the valuations of the land are lower than previous valuations and significantly lower than values that could easily be obtained on the open market

- the land was not offered for sale on the open market

- no other party has been allowed to bid to buy the land

- the benefits (ie. Gym membership) were not independently valued

- the benefits were only valued by a council employee and only one valuation obtained

- the benefits appear hugely overvalued

- the benefits were valued by the same authority who valued the land

- in fact the benefits were valued by the same man - Alun Owen, Director Special Projects - who valued the land

- the benefits were not valued by someone with expertise in the valuation of gym and conference facilities

- the authority has not informed the European Commission of its intention to provide state aid to Bristol City Football Club as required under Article 108 (3) of the EU Treaty, neither has the EU given consent to this aid.

The council insists it has done nothing wrong with these land deals and they claim they have followed the correct legal procedures throughout. And, we're assured, “council officials are privately confident that the complaint, made anonymously, will not unhinge the stadium plans.”

The club's chief executive Colin "the man of good judgment" Sexstone says, "the complaint looks like a complete non-starter."

If you say so mate.

City chairman, tax-avoider Steve Lansdown, meanwhile is said to be “furious”. But he may not be as furious as some people in Bristol are that the city council is giving up our land at knockdown prices as a favour to a tax avoider in the middle of a recession.