• REGARDING the report on the Talacre development scandal (Lawyers tell Town Hall: Forget £3million debt – it can’t be collected, August 6), there are better methods of ensuring the people of Camden do not get ripped off again by greedy developers.

A type of “garnishee” order could be placed on all funds from flats sold until the developers have paid back the true value of the purchased land as promised.

The “overage” system that’s currently in place, is based largely on an element of trust, which allows developers to use the council like a bank, with the added benefit of avoiding paying any interest or putting up any collateral.

It gives the developer the privilege to defer paying the true value of council land until after they have sold all the units; which means that each time the council sanctions such a deal, it is gambling on the premise that all developers are honest.

Participating in such a loose financial arrangement, not only creates the element of risk but it can also produce the potential for corruption.

A cloud of mystery still hangs over the identity of the person who valued this prime land for such a low price of £300,000, on which the developer built 36 units that he sold for £21million.

The loss of more than £3million caused by the council’s lack of due diligence over the deal, together with its reluctance in pursuing the debt, has meant that the people of Camden have missed out on vital resources which could have financed numerous needy programmes and reduced the cuts in others.

Meanwhile, in some distant offshore tax haven account, the missing millions of Camden are safely stashed away, allowing another developer to sail blissfully into the sunset, leaving the council to contemplate how best to retrieve it.

MIKE GEORGE
Queen’s Crescent, NW5