Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Alan Stanton asks for Charles Adje's resignation over Ally Pally (but Adje 'doesn't see why he should')
From the Haringey Independent
A Labour councillor has broken ranks to call for his boss's resignation over the Alexandra Palace affair.
Embattled Councillor Charles Adje, Haringey Council's cabinet member for finance, has been asked to resign by a fellow Labour councillor Alan Stanton.
Mr Stanton said Mr Adje should take responsibility for the stinging criticism of the council regarding its handling of the sale of the lease for Alexandra Palace.
He said in his blog earlier today: "There is a long and honourable tradition in British politics that the person who holds senior political office should take responsibility for the failures of subordinates.
"As anyone who has met Mr Adje knows, he can be both charming and graceful. In his own and the borough's interest he should now go gracefully.
"There's a council meeting this evening where this matter will be raised by the opposition."
A Labour councillor has broken ranks to call for his boss's resignation over the Alexandra Palace affair.
Embattled Councillor Charles Adje, Haringey Council's cabinet member for finance, has been asked to resign by a fellow Labour councillor Alan Stanton.
Mr Stanton said Mr Adje should take responsibility for the stinging criticism of the council regarding its handling of the sale of the lease for Alexandra Palace.
He said in his blog earlier today: "There is a long and honourable tradition in British politics that the person who holds senior political office should take responsibility for the failures of subordinates.
"As anyone who has met Mr Adje knows, he can be both charming and graceful. In his own and the borough's interest he should now go gracefully.
"There's a council meeting this evening where this matter will be raised by the opposition."
Tags for Forum Posts: ally pally
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Eddie Finnegan on
-
And who, may we know, presided over our Icelandic investments? The Cabinet Member for Finance can hardly have been 37,000,000 miles removed from that stunning achievement.
-
Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
-
I WILL be going along this evening to the council meeting to see if Councillor Charles Adje, current Head of Finance, will accept responsibility for the mult-million pounds losses and waste at AP.
Although Adje is not solely to blame, between him and Holder, probably no two people made a greater contribution to the present state of affairs. In the case of Keith Edwin Holder, the former general manager, retired about twice, it is believed that his consultancy contract "Edwin Holder Associates" was not renewed.
Councillor Alan Stanton's Flickr blog is here.
-
Permalink Reply by matt on
-
According to the BBC the London Borough of Haringey does not have money bound up in the Banks of Iceland. That is, a list of councils that do have money tied up in banks of Iceland are listed on Ceefax (pg 126). Haringey isn't on it.
-
-
THAT BBC list is several days old now and reflects the fact that Haringey was slow to own up to the £37,000,000 exposure that they do have to banks in Iceland, as was admitted last night in the council chamber by the Leader in the full council meeting (several postings in different threads to this website over the last few days refer to the £37m potential losses).
Haringey managed to rack up one of the biggest exposures of any local authority in the country, by oh-so-cleverly skirting the guideline to limit exposure to any one bank to £20m.
Haringey, whose Head of Finance is CHARLES ADJE (of Alexandra Palace infamy), invested a little under the limit (£19,800,000) in Heritable Bank and then overspill into Landsbanki (£15,200,000 of our money). The trouble is, this is effectively one bank because Heritable is a subsidiary of Landsbanki. The guidelines which were intended to spread risk were interpreted without common sense (the balance is made up by exposure to a second Icelandic bank - Glitner, a third name).
These huge sums, which may or may not be recovered, eclipse even the millions upon millions of our cash that will probably never be recovered from the reckless pursuit of the failed Firoka deal at Alexandra Palace. Charles Adje takes no responsiblity for any of this even though the independent Walklate Report fingered Adje more than anyone else.
Councillor Adje has now moved on to become involved with the neglected Hornsey Town Hall. Will the trail of destruction end there? Councillor Adje should do the decent thing and hand over to someone else.
-
Permalink Reply by Liz on
-
The buck it seems stops firmly with hapless council officials and not with the member for Finance. Makes you wonder why they have portfolios if they only take responsibility for the 'good stuff' and hand the blame for mistakes (or should that be catastrophes) over to nameless officers when it suits them. He should know what his officials are doing with our money and be aware of the risks, even if he personally doesn't oversee individual transactions. 'Doing the decent thing' doesn't seem to be in this man's vocabulary, he appears ready to brazen it out and Meehan seems ready to support him.
See this story from the Haringey Independent about last nights meeting.
-
Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
-
I wish to make a sincere and grovelling apology for my grave omission in this matter. I now realise that I had a solemn duty to inform HarringayOnline of this posting on Flickr. Or at least to email Hugh and Liz!
So thanks to Clive for spotting it and giving the link to my photoblog. (Naturally I won't compromise his anonymity by disclosing Clive's top-secret Flickr nom de guerre.)
-
-
I know, fancy me having to find it out from the H Independent, Alan (serves me right for not reading your blog more attentively).
btw Are there any other Haringey Councillors who blog?
Clive, we look forward to your views on tonight's meeting.
-
-
FROZEN bank accounts were discussed at the first part of the meeting. Any absence of information in the circumstances could encourage panic and consternation. I thought Councillor Alan Stanton did the right thing yesterday in getting out as quickly as possible the information that council salaries would be paid as normal, despite the Icelandic bank problems. It's good to see a councillor using wisdom and common sense, even if this might be at variance with a rule.
It's a pity that the same cannot be said for Councillor Charles Adje (Haringey's current Head of Finance, in charge of an enormous budget) who can't interpret guidelines on limits to exposure to any one bank in a similar way. This man ducks responsibility, does not behave honourably and has the hide of a rhinocerous. He has behaved disgracefully. Should this man be trusted with £500, let alone £500,000,000?
The property developer Firoz Alibhai Kassam has been seen off, but the Adje period at Alexandra Palace marked Haringey's lowest point in its stewardship of our Charitable Trust. Charles Adje is the man who would have stood aside and watched his chum at Firoka bulldoze the world's first television studios and no one should forgive him for that.
Councillor Adje has not yet resigned and appears for now to want to brazen it out. He has the support, at least for the moment, of the council leader: Do you have confidence in the cabinet member for resources? "Yes", which isn't the most fulsome praise imaginable.
Cllr. Adje claimed that he was at all times acting in the best interests of Haringey and trying to make sure that the £40m of "investment" came in to Ally Pally. (this figure of £40m is yet a new figure. In the past I've seen the quoted figure as £75m, £65m and £55m and £45m and £35m. The truth is that the figure was always speculative and the likelihood of Firoka of fulfilling expectations has to be judged by their track record. Hint: try Googling Kassam and Oxford United football club. Mr Kassam would probably have a borrowed a million or two - if he was able - and made some token improvements to AP before coming back with new demands.)
The main point for me from the meeting was that the current Chairman, Matt Cooke admitted that there are severe governance problems at AP and that a transfer of the trusteeship might be contemplated once the trading company (APTL) was firmly enough established to assure the future.
-
Permalink Reply by GN8 on
-
Did anyone see the Haringey people magazine today?
Page 21 Title 'Top Architects for Hornsey' (town hall)
" Their appointment comes after the council agreed to kick start the town hall project with funding of up to £6 million...
... Clls Adje cabinet member for resources said: local people told us clearly that Hornsey town hall should be safe guarded for community use and that is what we are doing."
I just find it interesting that he crops up here as well...
It also has at the bottom of the page
KEY DATES
November 2008 - Brief Design Approved
June 2009 - Planning application submitted
January 2010 - Main contractor approved and work begins
It gives the impression that this is a done deal!!!!!
I thought that any approval of planning application should take into account any comments made on it and should not be prejudicial ...
-
Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
-
Now you know why you need a local charter....
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
