The Liberal Democrats have pressed Labour in Ealing to reveal more details of £3m spend to date on the Victoria Hall Hotel scheme.

Shockingly Liberal Democrats can reveal that Ealing Labour have wasted £3m of council tax payers money on the delayed hotel scheme for the old Town Hall. The building is grade II listed and still houses the council chamber for its governance.

The Liberal Democrat opposition in the London Borough of Ealing have been challenging Labour by asking difficult questions.

This spend is shocking as the deal with Mastcraft is for £2.5m for a 250 year lease. If the deal falls through the council is subject to an additional payment of £350,000 on top of the £3m spent to date as well as the loss of income from the renting out of space to community groups. It is estimated that there is a further £250,000 per annum income forgone for each year that passes.  

Thus with increased delay the white elephant of the old town hall is haemorrhaging council tax payers money and the flow needs to be staunched.   Of the £3m spent to date over £800,000 has been spent on  professional advisors including legal, property and project management advisers making it almost 30% of total spend. This comes on the heels of the recent cancellation of the demolition and rebuilding of Perceval House citing economic viability issues.  

"The Labour administration has wasted £3m of council tax money on a white elephant hotel scheme for the old town hall. Surely it is time to review the approach and look anew at what can be done. 

The longer this drags on the more the costs will spiral out of control. It shows Labour's maladministration and their inability to steer and govern the council tax payers assets. This comes at a critical time when a draft Local Plan is being developed which outlines a development framework for the next 15 years and looks across all of the borough's land and building assets."