1 July (Part 1) - Artful management
The
Rose Bruford College is a fairly prestigious drama and arts college in Sidcup;
maybe not quite as prestigious as The Italia Conti which my daughter attended on
a scholarship - remember them? - but that doesn’t count any more as they went bust about four years ago.
And that is pretty much as far as my interest in Arts Colleges goes apart from
noting that Bexley Council, not unreasonably, looks upon Rose Bruford favourably; maybe too favourably.
When Colin Campbell and Donald Massey were in charge of Bexley Council’s
finances they were both on the board (Governors) of the Rose Bruford College too which managed
to take the derelict Lamorbey swimming pool and one time cinema off of the
Council's hands
at a knockdown price after promising to turn it into student accommodation.
They did no such thing and instead
sold it for three times the price. Didn’t
they do well for themselves?
An insider alleges that the cash is beginning to run out but not so much that there was not enough
to wine and dine the Council Leader and award her an honorary title.
Now Bexley Council has handed a Youth Centre to the college on a 25 year lease
after consulting no one at all and the College has allegedly promised to spend £2 million on refurbishing it.
History suggests that Rose Bruford are much better negotiators than Bexley Council
and the information currently available does not reveal how taxpayers’ interests are being served.