Unlawful £1 college sale 'must never happen again'

A council that sold a college building worth £4.6m for just £1 hopes changes will "make sure nothing like that ever happens again", a meeting was told.

Peterborough City Council officers are "concerned" its disposal of the John Mansfield Centre (JMC) – occupied by City College Peterborough – to a charity in 2020 and "associated financial transactions were unlawful".

Cambridgeshire Police has said three people had been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in a public office. The charity is yet to publicly comment.

A council cabinet meeting on Tuesday approved recommendations, including that the authority assist the police investigation and undertake a comprehensive constitutional review.

A report to the cabinet says the decision to transfer the JMC to the City College Peterborough Foundation was approved in September 2019 and laid out in a "delegated authority form" which was "fundamentally flawed".

Councils can dispose of land "for less than the best consideration that can reasonably be obtained" without needing consent from the secretary of state if the value is £2m or below.

The book value of the JMC was £4.6m but there is no evidence consent was sought.

After the sale, the council – which owns the college – paid rent of nearly £800,000 to the charity, but the cabinet report says there is "no evidence of any written lease or agreement for lease".

There is now uncertainty over the college's current occupation of the JMC.

The discussion at Tuesday's cabinet meeting about the report was brief, so as not to jeopardise the criminal investigation.

But Labour council leader Shabina Qayyum said: "I'd like to commend the officers for undertaking the exercise which can't have been easy but you've done the right thing by the taxpayer that is watching today and obviously by our members."

The sale was done whilst the council was under Conservative control.

Mohammed Jamil, Labour cabinet member for finance, said: "Under our administration we're fully committed to far reaching improvements in relation to both governance and financial management."

He said the recommendations of the report - including the need for cabinet approval before community assets are sold and additional training for officers - seek to take the changes already made "further, in order to make sure nothing like that ever happens again".

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