Change of ownership2

A new decade has arrived and with it the news that the Pleasurama site has a new (old) owner. The owner of the freehold is Ltd Company Ramsgate Development Co Ltd which up to November 2019 was owned by Colin Hill who used his puppet retired accountant as owner of the 100 shares, however as of the 3rd November 2019 these shares were transferred to Martin Carlo Rigden making him not only the lead director but sole owner of the Ltd Company.

At the same time the charge imposed by the Mintal Group (actually Colin Hill again) was satisfied in full. This implies that £3,434,346 was paid to Colin Hill by the new owner to give Martin Rigden clear title to the freehold

However what also seems to have happened is the money spent on the site is now in excess of £11M which seems to be an extraordinary sum considering what has really been spent on it over the years.

Accounts 2019

Expenditure
In 2013 I wrote a blogpost (read it here) which laid out the known expenditure :-

Item	Narrative	Cost	Evidence
Lease	3X 199 years	£550000	Dr Sue McGonigal
Deposit	Refundable to SFP	£1000000	Dr Sue McGonigal
Cliff repairs	Contribution	£100000	TDC & Painter
Roadworks and Storm drain	KCC Highways	£600000	Painter to BBC
Planning application	FRC Frewster	£22000	TDC
Total		£2272000

Since then (bar maintenance) the only known maintenance on the site is the cost of the site obelisks which according to Cardy weren't paid for from Colin Hill's funds (this amount was in the region of £750K according to the sub-contractor who did the actual work.

Then in 2016 Ramsgate Development Co Ltd bought the freehold for £3M however they didn't actually pay this amount as the deposit of £1M was deducted, the interest on said deposit was deducted as was the cost of the 3x199 year leases @ £550K meaning just under £2M was paid over.

That makes a figure of around £5M and not the £11M that appears in the current accounts.

Change of ownership

In March 2019 things changed within this ongoing saga with Colin Hill "giving up" ownership of the Pleasurama site.

Well at least on paper he has.
In March Martin Carlo Rigden became the person with significant control at least according to Companies house.
In reality Colin Hill still retains control by virtue of two legal charges he holds over the controlling company "RAMSGATE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LIMITED" (09422758) details provided here.

 So nothing changes and even after 21 years it seems we await TDC taking back control of the site. Whether they have either the money or even the will to listen to the people of Ramsgate only time will tell. Certainly nothing will happen until the Development Agreement drawn up by the UKIP administration in 2016 hits the long stop date sometime in 2020. The main issue with this DA is the fact the details were never published so whatever the agreement it is shrouded in secrecy and details are locked away. That there is a deal is undisputed as the Land Registry notes TDC's involvement in the land to this date.

Here is the full title deeds

19 years wasted

May 26th will see the 19th anniversary of the fire that destroyed Pleasurama. 19 wasted years will claim and counter claim. The alleged "firestarter" is no longer with us but his legacy remains.

credit John Weatherly

Credit John Weatherly

credit Paul Narramore

What a waste of the last 19 years.

So what happened to Mike Stannard the man who the Labour Councillors said would resurrect this building site? Well it seems Mike Stannard has joined the list of Labour Councilors in being shafted by the real "puppeteers" behind this landbanking scheme. Today (because Companies House makes it hard to hide behind foreign companies) we have "persons with significant control" documents. This is the Company documents of the Ramsgate Development Company Ltd which clearly show the 100 shares are in the name of Albert Hollis (Colin Hill's tame ex accountant) but significant control is held by Colin Hill and his son Robbie James Hill.

You will note that their address is in Switzerland however Stutton House near Ipswich is where they live when in England. Current value circa £25M a far cry from the mess they have caused on Ramsgate Seafront.

Currently the people of Ramsgate and UKIP TDC is being held to ransom by these two men and legally there is nothing that can be done.

Land Registry search

Since the freehold of the land was sold I have been waiting for Land Registry to catch up. All land tranfers will appear on the Land Registry portal eventually.

I blogged on this last month http://pleasurama.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/post-freehold-purchase.html

and before that here http://pleasurama.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving.html

Now it seems that the site registry has completed. It throws up some interesting facts.

This is the area subject to the transfer

Price stated £3M which is at variance to the TDC press announcement of £3.515M, I wonder why?

The land cannot be sold or mortgaged without the written permission of Mintal Group Inc which as we know is Colin Hill and his son Robbie.

"(04.08.2016) Option to purchase in favour of Thanet District Council contained in a Option Agreement dated 20 July 2016 made between (1) SPF Ventures (UK) Limited (2) Thanet District Council and (3) Cardy Construction Limited upon the terms therein mentioned"

The above appears on the charges register however it is unclear why Cardy Construction are involved at the deal was made between Cardy Ramsgate Ltd not Cardy Construction. Has TDC's lawyers made a mistake?

Ian Driver blogged on this recently http://thanetgreencouncillor.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/pleasurama-labours-excuse-factory.html However I'm not sure if he is aware of the Land Registry documents. Neither am I aware whether he knows about the former roundabout which seems to have been removed from the Registry. "The Freehold land shown edged with red on the plan of the above title
filed at the Registry and being Land lying to the south of Wellington Crescent, Ramsgate.
NOTE: So much of the land tinted pink on the title plan as consists of highway maintainable at public expense is excluded from the registration."
So who owns this land?

Interesting that Mike Stannard's Cardy Construction has been granted outline planning on the site of the former Brooke Marine now owned by Flight Services SA which is another Colin Hill company.

The story of how Hill acquired the land is blogged here http://pleasurama.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/max-bygraves.html

Post freehold purchase

If you cast your mind back to a previous blog http://pleasurama.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving.html

"What is abundantly clear is TDC complete on the sale of the Freehold thereby absolving themselves from any further interest in the ownership of the site. Now all they have to do is hope the Development Agreement to build is watertight and that Mike Stannard can actually build out the site because if he cannot the ball is firmly back in TDC's hands assuming they have a watertight Development Agreement. (Something they have a poor track record of enforcing)"

Well further information has arrived in my mailbox and a quick check on Companies House has given up the following information.

 Seems that Stannard has resigned from SFP and Colin Hill's tame accountant has taken over. The Company has changed name and the registered address has gone back to where it started from. So what happened to Cardy Ramsgate Ltd the real owner of the freehold

Well Colin Hill has finally stuffed TDC, Stannard has gone and it's all in Colin Hill's hands so how will TDC enforce the built.



Q 4. What provisions are in place to ensure that the site will be developed? 

In the agreement, there is a long-stop date of three and a half years with measurable milestones, by which the site must be developed. If it is not developed then the council has an option to buy it back. The first milestone relates to the completion of piling (and certified practical completion of that piling) for the hotel within two years. The second milestone relates to completion of the building works so they are ready to be fitted out within three and a half years. If those milestones are not met, the council has an option to purchase the site back from Cardy Ramsgate Limited. 

 Note the agreement signed by the previous Labour administration forces TDC to buy their own site back if it isn't developed. Now remind me isn't that what happened to Peterborough Council in 2010. It cost them £8M to get their land back and it cost Hill nowt. Nice little earner. http://pleasurama.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/making-easy-5-million.html

From this

To this

A prediction Hill will not build and he will hold out for the next 3 and a half years and force TDC to pay him circa £10M to get the site back.

I would like to say a belated well done (sarcasm) to Iris Johnson, David Green and Rick Everitt for selling TDC and the people of Ramsgate down the river. For what? circa £3.5M over 7 years. what will it cost in lost revenue? who bloody knows.

For Stephanie, this is the conservation area. Pleasurama is outside of it