Westway
Development Trust: market forces cast
cloud over property developer - 1/5
This research document will
make little sense if you haven't read
Brian Deer's Notting
Hell from The Sunday
Times of June 17 2001. In July 2002 the
trust renamed itself Westway Development
Trust. A Westway
Development Trust index of materials is
also available
THE
NORTH KENSINGTON AMENITY TRUST [NOW
WESTWAY DEVELOPMENT TRUST] AND THE
WESTWAY MARKET
This
document was written by Brian Deer. It
should be read in conjunction with his
investigation in The Sunday Times
Magazine of 17th June 2001 and two
reports similar in format to this
document supplied to the Charity
Commission for England and Wales at the
time of publication:
(a) A
report on the trust and the Subterania
night-club. Evidence
attached to that report, xxx xxx xxx xxx
xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx,
are indexed with the prefix [S].
(b) A
report on the trust and Mr Lyn
Hardy-Smith. Evidence
attached to that, which concerns an
unwarranted libel prosecution, are
indexed with the prefix [L].
The
fog begins to lift when all of this
material is interrelated. xxx xxx xxx xxx
xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx
xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx
xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx
xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx
xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx
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(A)
THE MARKET AREA
Almost
since its inception, the North Kensington
Amenity Trust [since renamed Westway
Development Trust] has licensed
a market operation on its land.
Currently, this market extends along
Thorpe Close London W10 5XL, as well as a
fixed-structure canopied area (described
as a "tent") and an area of
Acklam Road. This location is immediately
outside the trust's offices, literally
obstructing easy access. When in
operation, it can be surveyed from the
director's first floor office desk. Staff
and trustees coming and going must pass
directly through it. Unlike with, say,
the night-club, nobody could be in any
doubt about the location, nature and
scale of this operation.
The
market is currently licensed to operate
on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, as
explained in a 2001 tender document [M1]
and has relied for its success on its
proximity to the vastly bigger Portobello
Road market which is operated by the
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
From Ladbroke Grove underground station,
many visitors to Portobello Road pass
through Thorpe Close.
A
survey, carried out by another market
operator counted the number of stalls on
a Saturday at 290. Each trader is
understood to pay £35 per day to the
licensee - enterprises operated by xxxx
xxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx, Maurice Samuel Nixon
(dob 10/02/55) and other individuals
operating loosely around the enterprises
trading as "Countrywide
Markets". It is understood that Mr
Nixon has operated the market for about
20 years.
Based
on a crude calculation for the Saturday
market - and taking account of lesser
trading activity on other days - the
other market operator assessed the gross
take in rent by Mr Nixon from stall
holders as follows:
290
x £35 = £10,150 per Saturday
x 50
weeks = £507,500 per annum
plus
Friday and Sunday trading
estimated
gross per annum = £700,000
This
money is received as cash, collected
individually from stall holders on site
by Mr Nixon's associates.
Until
1994 accounts of the North Kensington
Amenity Trust included itemised details
of "income from properties".
See, for instance page 5 of [S7]
in the Subterania evidence. No
information, however, is included in this
report, or any other that Brian Deer has
found, concerning the income to the
charity for the market operation. In more
recent accounts, the itemisation of the
other properties has gone. As a
development trust, one might assume that
the trust would wish to showcase the
market as a prime example - if not THE
prime example - of its regenerative
success and income-generation for good
causes. It does not, however, do so. From
the charity's literature, you would
hardly realise that the market even
existed, much less be inspired to ask
questions about it.
A
request [M2] was made to the trust
to supply details of income from the
market prior to the tender process for
which [M1] was issued. Among other
things, Brian Deer asked Chris Bailey,
the trust's marketing manager to reveal
the income to the trust from the market
tender under the expired apparent
contract with Mr Nixon. On 18th July, Mr
Bailey responded, refusing to give the
information - on the grounds of
commercial confidentiality.
Receipts
given to stall holders by Mr Nixon's
associates are torn from a duplicate book
supplied by Rymans or some other
stationery outlet. He is said to attend
in the area personally from time to time
and is alleged to drive a Rolls Royce
vehicle.
More
solid documentation concerning the
market's gross takings, business affairs
and the application of the cash may have
been destroyed. During the tender
process, Mr Nixon issued a leaflet to
stall holders [M3] noting, among
other things, a tragic mishap:
"I
would ask you to copy everything that you
may send to the trust, as tragically our
'Portobello' archive was destroyed by
fire last year. It is in all our
interests not to give information to
strangers or competitors."
This
document was easily available to the
trust - which would have been able to
assess its implications during the
tendering process.
(B)
XXXX XXX XXXXX XX XXXXXX XXXX
Brian
Deer first approached the trust with
regard to his inquires for The Sunday
Times in August 2000. As documented
elsewhere, he was greeted with hostility,
obstruction and a series of unwarranted
complaints to his editors. Letters were
received from: the trust's chair since
1993, Gerald Gordon, a
circuit judge sitting at the Central
Criminal Court; from the trust's director
since 1976, Mr Roger Matland;
from the chair of the trust's properties
and planning committee since 1984, Mr
Martin Owen; and from Mr Martin Sinclair
Taylor, the trust's solicitor apparently
since its inception.
In
the course of his inquiries, Brian Deer
obtained an undated internal trust list
of selected trustees and staff [M4].
The purpose of this list may be purely
bureaucratic and it may have been
compiled for any number of reasons -
perhaps for some kind of event, committee
or working party. Nevertheless, it
provides useful abbreviated background on
what may be some kind of inner circle at
the trust.
The
obstruction of Brian Deer's inquiries and
the complaints to Sunday Times executives
delayed publication, consumed
professional time and created obstacles
to information-gathering. As a result,
some important leads were not
followed-up. One of the most important
was xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx
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xxx
[PARAGRAPH
WITHHELD]
[PARAGRAPH
WITHHELD]
[PARAGRAPH
WITHHELD]
[PARAGRAPH
WITHHELD]
The
trust is notoriously litigious. The libel
prosecution of Mr Lyn Hardy-Smith related
directly to Mr Nixon and the marketplace.
Mr Nixon is specifically identified in
the letter [L2] to the chair of
the charity - on the basis of which the
trustees and Roger Matland have
perversely pursued Mr Hardy-Smith since
1987. Among other things, the letter
says:
"During
the conversation between Mr Hardy-Smith
and Mr Ramsey, Mr Hardy-Smith said 'Did
you hear about the court case?' Tony
replied 'Yes I did and I am in trouble
aren't I, but I was told to sign the
affidavit by Maurice after Roger had
phoned him and Maurice is the boss."
Also:
"Later
in the day Mr Hardy-Smith explained that
at a previous meeting between him and
Tony, Tony had confided to him that he
knew the details contained in the
affidavit were untrue but had no option
other than to sign it because of pressure
being put on Countrywide director Maurice
by Roger Matland of NKAT."
The
prosecution over this letter - actually
signed by a now-deceased local councillor
and almost certainly privileged under law
and demonstrably without malice - has
struck fear in the hearts of those who
might otherwise come forward with
complaints about the trust.
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