The owner of a car dealership forced to close as part of the aborted Friarsgate redevelopment has hit out at what he claims are “misleading and inaccurate” statements made by Lichfield District Council.
The Tempest Ford garage was one of the casualties of the scheme after losing the city centre home it had occupied in preparation for building work to begin – even though a shovel never made it into the ground as the redevelopment failed to find the money needed to make it a reality, despite more than a decade of planning.
Cllr Mike Wilcox, leader of Lichfield District Council has previously defended the decision to remove the business before funding for Friarsgate was in place, insisting the local authority had worked with the company in an attempt to secure a new site.
But in a scathing email to councillors seen by LichfieldLive, Tempest Ford’s owner Brian Carruthers has hit out at the council leader’s version of events and “patronising” quotes made by the council’s leadership regarding the garage’s decision to close rather than relocate.
“We did work closely with Lichfield District Council and senior representatives from the developer U+I,” Mr Carruthers said. “But it is totally untrue to claim that none were fully pursued.
“We were successful in acquiring the Naturana site on Eastern Avenue and we were successful in securing funding to redevelop the site as a car dealership, and our plans for the conversion into a car showroom were approved by the planning department and Ford. All of this was communicated in meetings with key personnel and by email.
“You can see what strategic progress we were making when, out of the blue, we were instructed that we had to leave our site by July 27, 2017. We were told at the time that this was because lawyers were concerned that if we failed to leave by September 30, the Lichfield District Council and U+I partnership would face penalty charges of £100,000 per week with the contractors waiting to commence work on the site.
“In desperation we searched for a temporary site where we could relocate the dealership to until our Eastern Avenue site was ready. We were successful in identifying a site in Shenstone which was approved by Ford.
“We went back to Cllr Wilcox and U+I confident that we would gain agreement to remain on our site until September 30 when the Shenstone site would be ready, but again our request to remain until then was turned down and we were told July 23 was the date we had to adhere to.
“It is apparent that Cllr Wilcox is being economical with the truth when he states it came as a surprise when we did not progress with the opportunities – what opportunity? He had closed all the doors.”
Mr Carruthers said that auditors had told his company that the decision to remove Tempest Ford from the city centre site before a new location was ready meant that they no longer had a trading address and were therefore technically insolvent – leaving him with no alternative but to close the business.
And he believes Cllr Wilcox and the leadership team at Lichfield District Council still have big questions to answer.
“At the time we were evicted from our site how uncertain was the funding situation for the Friarsgate development?” Mr Carruthers said. “All the evidence would suggest it was high risk at the time, in which case why did Cllr Wilcox not step in and reassure U+I that I was a man of integrity and my word, and recommend that we should be allowed to remain on the Birmingham Road site until there was greater clarity on the financial status of the Friarsgate project?
“Are the council aware of just how much it has cost them in lost rent and business rates from Tempest Ford? Up to the present time it amounts to around £200,000. Then there is the cost of security for our demolished site. Who has paid for that? Our new site on Eastern Avenue is also still vacant and so there has been the loss of business rates there as well for the last 12 months.
“The deep irony is that had we been allowed to remain on our Birmingham Road site, our new premises would have been ready by now and Tempest Ford would still be successfully operating in our beautiful city.”
Lichfield District Council say that the Birmingham Road site has only ever been a temporary location for the Tempest Ford garage as the site has been earmarked for redevelopment. They added that they had worked with the company since 2006 to help them secure a long-term permanent home.
Cllr Wilcox said: “On April 21, 2017, as the deadline for vacating the Friarsgate site approached, Brian Carruthers, managing director of Tempest Ford, sent myself and U+I, the Friarsgate developers, a very positive email. In it he told us he had identified a temporary premises in Shenstone and was set to work with the council’s planning team to apply for a change of use. He also asked the council and developers to look into any other support we could give.
“He suggested we could discuss the opportunity further during an already planned conference call arranged for April 25 with U+I, myself and the council’s Friarsgate director. However we received notice before the planned conference call that the Tempest Ford board had met over the weekend and decided to put the company into liquidation. At the same time Brian Carruthers requested to cancel the Tuesday conference call.
“While we are saddened that the business closed, this was a decision made by Tempest Ford.
“Had they been able to put together a viable relocation plan, we would have continued to work with them to support this.”
The council confirmed that contractor penalties had not been paid as a contractor had not been appointed for the aborted scheme.
