‘Slippery’ floor row at Liberty Stadium costs Swansea Council £60k so far...
SWANSEA Council has spent £60,000 in the last few months on its legal row with the firm that runs the Liberty Stadium.
The authority is being sued by Swansea Stadium Management Company, the firm set up to run the £33 million facility.
An investigation by the Post revealed the row involves the concourse floors and a number of other issues.
The Post has also discovered that the stadium is not making any money and that no rent has been paid to the council since it opened in July 2005.
SSMC is contracted to pay 30 per cent of its surplus in rent as well as a peppercorn rent.
A report to cabinet, seen by the Post, said: “To date no surplus has been declared and therefore the council has received no rent on the property.”
The council has also questioned the management of the sink fund, the pot of cash used to maintain and repair the stadium that should be financed through revenue created by the 20,000 seater venue.
The report said: “To date the responses received have been somewhat evasive and have not dealt directly with the specific questions.”
The Post has asked for details about the row under Freedom of Information legislation but was refused on grounds of commercial confidentiality.
The council said that it was usual for there to be matters still to be resolved after a major construction project.
A confidential report seen by the Post has revealed the extent of the row with the main bone of contention the concourse floors.
SSMC argues that the floors were not fit for purpose and that they were too slippery.
One claim for a fall has already been lodged against the stadium.
It has spent £105,000 on a new anti-slip covering and believes that the council should force Interserve, the company that built the stadium, to pay for it.
The council argues that there is no evidence to support the claim that the floors were defective.
SSMC has threatened court action and they believe there are a number of other defects, including the public address system.
A spokesperson for the Stadium Management Company said: “There are some issues relating to the building fabric of the stadium which are the subject of discussion between the Stadium Management Company and the council. This was a sizeable construction project and the issues at hand are not unusual in projects of this nature.
“The intention is that these matters will be resolved as quickly as is possible. With respect to the financial issues raised, the company manages and operates the stadium within a clearly defined legal framework and it would not be appropriate at this time for public comment to be made in this respect”
A council spokesman said: “Under the joint venture agreement, the Swansea Stadium Management Company (SSMC) is responsible for the operation and management of the stadium.
“We are discussing a number of issues with SSMC which we hope to resolve as soon as possible.
“All financial matters relating to the management of stadium are a matter for SSMC so it would be inappropriate for the council to comment.”
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by Dean, Swansea
Thursday, January 14 2010, 10:40PM
“This is the same council that charge taxi drivers for their licences, out of that money they are supposed to subsidise owners of wheelchair friendly vehicles, as an ex owner of a taxi company with wheelchair friendly vehicles, we never recieved any such subsidary, we were told there was lack of funds, so where was all the money recieved from taxi drivers going? certainly not back into the taxi business
If the floor in the liberty was defective then its down to the landlord to get it sorted, tennants have rights too, same goes for the tannoy system
The Swansea City Council are a joke full stop and to be totally honest i wouldnt believe a word that comes out of their mouths.....they are a complete and utter farce of a council, just look at the mess they made in the city centre”
by dai evans, swansea
Monday, January 04 2010, 7:26PM
“Bring Ray Welsby back he certainly knows more about local politices and actually cares about people and Swansea, more than can be said about P.B-(two homes)--C.H (so called leader ).”
by Interested tax payer,, Swansea
Monday, January 04 2010, 12:36PM
“Congratulations Mr Welsby, I hope some action will be taken on your points; basically the terms of the agreement were drawn up by the two sports clubs, disguising themselves as STADCO, the council members on the board are outnumbered two to one, if they were ever interested at all, the clubs therefore have no interest in the venue being in profit; as they would have to share this profit with the council, they have rent and rate free offices and superstore outlet, come on Swansea Council, rip up this agreement and draw up a sensible one that would see a reasonable return for the local taxpayers.”
by dai evans, swansea
Friday, January 01 2010, 10:55PM
“All Mumbles business's need customers, especially in the winter months, to survive and be able to pay and keep their staff from unemployment.
These parking charges are certainly going to put many people off in going to mumbles.
Why are these parking charges necessary, because this ruling council of ours just cannot through incompentence balance the books. e/g see comments about how our council handle the so called Gypsy problem and also rent owing from the liberty statium.”
by Stargazer., Marina.
Friday, January 01 2010, 7:50PM
“Mr, Welsby Clase Morriston ?
The Legal Department @ Swansea Council are nothing but a bunch of Capital W's with an Apostrophi 'S on the end .”
by roy.r, swansea
Friday, January 01 2010, 3:32PM
“Here we have in "Ray Welsby" a former councillor, who is honest and totally reliable, who has had many years, of man mangerment experience, who came into politices to serve the people and not just for the financial gains.
When Mr Welsby was not reselected as a councillor we lost a valuable asset to Swansea needs. To remain a totally non-aligned Independent . Mr Welsby turned down offers to other major parties to join their ranks, and because he did not believe that if he could not go along with that party policy, which he did not think was in the best interests of the people of Swansea, he turned down the offer. This is the calibre of the person we have lost to our City. I have know Ray Welsby for over 40 years when we both serve in the "Royal Marine Commando's" where trust and reliance,were part of a robust training criteria.”
by Roy.Adams, Dunvant
Friday, January 01 2010, 2:54PM
“Paul-- I certainly support your views. I have often stated we have cabinet councillors,who are total amatures, being paid professional salaries, playing at professional issues, result total amaterish. There must be a better system of selecting suitable cabinet councillors than we have at present.”
by Council tax payer, not Father Christmas
Friday, January 01 2010, 2:53PM
“Cardiff Blues have to pay £60,000 for every game they play at the Cardiff City Stadium.
So why isn't there a similar flat charge to those teams who rent the Liberty Stadium?
If their rent depends on the Stadium being in profit it's obvious to all they will do everything in their power to make sure the Stadium is forever in the red.
Cllr. Welsby, well done for exposing this outrageous scandal.”
by Paul Jones, Swansea
Friday, January 01 2010, 12:38PM
“Yet another example of how incompetent our council is. We are paying professional salaries to amateurs.”
by Ray Welsby, Clase Morriston
Friday, January 01 2010, 12:11PM
“"Dean Swansea"
Dean Swasea council purchased the ground and the lease from Swansea City when they ran into financial problems.They then leased the ground back to them "But" they still failed to pay the renting of the ground and the taxpayers of Swansea were subsidising the club. The council at the time was run by Labour and they handed the problem to the Lib/dem coalition who failed to address the situation and the same is happening at the Liberty stadium.The club failed to abide by their agreement at the Vetch Field and the council could have taken proceedings against them and cancelled the contract. But as the people of Swansea can see we have a legal department, who are not keeping an eye on legal binding contracts. I hope this will go some way to answering your question Dean?.”