Westminster cemeteries scandal
The Westminster cemeteries scandal was a British
Order of the sale
The sale was ordered by Shirley Porter, the Conservative leader of WCC at the time, in order to save the annual maintenance costs of £422,000, with the upkeep of the cemeteries passing to the new owner.[4][2] However, the deal had been handled with such incompetence by WCC that the maintenance agreement only applied to the immediate purchaser of the cemeteries and not to any subsequent owners; the cemeteries were re-sold by the purchaser for £1.25 million on the same day that he had acquired them.[2] Without maintenance, the cemeteries soon became overgrown, headstones were vandalised, and they were frequented by drug addicts.
Declaration that the sale was unlawful
In 1988, following a public outcry, the
Peter Bradley, the deputy Leader of the Labour Group at Westminster Council, said:
"Shirley Porter will go down in history as the woman who sold three council cemeteries for five pence each and David Weeks will go down in history as the man who bought them back for £4.25 million."[11]
See also
References
- Footnotes
- ^ Dimoldenberg 2006, p. 27.
- ^ a b c d Hosken 2006, p. 100.
- ^ Broom, Douglas (2 July 1992). "Expense of cemetery sales tops £2m". The Times. London. p. 4.
- ^ Dimoldenberg 2006, p. 28.
- ^ Cook, Stephen (17 February 1990). "15p Sale of Westminster Cemeteries Found Unlawful". The Guardian. London. p. 24.
- ^ MacKinnon, Ian (14 January 1994). "The Westminster Scandal". The Independent. London. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
- ^ "East Finchley Cemetery & St Marylebone Crematorium". London Gardens Online. London Parks & Gardens Trust. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
- ^ Weeks, David (7 July 1992). "Letter: The cemeteries of Westminster council". The Independent. London. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
- ^ Hencke, David (10 December 1998). "Westminster back in the dock". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
- ^ Millward, David (20 April 2006). "Council to buy back land it sold off for 5p". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
- ^ a b Hosken 2006, p. 291.
- ^ Grigsby, John (1 July 1992). "Council to buy back 15p cemeteries". The Daily Telegraph. London. p. 7.
- Bibliography
- Dimoldenberg, Paul (2006). The Westminster Whistleblowers: Shirley Porter, Homes for Votes and Scandal in Britain's Rottenest Borough. London: Politico's Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84275-179-4.
- Hosken, Andrew (2006). ISBN 978-1-86207-809-3.