Mismanagement by the Liberal Democrat-run Mole Valley District Council has meant taxpayers have lost £1million on a property sale in Dorking in 2024.
A joint meeting of Mole Valley District Council’s Scrutiny and Audit Committees found that a failure to correctly implement a rent review meant the true value of the land on Curtis Road, Dorking, was not achieved when sold. Regardless of this, the Liberal Democrats running the council pressed ahead with the sale, following their strategy of selling assets to prop-up their failing budget.
This is the second distressed asset sale undertaken by the Liberal Democrat administration.
The cost to taxpayers is estimated to be at least £1million in relation to the land on Curtis Road. This was caused by the rent being capped at a figure set in 2006, as the council failed to increase the rent in line with their contractual right in 2023. At the joint Scrutiny and Audit committee that debated this finding, no comment was made by a member of the Lib Dem Cabinet.
This £1million loss is in the context of community groups such as the Gatwick Greenspace Partnership losing £5,000 of grant funding, playgrounds in the district falling into disrepair and residents in social housing living in decrepit conditions.
Cllr Joanna Slater, Leader of Mole Valley Conservatives says “The Liberal Democrats are pushing for above inflation tax rises in 2025 but have failed to maximise the value of assets already held by taxpayers. Residents are being asked to make up the difference caused by Lib Dem incompetence”
Marisa Heath, Parliamentary Spokesperson for Dorking and Horley says, "The Lib Dems have delivered very little for Mole Valley but the fact they are cutting small grants for community groups whilst losing £1 million of public money is shocking. It would be good if they spent more time scrutinising their budgets and ensuring they do not make huge mistakes like this, rather than writing endless leaflets telling us everything is terrible and how everyone else has failed but then failing to deliver a plan to fix it or do anything useful themselves."
