Published: 26 January 2012
by RICHARD OSLEY

THE deputy leader of Camden’s Liberal Democrats has apologised for failing to properly declare how he had become a director of a company formed to work on a new primary school in Belsize Park.

Councillor Tom Simon joined the board of “Belsize Park Primary School” when it was registered at Companies House last year.

But he did not add this new position to his declaration of public interests held at the Town Hall for public view.

Since taking the position with the company he has lobbied for a new primary, spoken in council meetings on the places shortage in Belsize ward and questioned the council’s policy of selling off hostels which campaigners had hoped could otherwise be used as a site for a new school.

Most recently, Cllr Simon spoke at Monday’s full council meeting on the use of resources and the sale of the hostels.

He did not declare his directorship at the start of the meeting.

Cllr Simon said last night: “It should have been on there, it wasn’t.

It was a mistake on my part and it’s now updated so that it is all clear.”

The register of interests on Cllr Simon’s record was amended after Monday’s meeting and during the New Journal’s inquiries.

He said: “It is important to make clear that the company was not set up with some prospect of financial gain for myself.

It is a charitable company purely set up as a vehicle to apply for a free school.

It was a requirement of the application.

I’ve been happy to provide support in any way I can because we are trying to solve the problem we have of places in Belsize ward.”

The New Journal asked whether, although the company was not set up to seek income, money or profits for Cllr Simon or other directors, there was a risk his position on the board could appear to clash with his ability to influence policy as a councillor.

Critical decisions on whether the council should support individual free school bids or sell properties that might otherwise be used for Education Secretary Michael Gove’s new brand of schools have been subject to fierce debate among councillors, with Lib Dems urging their Labour counterparts, who effectively have the final say, to do more to get a new primary school in Belsize ward.

Cllr Simon, who took over as group leader ­Keith Moffitt’s number two earlier this month, said: “I take that point and I have updated the register now. Ideally, I would have declared it.

When I spoke at Monday’s meeting, it was a spontaneous decision to speak in the debate at the last minute.”

The debate over the hostels in Maresfield Gardens was the source of a fierce dispute between Lib Dem and Labour rivals. Labour finance chief Councillor Theo Blackwell was criticised for marketing the buildings while campaigners, including Cllr Simon, were still working on a bid to government for a free school.

Behind the scenes, Cllr Simon has also been jousting with  Conservative member Chris Knight in neighbouring Hampstead ward.

While Tories in Belsize supported the free school bid, Cllr Knight said he needed more information about the scheme and the two men became embroiled in a sparring email exchange.

Those messages, exchanged in the autumn and revealed by the New Journal, contain a series of catty phrases.

Cllr Simon said: “I am surprised that Cllr Knight has taken such umbrage with my work on this.

We are just trying to solve a problem here.”

In the trail of messages, Cllr Knight was told his “digging” would not find any problems or mistakes connected with the campaign.

Asked about the case last night, the Tory said: “Cllr Simon said there was nothing to expose and it is amazing how things can come back to bite you.

It is surprising somebody with his legal background could make a mistake like this.”

The New Journal asked Camden’s legal department whether Cllr Simon’s failure to register his directorship had breached the code of conduct and was advised that it could only be tested if somebody made a “formal complaint” and the review procedure kicked in.

The council said declaration of interests was a matter for a councillor’s “own judgment”.

Excerpts from messages
exchanged in September

CHRIS KNIGHT to TOM SIMON:
Tonight you said you had last approached the council a year ago on sites for a Belsize Free School (in my opinion well past time to kick backsides) please provide me with copies of emails that have flowed between you, the Council & Councillors so that I might be in a position to add weight to the campaign for school places in Belsize.

I look forward with interest to receiving the information requested which as you know will be the first that I have ever heard from you on the subject, it is after all time to stop trying to grab the limelight and using the campaign for personal gain, but to represent our residents in a proper fashion!

TOM SIMON to CHRIS KNIGHT:
Chris, I think you need to be straight with everyone involved in this issue over which way you are facing.

There is a long-running, community-led campaign that has done a lot of very hard and impressive work to get as far as it has.

I have seen it from the start as my duty as ward councillor to support the campaign in whatever way that I can.

The decision to apply for a school using these properties was one that was reached after careful exploration of the situation and deliberation.

You are attempting to stand in its way.

That is of course your choice, but please stop trying to play it both ways.

The rest of your email is quite strange.

You seem to have some kind of personal vendetta against me and are intent on bullying, aggressive behaviour.

Change your tune  and perhaps we can have a conversation about the school shortage problem, which does affect part of your ward.

CHRIS KNIGHT to TOM SIMON:
Hmm, nice try.

Vendetta indeed!

You have been reading too much political fiction.

Sorry Tom.

I seem to have touched a nerve and I understand it can be painful to be exposed!

Just come up with the info and stop ducking the issue.

I simply want to represent residents in the proper fashion, which it seems you have failed to do.

Your response will be circulated to every campaigner who contacts me.

I promise you I will get to the full info on this matter whether you like it or not.

The choice is yours.

I have been totally honest and supported school places in Belsisze (sic), but you have seen fit not to contact me in anyway.

Simply put, you have not done your best for our residents.

You’re not being bullied but simply asked to provide info to back up your claims and stop looking so Walter Mitty!

TOM SIMON to CHRIS KNIGHT:
Yes, you have touched a nerve... What you consist­ently seem unable to grasp is that all the activity – the free school application, the press campaign, the work in the community, the lobbying – is actually a genuine, community-led campaign.

It is not, as you seem to think, all a big PR stunt choreo­graphed by me in order to boost my own image.

You thinking that is an insult to the parents on the campaign, who are smart and hard-working.

The thing is Chris, you can dig all you like, but the only dirt you will ‘expose’ will be the workings of your imagination.

If you genuinely want to support the campaign, that is great.

The personal attacks you have made against me I’ll put down to rough and tumble and we can get on with actually trying to solve this problem.