MELTON GROVE is a complex of around 20 retirement bungalows which was left by the Clifton family to Fylde Borough Council over 50 years ago. It is owned by the six directors of the Clifton (Lytham) Housing Association Ltd for the benefit of the residents who inhabit these bungalows.
Fylde council officers have referred to it as, ‘a small oasis of tranquillity’, yet by the time you read this, it could be a building site. The bedrock of existence for these elderly residents could have been sold off to a developer by the back door, destroying the legacy left behind by the Clifton family so many years ago.
You may wish to know that this article is based on Counterbalance‘s superb heartfelt coverage of this issue. I won’t be touching on every detail, but he does, and trust me, if you take the time to read through the series your mind will be well and truly blown by the tyrannical depths that Fylde Borough Council officers will plumb in order to ensure that the sale of this estate can be completed. What’s worse is that it seems most of the Conservative councillors are on board.
Blackpudlians might think they have it bad sometimes, but the machinations going on within the echelons of Fylde Borough Council’s cabinet and executive offices smell even worse than Harbour Village in Fleetwood.
Break me from this tie
In 2007, cash-strapped Fylde Borough Council listed Melton Grove as a ‘Category 1′ asset, which means that they believed it could or should be sold off to generate income to spend on a new town hall. The alarm bells may not have been tolling then, but they certainly are now as the scene has been set for a bloody takeover with bulldozers at the ready.
Later in 2007, the a Special Policy & Service Review Scrutiny Committee met and changed Melton Grove from a Category 1 asset. They concluded with the following resolution;
That if the Directors of Clifton Lytham Housing choose not to dispose of the Association to a registered social landlord that the Council no longer supports the administrative costs to the Association
One way of looking at this, which is what Counterbalance does, is to say that this was a massive U-turn from the original position and grants a shroud of protection for the estate. I don’t necessarily go along with that.
For me, it states that the council will fund the CLHA if they transfer to a registered social landlord, but wont if they sell to anyone else. Essentially if it gets sold to a grubby developer, it’s game over and the council won’t fund any continuing social aspects. Rather than protecting Melton Grove, it actually looks more like a death warrant.
That said, it does not specifically order a sale of Melton Grove.
That’s not how Fylde Borough Council’s legal eagles interpreted it though. In a document which was written within a month or so of the above resolution being made but didn’t actually surface until November 2008, CLHA Company Secretary and Fylde Borough Council’s Head of Governance Ian Curtis spelled out some options for the continuation of Melton Grove.
Based on the resolution made, he concluded that;
The cabinet’s decision demonstrates that the council is no longer prepared to accept that Clifton Housing can continue in its present archaic and idiosyncratic way
The resolution doesn’t say that at all. Curtis went on to recommend that Melton Grove should be sold off. Who’s calling the tune here?
Rewriting the rulebook
The council then decided in 2009 to change the way it disposed of assets.
No longer did they have to operate a sound, transparent, competitive tendering process. Oh no. They changed the rules so the council’s Principal Estates Surveyor could dispose of assets in whichever means they saw fit.
This change means that, amazingly, officers could quite feasibly tout for brown envelopes and sell to a bidder who paid the biggest bung. A massive backwards step for integrity.
Easier than the truth
Also in 2009, the freehold to the land occupied by Melton Grove was acquired by the CLHA for the princely sum of £750 as recommended by the chief executive. They had previously been leaseholders on a 999 year lease. Without the freehold, it would be impossible to change any restrictive covenants applicable to the land, as you will see shortly.
With the necessary smoke and mirrors in place and with the freehold acquired, at the end of 2009 Fylde Borough Council’s Chief Executive Philip Woodward called for a Housing Options Appraisal. At the start of the following year, Barry Dean (supposedly of Morris Dean chartered surveyors) presented to the council his options for the future of Melton Grove. Two options proposed to continue with it under effective control of the council, whilst six options proposed to dispose of it. This suggests which of the two approaches he was asked to focus on.
There was no obvious case for disposal: as of their 2010 accounts, the association was operating with a small, but growing surplus, and the estate was managed with the expertise of New Fylde Housing (now Progress Group) on contract with CLHA. There were no operating problems and as such no real reason to dispose of it other than simple asset stripping.
Nonetheless, the wheels were set in motion to liquidate this land.
Fuck the residents.
Nothing else here for you
It was decided that in order to minimise corporation tax liability on a sale, rather than sell CLHA’s assets to a third party, that the CLHA itself would have to be sold. In order for this to take place, the constitution of the company needed to be changed to remove any protection clauses, guarantees and specified or implied social obligations from within the Articles of Association of CLHA.
And it was made so.
The directors of the CLHA each own a share of it and are, or were, all councillors appointed and removed by Fylde Borough Council. This requirement was written into the Articles of Association of CLHA. Therefore it could be said that Fylde Borough Council effectively owned it.
In January 2011 the Memorandum and Articles of Association for CLHA were modified by its directors to remove the restriction which required directors to be councillors. Since the CLHA now had the freehold of the land, they also removed the following restrictive covenant;
Not to use the said premises or any part thereof for any other purpose than that of private dwellings for the working classes and for aged persons of limited means
These modifications have not only slashed a path for a ‘preferred’ developer to parachute in and take up a directorship, but for said developer to do whatever they like with the entire estate. In erasing this covenant, any lasting legacy of the Clifton family has been wiped out in tow.
Gods up in the sky
The end defined the means here. The constitution of the CLHA which used to protect the residents of Melton Grove was dismantled piece by piece by Fylde Borough Council in order to facilitate their ultimate premeditated goal: sale of the land to the highest bidder.
It should be noted that this procedure was neither voted on, nor scrutinised, nor even considered by Fylde Borough Council’s elected membership. It was carried out autonomously by CLHA’s six directors (under the advice of Fylde Borough Council officers) and by virtue of them all being councillors, by the Fylde Borough Council machine itself. It’s not that the majority of the councillors didn’t object to this, it’s that they never got an opportunity to and were not even aware that it was going on.
With a new-found carte blanche to dispose of assets to whoever they want in whatever clandestine manner they desire, and with any protective clauses removed from the Articles of Association of CLHA, the way has indeed been paved for Fylde Borough Council to forget about any social obligations it may once have had and chase the biggest payday possible, which funnily enough is more or less what happened.
Fuck the residents.
Passion take the wind
Surveyor Barry Dean was instructed by the Chief Executive to conduct negotiations with potential suitors for this land and came to the following conclusions on the 13th of September 2010.
That Progress Housing had offered a deal which would return £1,420,000 or possibly over £1,500,000.
That Community Gateway had offered a deal which could return £1,125,000.
That Windmill Group has offered a deal of £1,375,000.
At this point, Dean recommended to the council that if they were to make a decision there and then, he would reocmmend the Progress Housing offer.
However, two months later Barry Dean had changed his tune.
He admitted that Windmill had, on the 20th of September 2010, offered an additional £125,000 which would be payable if they were to secure planning permission to build 6 detached homes on the site. Cash for planning permission, anyone?
Even though Windmill Group’s maximum offer was dependent on this planning permission being granted, it was recommended by Barry Dean perhaps in part because the other bidders required that the land and properties were transferred to them which would have incurred a corporation tax liability for Fylde Borough Council.
The newly formed Melton Grove Residents Association claim their surveyor has valued the site at around £4m, so maybe it is being sold short as well.
The prospective new owners have nobly promised to continue the current waiting list for Melton Grove, though, which is awfully nice of them. Or is it?
The waiting list stood at 13 years’ worth of waiting just two years ago, yet now there lie two empty bungalows on the complex. In 2008, letting rules were amended, and one can only conclude that those people who previously qualified and were on the waiting list no longer qualify. If this is the right, the properties will soon become empty – perfect for demolition.
Fuck the residents.
Creative accounting
Fylde Cllr Buckley was applauded for her presentation of the budget earlier this year, however, there were some anomalies.
Despite imminent completion on the Melton Grove deal, in the section detailing capital receipts, there was a section marked Clifton Housing which totalled zero which suggests that the council were not anticipating a sale and that the status quo would be maintained. On the other hand, other assets, which have only just gone up for sale, had assumed capital receipts of £5.8m this year and £3m next year.
This suggests one of three things. Either it is not anticipated that a deal to sell Melton Grove off will happen, that they will be giving it away for free, or that selective amnesia has taken place and it has been kept out of the figures so as not to have the money available included in this year’s budget. In other words, they want to treat it as a ‘bonus’ which can capriciously be dolloped out.
It just so happens that running in parallel to this is a bid for National Lottery funding to do up Lytham Hall, too. And according to Cllr Fazackerley, the deadline is tight. The Gasjet more or less confirmed any suspicions as they ran an article in March suggesting that £300,000 of the money from the sale of Melton Grove will be railroaded into to Lytham Hall in order to secure like-for-like National Lottery grants, with council leader David Eaves even being accused of gerrymandering.
Of course, if this ends up being the case, no tax will be payable on the latter amount due to the charitable status of Lytham Hall’s operator (otherwise known as Fylde Borough Council). As Counterbalance has cited most correctly, retail supremo Sir Philip Green got hammered publicly for avoiding tax in a similar way, by registering his companies in tax havens in his wife’s name and paying all profits there.
One assumes too that in due course there will be propaganda spewed out by the Conservative administration proclaiming that they have ‘saved’ Lytham Hall with their ‘decisive’ action.
Fuck the residents.
This position becomes even more ludicrous when you take a look at how much filthy lucre Fylde Borough Council are accumulating in their war chest. The Lytham Hall funding is easily affordable by the council, yet they are set to use the Melton Grove sale as a vehicle to on one hand meet that need, yet on the other to add another £1m to their bank coffers.
It all seems a bit mysterious to me. If they don’t need to sell it (which they don’t) then why on earth are they doing just that? All I can conclude is that they like cash more than residents’ happiness.
Louis the Magnificent
Cllr Louis Rigby has been the only person prepared to put their neck on the chopping block to save Melton Grove.
As a nomadic director of the Clifton Lytham Housing Association and current spanner in the works of the entire deal, after discovering that there were some questions over whether Barry Dean was actually employed by Morris Dean, he requested a list of documents from the council’s legal department. Each of the documents had involvement from Barry Dean in their preparation.
Rigby was informed that he could have the documents but it would take a short time to collate them; no problem.
But there were machinations afoot to dismiss Cllr Rigby, and just days later he received a letter calling for a special meeting to agree further amendments to the Articles of Association of CLHA, with one of the amendments being to allow directors to be removed by serving notice on them.
Normally, removal of a director would have been voted on by full council, but these changes would allow the directors of CLHA to remove themselves from the control of the council. It also once again keeps the Melton Grove issue away from anyone who could possibly object.
It won’t surprise you to discover that this was all ratified and that Cllr Rigby has indeed had his notice served on him.
Howard the Great
The subject of Melton Grove is on the agenda for the next full council meeting, but council officers are working to complete the sale before this meeting to ensure that it does not get stopped.
Fylde’s current mayor, Cllr Howard Henshaw, requested a Special Meeting to be held before then in order to ensure that it was properly debated. Fylde’s chief executive Philip Woodward declined his request and told him that it was too late.
Furthermore, another councillor requested that the Melton Grove process be referred to scrutiny in order to see what lessons could be learned, but they were told by Fylde Borough Council officers that the chief executive would not allow it to happen.
Despite this doom and gloom, though, Cllr Henshaw has prevailed and Melton Grove was scheduled for discussion in a Special Meeting on the 18th of July despite Council Leader David Eaves asking the him not to call one.
What does Eaves have to hide?
We may never know, because an emergency meeting in order to relieve Cllr Rigby of his share of CLHA is set to take place imminently (if it hasn’t already) and for this share to be transferred to the council who will then, having washed all of the blood away, present it to Windmill Group ripe for development on Friday 15th July.
The scandal is great and the transparency is zero. The Conservatives have been whipped to vote down any rebellion should it get that far. They are determined to ram this sale through at all costs.
It makes not one iota of difference which council you investigate. Blackpool slithered and slid Henderson Dogtoilet Park under the radar and will soon have children outlawed from the playing field which was ostensibly left for children “to play organised football” on.
How inconsiderate of locals to have children “play” in this newly found ‘oasis’, the jewel in South Shore for dog owners once the council had surreptitiously removed the signs from around the ‘green haven’! Surprising that parents have not noticed the smell of dog piss and shit on their children’s sports clothes after an hour as guest of Foxhall Juniors.
Without Doug Green giving South Shore residents access to legal documents they would all be languishing in ignorant bliss, just like some councillors intended.
In this new era of sunlit transparency, is it not time that more councillors are held to account for misleading and misrepresenting facts to a mainly disinterested electorate?
It’s called Henderson Park?!
Smacks of the Fishers Field land FIASCO which was left to the children, it now has a Day Centre and another play area on it. I feel a warning must be made to all councillors/officials of any kind who think they can cover up any illegal/dodgy deals/judgements in favour of the funny handshake boys, if you take this stance then be prepared to loose your job and your reputation. Like I said before all hidden agendas will be revealed this year right through till Feb of next year.
“Like I said before all hidden agendas will be revealed this year right through till Feb of next year.”
Kate dear. Far from me to imply that you’re as mad as a box of frogs how can you quantify the above statement? I might believe that there is a race of little green men that live on the dark side of the moon who live on a diet of sugarpuffs but I can’t prove it!
Watch and wait is all I will say, seldom time I am wrong but I willbe proved right again. Box of frogs in deed hop it.
I’d better hop it before you cause me to croak
This just about sums up all that is wrong with this country. “Deals” being done behind closed doors by men who decide everything and promote no-one to join them who isn’t going to tow the line and usually the thicker they are the better. And it’s all acting in their interests and what they want – rather than what’s good for the majority, what’s fair, what’s democratic and some cases it seems unlikely to even be legal but too hard to do anything about for the ordinary citizen.
Council leaders and staff are not supposed to be party political. It’s clearly no longer the case that this applies to those in many of the very top positions. Until the public get a right of veto to appointments and continuing employment of these party political puppets they are forced to pay enormous salaries too the whole country’s doomed.
There is no scandal here.
I live at Melton Grove and what has gone on over the last few months is ridiculous. There are MANY residents here who are FOR the sale… why? because we are sick of the poor workmanship and lack of maintenance for one reason. Windmill group will bring a bit of quality to the setting. Not one resident is at risk, no-one is getting turfed out, there are no bulldozers about to pave the way through. The whole debacle has been orchestrated by outsiders – namely the Duffy clan, they simply cannot keep their noses out of business that has nothing to do with them. Thank God it is all over and thank God that the poison mouthed, nasty natured antagonists have lost.
I urge you all not to believe everything you read or hear. There are so many lies being spread about Melton Grove that are not true, again fabricated by the brainless Duffys. Good bye.
Regardless of what the Duffys have said and regardless of whether the place will improve when Windmill start demolition and build 6 new build open-market homes there is, I believe, still an underlying scandal.
It is most unfortunate that the way in which this sale was progressed appeared to be underhand, bent, dodgy and corrupt. I am not saying Windmill did anything wrong here of course, but it seems that every step of the way, the council and its chief executives department have thrown obstacles into the path of transparency.
Rules were changed so the council could orchestrate a sale in whatever corrupt (or not) method they wanted and they didn’t have to tell anyone. There was no transparent bidding process. Windmill’s deal offer wasn’t even as high as that of Progress Group, and was reliant on the payment of a “bonus” or “bung” in receipt of future planning permissions.
They selected a developer who was offering less money and with strings attached, when the place could have been transferred to a Registered Social Landlord for more money and residents could have been protected? There must be a reason for this strange selection.
In the end the chief executive, according to counterbalance, was wanting to bill the Mayor for holding a special meeting to discuss Melton Grove, presumably in order to put him off holding it.
You know the score. The end may well be great but it does not justify the means, and you have to bear in mind that the only reason Windmill have bought it is to make large quantities of cold hard cash. The only way they can do that is by building houses on it.
I understood that the two currently empty bungalows are set for demolition imminently.
Residents ARE protected. Two bungalows are NOT set for demolition, Windmill even came round and constructed a new shed for the future tenant the other day. Six new homes? Wrong again. The maximum he can build is two.
Again wherever you have got these facts from they are way off the mark. It’s the pure heresay that has turned this into a nasty affair.
You’ve said that there’s poor workmanship and lack of maintenance of Melton Grove, yet FBC’s Head of Governance, Ian Curtis, said they “appear to be well built and well maintained” in his Shaping the Future report.
Barry Dean, surveyor, said of the Windmill deal; “on the 20th September Windmill offered an additional overage payment of £125,000 on the basis that it would obtain Planning Permission for 6 detached open market homes for sale within the site in part through demolition of the vacated bungalows as outlined in the original discussion agenda.”
and
“In principle there would appear to be no reason why The Windmill Group should not obtain Planning Consent to erect 6 detached homes for open market sale for it would not be in their interest to submit an application that was likely to be refused”
“Windmill’s offer, would generate an unconditional payment of £1,375,000 at the point of contractual completion with a further payment of £125,000 that I would recommend be due for payment within 28 days following grant of Planning Consent, a total of £1,500,000. If this Option were to be considered, I would seek a time limit during which the Application was to be submitted of probably not more than 6 months. In this case and subject to the bungalows being vacated in the manner anticipated, the additional payment could be expected within 1 year following contractual completion.”
Are you saying that this is not true?
Well why are people on phils blog surprised and upset by this?
Isn’t this what people on here keep saying this should be happening councils and the government being run more like a company?
This is what the council is doing isn’t it?
Their maximising assets rather than showing social responsibility, I know socialism lite dirty words, but this is what happens when people voted blindly for parties and not people.
I don’t recall championing a grand sell off of assets for ideological reasons, but I do think that failing public sector organisations should shape up or ship out.
The post office is haemorrhaging money and should be privatised and reformed.
Melton Grove was operating in the black and was generating a surplus every year. It wasn’t failing, but the council sold it off anyway to fund something that was failing, i.e. Lytham Hall.
And they didn’t do it via a transparent process, it was all back-door, hush-hush, under the table deals which for whatever reason the Conservatives chose to support. I hope people vote against them next time round.
The vote at Council on Monday was to refer this to Scrutiny and if that is done properly then the real story should come out more publicly there. It’s true there are a few residents who favour the sale. The first meeting to form the Residents Association had one especially vociferous lady speak up in favour of the sale. She seemed a bit younger than most of the more elderly residents and, having talked with him, she also spoke very much in support of the developer who was likely to acquire the site, saying what a nice man he was. Of course, you never know what sort of financial inducements or benefits might arise for any of the residents who don’t value the peace and quiet and are keen to take a quick thousand or two to vacate a property that can then be used for redevelopment and open market sale. The site has been bought for around £1.4m. It was professionally valued at up to £4m with an open market sale and no restrictions. So there’s probably room for a bit of vacating compensation isn’t there? And the prospect of a bit of compo might make you cross with anyone who tried to stop it dropping into your lap – even if they were trying to protect those elderly folk for whom money is a secondary consideration to being able to watch the squirrels and the birds in peace
)
Are you implying that the people who are for the sale are aiming to get something out of this? I would be very careful of what you say. There are actually more people for the sale than there are in the residents association, an association which is ‘chaired’ – and I use that term loosely – by an outsider.
No, you’ve just misinterpreted it.
Given the nature of the whole process, there is huge scope for large payments to have been made to any number of people, be they residents, council officers, or councillors. I’m not saying that this happened, but that it could have, and that we would be none the wiser.
We would, after all, have said it was impossible that some of the top police officers in the land were being bunged by national newspapers because we couldn’t directly see it going on, but look what’s unravelling on a daily basis! Again, I am not saying this happened in the Windmill deal, just that it could have, and that we would never know either way.
What Windmill are set to pay for this land looks like a snip, given that the houses they will build here will be of the order of many hundreds of thousands of pounds each on the open market (on Cypress Point a detached 4 bedroom house with double garage exceeds £300,000 these days, with some variants over £350,000).
The six proposed properties alone, once building costs are taken into account, look likely to offset the investment cost of £1.5m, effectively giving the owner a ‘free’ estate that generates a small revenue and puts the owner in a position to demolish the lot when the (inevitable) time arises. They can then build loads of houses and suck up incredibly large profits back to their Isle of Man tax haven.
I note you ignored my previous response as well. Do you deny those quotes from Mr Barry Dean who was advising the council at the time? More importantly the bit stating that if Windmill got planning permission for 6 open market detached homes on this estate that they would pay another £125,000 to the council?
I don’t understand how there can be more people in favour of the sale than are in the MGRA; as I understood it there were only 20 bungalows there and only 18 occupied. I understood that 17 residents were against the sale. What figures do you have?
Anyone see the article in the Lytham St Annes Express with HRH Emma Duffy stating there is a 9, yes nine percent increase in rent? Hilarious, is she from another planet? There is no rent increase, why are you making these lies up? Is it to fuel your husband’s political agenda? I do think so!
I didn’t see it but I am sure Duffy would have to back up these figures if she were to go around quoting them.
You would think so wouldn’t you? However, Duffy has churned out lie after lie after lie, to try and get her point across, be it regarding to the number of people who were against the sale, the age of the residents, how all the residents are disabled of “meagre means”, and basically not fit to wipe their own backsides. There are no facts, nothing to back up these figures, they’re just numbers off the top of her head.
I will get back to your other points later in the day.
The “meagre means” thing was part of a covenant within the original Clifton (Lytham) Housing Association articles of association. It was placed there by the Clifton family as their intention for the use of the land which they gifted. They used “limited means” rather than meagre, but it’s all the same to me.
The covenant was removed by majority vote of the directors of the C(L)HA.
‘Meagre means’ is what Duffy used in her silly propaganda as well.
O.K
Yes there are 20 bungalows and 1 empty. There are (for a fact) 5 people for the sale, I know of only 2 households that are against the sale and there are many that don’t really have much of an opinion (fence sitters).
There are 16 residents who have signed membership to Melton Grove Residents Association. FACT. Backed up with signed documentation.Out of which-
The Chair and Treasurer are residents.
There are a further 10 residents who attend MGRA meetings and four who cannot attend due to health or work issues.
There are two bungalows that have been empty for over two years (Number 11 and 19).
Out of 18 occupied bungalows 11 households are MGRA members.
“Meagre means” is the term used in the 1950′s in all newspaper coverage about Melton Grove. I am sorry if this touches a nerve but it is only a quote.
The article in the LSAExpress stated the facts detailed in a letter hand delivered to three residents that I know of. If Scandal?Where? didn’t receive it, one must question why not?
The residents paid (previously) a set amount for 11 calendar months each year with a “payment holiday” each March. An arrangement carried out by many Social Housing Landlords apparently.
The letter states they will pay the same payment each month for every month of the year which as stated in the article equates to a 9% rent increase. Windmill says in the paper this was a mistake. Easily made when you haven’t experience in managing social housing. Since the atricle went to press one resident has queried the rent with Windmill who apparently verbally (we have not got this in writing) told her the same amount will actually be payable every four weeks with no holiday which now means she will be paying that payment 13 times a year instead of 11. This actually equates to a 18% increase. MGRA will monitor this when it is detailed in writing from Windmill.
To answer any other comments.
I became involved with the sale of Melton Grove when my father (MG resident) my aunt and uncle (also MG residents) and two good friends of 20 years standing (also MG residents) received their letters from Clifton (Lytham) Housing Association telling them a sale had been agreed on their homes.
I have continued to lobby for the sale to be stopped until a full consultation had taken place for six months as is my right as a life long Lytham resident and a friend and relative of current MG residents. I am not an outsider I am a Lytham Resident and Melton Grove was gifted to Lytham Residents.
I am whole hearted against any of the bungalows being demolished and any new developments in the central part of the town in which I live. I believe there is plenty of development on the outskirts without altering the character of and green spaces within the town.
I have not lied and I hold all the documentation to prove there will be development.
The longer my involvement goes on the more convinced I am that underhand dealings have led to the sale being completed last week and every member of the council present at last Mondays meeting(except Councillor Ackers) have now agreed that the processes leading to the sale should be fully scrutinised. There is a reason for this.
As is the case with many members of the public deciding to stand for local election my husband Councillor Charlie Duffy (Clifton Ward) was so appalled at the lack of democracy and transparency used in the disposal of our town asset he decided to try and make a change by standing as our ward councillor. He made this decision with the support of his family and many friends on 20th March. It was a quick decision and made partly because of what was happening at Melton Grove but by no means solely. He is a man of honesty and integrity (I am biased) and as an Independant does not believe Party Politics have a place at Borough level. He does not use the Melton Grove to fuel his political agenda as he does not have one.
If the ruling party had not seen the Melton Grove issue as a threat to their election campaign and turned it into a political argument they may have stopped back in March and listened to what the townspeople had to say on the matter. Instead we ratepayers are going to foot the cost of an investigation into the sale which will probably end up in court at further cost to the ratepayer.
Please do not lose sight that the current residents although of primary concern are only part of the story…Melton Grove is a town asset, a beautiful green space and should have been available to all townspeople fitting the criteria set by the Cliftons forever.
I have been subjected to abuse and name calling on this site by Scandal?Where?and through Facebook from the son of one of the five residents “for the sale” but the encouragement, support and help I have received from the other residents, townspeople and Councillors from all political parties pales the name calling and false accusations into insignificance. We are far from losing this battle but when it is over I will thank Melton Grove for providing a beautiful home in a beautiful setting for my Mum in her final years, my Dad,Aunt and Uncle and many friends for the happy years they have spent there and for the many friends I have made throughout the last six months.