A group of tenants that lost out in the initial selection process for space following the relocation of Western International Market (WIM) has won an opportunity to be reconsidered.
The 16 tenants had been rejected under the terms of the selection criteria and were not allocated space on the new market site. However, the ruling of a judicial review in the Administrative Court directs Hounslow Council to carry out an additional stage of consultation with WIM tenants before making its final decision.
Graham Smith, borough property manager (WIM), told the Journal that the Council had always made it clear that it would conduct the decision-making process in a fair and responsible manner. The Council was willing to accept that if it was asked by the court to revisit the allocation of space in the new market afresh, it would do so in a practical and timely manner taking account of any representations made by any tenant, he added.
As a result of this decision, the Council has not been asked to overhaul the criteria it consistently used in the process, nor the decision-making process itself. Instead the Council has been asked to add an additional step and allow any tenant to comment on the information pertinent to their particular circumstances.
George Bray, chairman of the WIM tenants' association, added: “Our input was to ensure that everything was fair and above board, which in my opinion it was.” It was in the judge's opinion too. Justice Silber stated: “..Nothing that I will say will or should be regarded in any way as criticism of the tenants' association or the trading members of the relocation committee... I must stress that I am not finding that there was any actual bias.”
Smith accepted that members of the tenants' association assisted the Council in gathering information about particular tenants to help in understanding whether or not any tenant met the specified criteria. However, he added that the ultimate decision maker was the Council and that role had never been delegated to any member of the association. In relation to this issue, the claimants had alleged bias but this allegation was not one of “actual” bias, but instead based on “apparent” bias.
The Council was also pulled up because it did not give the ëNo' tenants the opportunity to comment on the information collated for any individual tenant even though it did give the tenants' association an opportunity to do so, as representing the interests of its tenants.
The Council's selection criteria were not questioned, and indeed were upheld. “The judge has not said that the criteria were wrong,” said Bray. “It is simply that the Council didn't take the final step ñ an appeals procedure.”
The Council will therefore make its final decisions applying the same criteria of use, financial standing and rent payment record that were first announced to tenants in 2000.
A letter has already been sent to tenants outlining the fact that all decisions relayed to them on July 9, 2003 no longer apply. “No tenant can assume that it will receive an offer for a unit in the new market at the end of the consultation and review process. It is therefore essential for all tenants to participate fully in the consultation process,” the Council said in the letter.
As before, all tenants are required to provide up-to-date information in the form of their latest set of accounts. Failure to do this will be a major disadvantage as competition for space in the new market remains fierce. The Council reiterated that the outcome of its decision-making process will be that approximately a third of existing tenants of WIM will not secure space in the smaller site.
Some tenants are still set to be disappointed, but the judicial review should ensure that there is little room for legal recourse next time around. The tenants' association will not be involved in the final review. Bray said: “The involvement of the tenants' association in the whole process was warranted, needed and essential, but we were never going to be involved in the final stages. Justice Silber recognised our ëvaluable contribution' and now the matter will move on without us.”
As the entire process does not have to start afresh, both Bray and Smith expect the review to be a speedy affair. Tenants have been informed that it should be concluded in “the early part of 2004”. Much depends on the response of tenants to a specific timetable given to them this month.
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