Homelessness cases in Borders continue to rise

by EWAN LAMB

The number of Scottish Borders residents presenting with issues linked to homelessness has increased by more than 20 per cent in the space of a year while there was a 35 per cent rise in cases of children affected, according to figures published by the SNP Government.

Homelessness and threatened homelessness across the Borders region has reached their highest levels since well before the Covid pandemic, including the numbers in temporary accommodation.

A recently published Scottish Borders Council draft local housing strategy [LHS] declares at its strategic outcome five: "Homelessness is prevented wherever possible and a range of housing options are provided so people can secure a suitable and sustainable housing outcome as quickly as possible".

The LHS says everyone should be able to have their right to an adequate home realised. This includes everyone having access to a settled home that meets their needs and homelessness is prevented.

The document adds: "Key Actions for Delivery · Continue to Implement Rapid Rehousing · Improve access to housing for homeless or potentially homeless households across all tenures · People who experience homelessness reach a settled housing outcome as quickly as possible · Ensure homeless households can access the right support at the right time · All partners actively contribute to preventing homelessness."

However, the brand new statistics covering 2022/23 appear to show that current local policies are failing to reverse the upward trend.

These are the figures for people associated with applications to Borders agencies which were assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness: 2019 - 1,170; 2020 - 1,139; 2021 - 979; 2022 - 1,071; 2023 1,310. The 22 per cent increase between the 2022 and 2023 totals compares to a Scotland-wide rise of 11 per cent.

The corresponding data for Borders children impacted by homelessness or potential homelessness is: 2019 - 407; 2020 - 384; 2021 - 325; 2022 - 361; 2023 - 486. The 35 per cent hike in the figure from 2022 to 2023 is considerably above the Scottish average of 10 per cent.

There were 117 Borders households in temporary accommodation in 2023, nine more than in the previous year, and considerably above the figure of 81 in both 2019 and 2020. The total of 60 children in temporary accommodation represents a 20 per cent increase on 2022.

Here are the number of so-called homeless applications in Scottish Borders over the last five years: 2019 - 768; 2020 - 770; 2021 - 686; 2022 - 691; 2023 - 772. And the number of 'live' cases recorded were: 2019 - 256; 2020 - 244; 2021 - 277; 2022 - 332; 2023 - 366.

Average number of days spent in temporary accommodation for cases that closed: 2019 - 152; 2020 - 135; 2021 - 136; 2022 - 163; 2023 - 175.

The draft LHS lists key issues and challenges facing those tasked with tackling Borders homelessness.

It states: "Supply and demand for a range of properties including one beds and housing for larger families – high demand in Eildon and low supply in Tweeddale.

"There was an increasing reliance on temporary accommodation throughout the pandemic which has continued beyond. Implementing Prevention Duties – public bodies will have a legal duty to identify anyone at risk of homelessness and take action or refer for help.

"Local connect suspension – potential for unintended negative impacts on risk management, multi-agency public protection arrangements, complexity of case management continuity of support etc. The complex support needs, beyond housing support, of the homeless population and difficulties in accessing support. Demand on services due to support for Ukrainian Crisis and the Resettlement Programme. Impact of Covid and the lasting implications which includes implementing the RRTP [Rapid Rehousing Transition Programme]. Accessibility and affordability of the private rented sector particularly for single people and/or people on low incomes."

Not so NEAT plant to be bulldozed

by DOUGLAS SHEPHERD

The research centre where a 'ground-breaking' gasification technology was being developed for use in the treatment of Scottish Borders domestic refuse is set to be demolished after the company promoting the process was dissolved with reported liabilities of £3.5 million.

Borders councillors and senior officers heralded their multi-million pounds deal with New Earth Solutions Group as a partnership which would revolutionise waste disposal in Scotland using so-called New Earth Advanced Thermal technology or (NEAT) to turn garbage into electricity.

The flagship scheme was to involve construction of a £23 million treatment facility at Easter Langlee, on the outskirts of Galashiels capable of dealing with 40,000 tonnes of rubbish from Borders households, thereby removing the need for landfill.

But although those involved at the local authority repeatedly claimed they had undertaken 'due diligence' before and during their dealings with New Earth, as our regular readers will know the venture proved disastrous when the NEAT system would not function properly, and money to pay for the Galashiels plant could not be sourced. 

Elected members pulled the plug in 2015 after being told development of the NEAT system being worked on at Canford, Dorset, faced further delays of "up to two years". By this time the high-risk alliance with New Earth had cost Borders taxpayers at least £2.4 million.

Local councillors had also been impressed after a site visit to another New Earth plant at Avonmouth, near Bristol in 2014 to see their contractor's machinery in action.

However, a review of Advanced Gasification Technologies commissioned by the UK Government which was published last year had harsh words for the Avonmouth centre.

According to the study: "NEAT had a single operational plant at Avonmouth which was closed in 2016. CONCLUSION: New Earth became insolvent in 2016 and the NEAT gasifier was discontinued. The NEAT process has not been proven and will not be considered in any further detail in this study".

SBC's deal with New Earth, amended in 2012, meant that in effect SBC had signed up to the NEAT technology even before it had been trialled at Canford.

A confidential report to SBC by consultants - later made public on the orders of the Scottish Information Commissioner - explained that a revised programme meant the detailed design of the Canford project would be completed by April 2014, and construction of the Canford demonstration facility would commence in July 2014.

 "The facility itself will, on this programme, only become operational in July 2015, and revised schedule for the Easter Langlee facility – i.e. start on site in June 2016 – implicitly assumes that there will be no significant problems at Canford. If there are, then one could anticipate further delays, or even cancellation, of the Easter Langlee ATT facility.

 "This could leave us hanging on the outcome of the Canford trials, over which we have no control, and if those were to fail or (more likely) take longer than anticipated to succeed, then we would still potentially be exposed to the risk of having no treatment solution in place for the Council’s residual waste."

Following the Borders debacle, New Earth Advanced Thermal Technologies Ltd. became Syngas Products Ltd., and work continued at their Canford base. But according to the last published accounts, covering 2020, the business had outstanding liabilities totalling £3.5 million. Syngas Products Ltd. was finally dissolved in January of this year. 

The proposed demolition of the Canford "research" centre is a key element in a planning application recently submitted to the local council in Poole which seeks permission to construct a different form of incinerator on site.

German-based MVV Environment Limited (the applicant) has submitted a full planning application for a Carbon Capture Retrofit Ready (CCRR) Energy from Waste Combined Heat and Power (EfW CHP) Facility.

The primary purpose of the plant will be to treat council collected household residual waste and  commercial and industrial waste from Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole and surrounding areas, that cannot be recycled, reused or composted and that would otherwise be landfilled or exported to alternative energy from waste [EfW] facilities further afield, either in the UK or Europe. 

According to the applicants: "The proposed development would recover useful energy in the form of electricity and hot water from up to 260,000 tonnes of non-recyclable (residual), non-hazardous municipal, commercial and industrial waste each year." It would represent an investment of £290 million.

The planning papers in support of the scheme which is already attracting local opposition state: "A partially constructed and commissioned but no longer operational low carbon gasification and pyrolysis energy from waste facility occupies much of the site. This will be removed as part of the proposed development. It comprises a building, external plant and 35m high chimney."

How planners rode to Scottish Borders' rescue

by OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT EDITOR

If it is possible to have a glittering career in town and country planning, then Dr Douglas Hope would certainly fit into that category, much of his life spent either tackling the persistent issues which were stifling the Scottish Borders economy or settling often controversial disputes in his role as a Scottish Government reporter.

While many of the nation's planning officers may have tended to operate within their own professional 'bubble', Douglas Hope was adept at 'selling' the product to the rest of society, including journalists he encountered and helped during countless launches of new policies, or bringing his measured views when strong feelings emerged over contentious developments.

Now, after years of research, he has used his 50 years of experience at the planning coalface to produce a fascinating history of the evolution of his trade in the four Borders counties between 1946 and 1996.

Dr Hope's work, entitled Scottish Borders: from Planning Backwater to Centre of the Maelstrom, shows how town and country planning in the counties of Peeblesshire, Selkirkshire, Roxburghshire and Berwickshire was transformed in the post-war decades to become "a beacon for rural regeneration and development policy."

Publishers Edinburgh University Press explain in their media release to mark the launch: "The book compares and contrasts the different ways in which the four counties attempted to deal with the decline in the regions traditional industries, woven textiles and agriculture, and the loss of population since 1891. 

"It explores the origins of the Tweedbank development, the plan for a controversial new settlement at Newtown St. Boswells and the closure of the Waverley line. It explains how planning and economic development became inexorably linked in an effort to stem depopulation."

Dr Hope describes how, in partnership with a range of organisations, the Borders Regional Council, established in 1975, met the challenges of the 1980s and 1990s and secured investment and implemented proposals across the whole spectrum of development planning. 

"The book details how environmental issues came to the fore and, with the reorganisation of local government in 1996 and the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 looming, examines the role of the Planning and Development Department in preparing for the challenges of the twenty-first century."

It was all so different in the early decades after World War Two. Most local authorities did not have qualified planners on their payrolls let alone strategies for dealing with the problems blighting their communities.

The Borders was fortunate in the 1960s and 1970s to have individuals like Basil Knowles, Frank Constable and David Douglas who all played their part in promoting the role of planning, raising its profile and making sure the public knew what they were trying to achieve.

Douglas Hope became part of that process and carried it on right up to 1996 when Borders Regional Council was abolished to make way for the one-stop-shop local authority Scottish Borders Council.

These days, following a 20-year stint with the Scottish Government as a Reporter for the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals, Douglas publishes articles on his own website, scottishbordersplanning.co.uk. Here you can read Douglas's own description of his new, major work.

He writes: "The book provides a comprehensive appraisal of the changing role of planning in the Scottish Borders during this time [1946-1996] and describes how planning evolved from simply a system of land use control to a dynamic, pro-active, multi-disciplined collaboration encompassing not only spatial planning but also economic development and promotion, project design and implementation, urban conservation, rural heritage and countryside management, and environmental planning."

He points out how the book describes the principal characteristics of the Scottish Borders in terms of its development prior to the twentieth century. It traces the origins of town and country planning in Britain and the establishment of the planning system in the region. 

"It compares and contrasts the different ways in which the four counties implemented the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1947 and details the principal policies and proposals in the first county development plans. It describes how planning in the Scottish Borders broadened its horizons in the 1960s as “Planning” in its widest sense took centre stage and more attention was paid by Central Government to the plight of rural areas such as the Scottish Borders with the preparation of the Central Borders Study and the Tweedbank initiative. It details how planning and economic development in the region became inexorably linked."

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"Brains" behind Avocet Group sued for 'significant sum'

EXCLUSIVE by OUR BUSINESS STAFF

The administrator of insolvent Berwickshire-based business Orrdone Farms Ltd. - its bosses once claimed it was set to revolutionise agricultural production - has instructed solicitors to pursue a claim against company director Dr Robert Jennings who is said to be due the firm "a significant sum".

Confirmation of the legal action comes in a progress report on the insolvency by administrator Emma Porter which is published on the Companies House website today.

Only a few days ago Martin Frost, the bankrupt former chairman of the Avocet Group of companies, including Orrdone, informed shareholders: "You need to be aware that Bob [Jennings] is being sued upon allegations conceived by Begbies (Begbies Traynor are liquidators of the Avocet parent company), Aver (Ms Porter's employers), and their lawyers that all Avocet and Genfro intellectual property never had any value and was nothing more than a ruse originated by me".

And he added: "These 'Bad Bugger' allegations are a fabrication which are a deflection in a vain attempt by these people to diminish the colossal damages that US Genfro is seeking..."

The collapse of Orrdone in 2020 marked the beginning of the end for the Avocet Group. Since then, Ms Porter has been attempting to build up a picture of the company's financial affairs.

But, as she states in her latest report: "The non-cooperation of all of the directors [they include Mr Frost and Dr Jennings] has continued during the period. The administrator's work has been severely curtailed throughout the administration by the directors' failure to provide any satisfactory explanations as to the state of the company's affairs as at the date of the administration appointment".

Ms Porter repeats her previous statements that she continues to be made aware of extensive correspondence issued to a wide variety of parties commenting directly on the administration procedure or the administrator personally.

"The extensive correspondence continues to be at best, often inaccurate and in many instances inappropriate. It remains my view that the primary purpose of these communications is to deflect away from the matters in hand in order to cause unnecessary delay in the administration".

The sum due to Orrdone's secured lenders, UK Agricultural Lending Ltd., at the outset of the administration was £3.25 million plus interest and charges. The latest statement provided by UKALL shows the sum of £5.438 million remains outstanding. Interest will continue to run on the outstanding debt until it has been settled.

Ms Porter's report indicates that legal action is being considered in conjunction with claims against Orrdone's directors.

In a specific reference to Dr Jennings she writes: "The administrator considers a significant sum is due to the company by Dr Jennings. Solicitors have been instructed to pursue this matter. In order to avoid prejudicing any action, further details have not been disclosed within the report".

Unsecured creditors' claims now total £11.35 million, including a claim for £10.39 million from Omega Infinite, Orrdone's parent. At the time of administration there was just £1,291 in the Orrdone bank account, according to the progress report. Meanwhile, the time costs associated with the administration so far exceed £600,000.

In his recent correspondence to Avocet investors, Mr Frost included a witness statement he plans to submit in evidence if he is allowed to appeal a court ruling which decided he had used over £400,000 of Omega company cash to purchase two apartments in Scarborough.

The statement claims: "Bluntly, Janet (his wife) and I, the Jennings family and Omega shareholders generally are being stitched up by professional white collar thieves".

And in a reference to the Frosts' bankruptcy orders, handed down in October 2021, the witness statement says: "Judge Geddes, a (sic) earnest lady judge, though by common agreement not the brightest tool in the box, bankrupted Janet and I upon the assumption that Janet and I while not being insolvent were likely to become so..."

Luxury is back! Barrie Knitwear profits up 140%

by DOUGLAS SHEPHERD

Hawick's high end cashmere knitwear business which produces luxurious garments for the Chanel fashion brand, saw its operating profit soar spectacularly in 2022 as the global economy recovered strongly following the damaging Covid-19 pandemic.

Barrie Knitwear, which employs more than 260 people in the Scottish Borders and Arbroath - the annual wage bill exceeds £6 million - enjoyed a 15% increase in turnover last year, up from £16.29 million to £18.83 million.

The much improved performance resulted in an operational profit of £1.453 million, 140% better than the respectable £604,000 figure for 2021.

These results come ten years after the Barrie brand, trade and assets were acquired from the ailing Dawson International Group to become 100% owned by Chanel. There had been a danger in 2012 that the Barrie operation and 170 local jobs could be lost with other Group businesses being liquidated.

The iconic fashion house saved the day by purchasing Barrie - founded in 1903 - in a £4.8 million deal with the Dawson administrators. 

In the 2022 annual report and accounts, managing director Jan Young explains the 15.6% upsurge in turnover was due to a recovery in the market after the initial impact of Covid-19. The increased operating profit was down to higher sales and improved efficiency.

According to the report: "The company manages the skills shortage risk by continually seeking to recruit and retain skilled people and by operating its own training school for key skill manufacturing operations. A network of reputable UK and EU sub-contractors is also being developed".

The majority of Barrie's output (£13.675 million of total turnover) ends up in France while UK sales were worth £1.150 million and in the case of the USA £438,000.

The report also states: "Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, management took the decision to pause all operations with Russian customers. Whilst the geopolitical situation remains complex, the company's exposure in the Russian market is minimal".

Barrie says it is working with a company in Mongolia to establish an improved supply chain for cashmere fibre.

The Barrie Knitwear range currently includes an embellished sweater retailed by Harrods with a price tag of £1,540 while the Lyst website is advertising a women's green cashmere cardigan jacket for £1,700.67 (reduced from £1,994.78).

Meanwhile Chanel reported record sales in 2022, "reflecting the strength and uniqueness of the Chanel brand". There was strong growth across the three categories of Fashion, Fragrance & Beauty, and Watches & Fine Jewellery.

Total revenue of $17.2 billion last year compared to $15.6 billion in 2021. The Group's operating profit rose from $5.461 billion to $5.776 billion while Chanel's global workforce increased from 28,500 to 32,000.

Frosts to appeal 'eviction' as life president Jennings intervenes

by OUR BUSINESS STAFF

A conference call during 2021 in which copious notes were taken by liquidators investigating the financial affairs of the insolvent Avocet parent company Omega Infinite PLC in fact never took place, according to the company's bankrupt chairman Martin Frost and fellow director Dr 'Bob' Jennings.

The latest development in the 'disruptive technology' Avocet wonder fuel saga will involve an appeal by Mr Frost and his wife Janet against their 'eviction' from their home in Scarborough, shareholders were told in lengthy correspondence circulated by Mr Frost today in his role as joint life president of Genfro Ltd. He shares that post with Dr Jennings.

Insolvency practitioners Ashleigh Fletcher and Joanne Hammond petitioned the courts in Leeds for the repossession of two upmarket apartments in Scarborough, said to have been paid for by Mr Frost using more than £400,000 of investors' cash. A judgment handed down at the beginning of July will now be challenged at appeal by the Frosts.

A bundle of court papers supporting the repossession action includes a sworn statement from Ms Hammond and a file note of the conference call which was held on January 18th 2021.

Ms Hammond's evidence is: "In a conference call with Mr Frost, my joint liquidator Mr Fletcher, Oliver Adams of my office and Bob Jennings (another director of the Company) on 18/01/2021, Mr Frost was asked to explain the payments (referenced). At first he said they were book entries and then when he was told they were not and that they were cash payments, he said they were for book stock which was then sold back to Loch Lomond Heritage Limited. I have seen no evidence whatsoever to support that explanation and I do not believe it was true."

 The conference call file note shows the four attendees were Mr Fletcher (AF) and Oliver Adams (OA) from the liquidators' office, Mr Frost (MF) and Dr Jennings.

A long list of 'main points' from the discussion includes this entry: "Martin agreed to give the joint liquidators a debenture over Avocet Agritech Limited [a subsidiary of Omega], Grenfos Limited would then look at buying the debentures that Omega has over Faculties and Agritech".

There is also a detailed account of a discussion during the conference call concerning transactions between Scottish Academic Press [SAP] Ltd and Loch Lomond Heritage Ltd, companies both controlled by Mr Frost at the time.

An extract from the file note records this conversation between those present:

"AF – From Omegas point of view, two large payments made to SAP.

MF - I don’t think there are any payments, book entries rather than payments.

OA clarified .. in 27 September 2017 there was a payment to SAP of £150k followed on 28 September 2017 with another payment of £145k.

MF I think that's book stock rather than the brand, fairly convinced that stock was sold back to Loch Lomond Heritage.

AF How many books are we talking?

MF At least 12k maybe as many as 20k books

AF why did Omega Acquire those?

MF - The idea was that Faculties was to be run as a separate development business just looking after property & other aspects and also gaining a degree of income from sale of books. Faculties also had own set of board members control of cheque books etc. Faculties didn’t have the money so Omega bought the stock, part of the intercompany debt between Omega and Faculties is down to that, Loch Lomond picked up the brand.

OA - Just to be clear Funds transferred from Omega to purchase stock from SAP which was your sole trader business.

MF – Yes, ------- wrote to royal bank then had separate accounts done."

But now, Mr Frost claims that meeting never happened at all.

And today's 'update' to Genfro shareholders also includes a copy of a witness statement submitted to the court by Dr Jennings backing that assertion. It will form part of the Frosts' appeal.

In it the witness writes: "I, Dr 'Bob' Jennings, state on July 23rd 2023 that I have no recollection nor does my diary nor my phone records indicate that I on 18th January, 2021 or at some other date, joined Martin Frost in a conference call with Ashleigh Fletcher and Oliver Adams of Begbies (Begbies Traynor, insolvency practitioners) in which Martin Frost admitted that he in the guise of SAP he feloniously took money in late 2017 and in 2018 from Omega to wrongly pay for flat 2 Belvedere and Flat 4 Belvedere, Scarborough.

"In my opinion the statement uttered by Ms J Hammond (and transcribed as fact for 18th January 2021 as being true) is false and malicious".

Meanwhile, Mr Frost has also explained the circumstances surrounding his "threatened arrest" after a warrant was issued following his failure to appear at Jedburgh Sheriff Court last week.

In his shareholders' missive, he quotes from recent correspondence with the authorities in Scotland,: "In May 2023 North Yorkshire Police, upon the allegations received (alleged malicious emails) closed down all my phone numbers and email addresses".

Therefore, the only way the Jedburgh court could contact him would be via a Pennsylvania email address. He added: "I do not have any details of my case before the Jedburgh Court".

'Discrimination' claimant ordered to pay Borders hoteliers £2,800

by LESTER CROSS

A former assistant manager at a leading small hotel in the Borders has been ordered to pay her former employers more than £2,800 after her claims of racial and sexual discrimination were thrown out by an Employment Tribunal ruling earlier this year.

After Portuguese national Tina Nogueira's allegations against the owners of Carfraemill Hotel, near Lauder, were dismissed in March, the family-owned business sought an award of what were described as “expenses and punitive costs” but which the Tribunal interpreted as an application for a preparation time order and out of pocket expenses.

A  tribunal hearing had been told that at the time the claimant was employed at the 10-bedroom Borders hostelry, part of the Inntuitive Group run by the Reeley family, the business had over 100 employees and now have around 300. At any given time around 40% of the employees are foreign nationals. 

Ms Nogueira, who was living in Scotland in 2021, placed an advertisement looking for work. She had taken her previous employer in Portugal to court for non-payment of wages.  

Following an interview she was subsequently offered employment as assistant manager at Carfraemill on a salary of £25,000 per annum.

After leaving her job Ms Nogueira submitted a claim to the Tribunal in which she alleged race discrimination and that she was due sums following the termination of her employment in respect of holiday pay and unpaid wages. 

She had previously made claims of sex discrimination and unfair dismissal which were withdrawn. A hearing took place over a total of eight days in November and December 2022 and March 2023. In a judgment signed on 31 March all of the claims were dismissed.

A second judgment, published today, deals with the respondent's request for financial recompense from the claimant.

The judgment from employment judge Ian McFatridge states: "In this case it was the respondent’s position that the claim was wholly vexatious. It was the respondent’s position expressed several times during the hearing that the claimant did not have any genuine belief that her treatment had been on the basis of race but that she had simply ticked the box once she discovered that she did not have sufficient qualifying service to bring a claim of ordinary unfair dismissal."

The claimant’s representative had made the point that she believed strongly in the justice of her claim.

However, the judgment continues: "With regard to the way the proceedings had been conducted the respondent’s position was that the claim had been incoherent and that throughout the claimant had been urged to provide some evidence showing, even in the slightest degree, a connection between the poor treatment she alleged and her nationality and the claimant had singularly failed to come up with this.

"The Tribunal’s view of the matter was that the claimant’s behaviour throughout the hearing certainly met the standard of being unreasonable."

In a highly critical section of his ruling, Judge McFatridge writes: "Whilst the Tribunal accepted that the claimant may have honestly believed that she had been treated badly the objective facts of the matter suggested that this was simply not the case. Much of what the claimant complained of; having to come in to work to cover staff absences, not having control of the rotas of other staff were simply features of the job of assistant manager. 

"On a number of matters the Tribunal found that the claimant’s evidence was entirely disingenuous and that she was quite happy to try to bend the truth where she felt this would assist her case. An example of this was in relation to her eventually admitting that she had herself approved her holidays in January for dates which management would never have allowed.

"With regard to the meat and bones of her race discrimination claim the Tribunal found absolutely no scintilla of evidence that any of the claimant’s treatment was in any way discriminatory."

The judgment concludes that the respondent had been put to considerable trouble and expense as a result of the claim being made and the way the claim was conducted. 

"We are in no doubt that it would also have been a cause of worry and concern to them. They are employers of a large number of employees of foreign origin and it would be a concern to them to be accused of race discrimination despite there being no evidence to support such a claim."

 The sums sought by the respondent included a charge for preparing for the hearing of 110 hours. The Tribunal considered this was a reasonable figure for the time to be taken to prepare for such a hearing. If anything, it was on the conservative side. The business had charged this at £25 per hour but the statutory figure for 2022 was in fact £42 per hour.

"Taking into account the correct figure then the total preparation time for the 110 hours spent preparing for the Tribunal would come to £4620. Given that the respondent restricted their application to a total of £5640 we felt it appropriate to base our 50% on that. The claimant shall therefore pay £2820 to the respondent."