The Priory, Firoka, The City Council & (at last) Oxford Times

as owners Oxford City council have IMO criminally neglected to enforce the leaseholder- our slum landlord, tax exiled in Monaco- meeting the obligations of both the lease he holds and also planning permission requirements (err) prior to him building his Hotel next to the Bowlplex and The Priory

its a grade 11 listed building which should be much better protected, and looked after than it has been by both Oxford City Council and also Firoka
 
Surely their is a group/company with hire power than a local council who could get involved in making sure a listed building is protected?
 
Doesn't this just show what an absolute horrible human he is, only interested in himself and money . No morals at all.
Agreed.
The council appear to have been either weak or bordering on negligent.
Kassam appears to have had the council round his little finger.
Did I read that he received planning permission for the hotel based on him keeping the Priory maintained to a reasonable condition?
Utter utter shambles and a total disgrace.
 
A FOI to OCC asking for correspondence etc between themselves and FK concerning this matter might be useful. May possibly even be grounds for a complaint against OCC regarding the way they have handled this matter.

Of course, the simplest way to have dealt with this was to give FK a short period of grace to comply with the planning condition then revoke the hotel's operating licence if he failed to do so.
 
This building is a stone around everyone's neck, the council, Firoka and the fans.
It's a listed building so a minimum of structural improvements can be made, it could be made usable but not for a commercial gain and is very limited in what can be carried out there, the building footprint is limiting in it's use, too small for a hotel, too small for a pub and with no passing trade to keep it ticking over, there are not many positives to this building.

The Priory might get a new lease of life when the train station goes in, but what that might be as who knows.
 
Firoka are still obligated to maintain it properly though, regardless of how useful it is to him. The terms on the lease will be very clear....
I agree, but does that mean it has to be a usable building or one that just won't fall down.
 
I agree, but does that mean it has to be a usable building or one that just won't fall down.
Sadly, the latter, I would think. As a commercial venture it really doesn't have much potential. The proximity of the sewage works makes it less than attractive to the restaurant trade and it is too small to generate sufficient income as it stands.
 
Agreed.
The council appear to have been either weak or bordering on negligent.
Kassam appears to have had the council round his little finger.
Did I read that he received planning permission for the hotel based on him keeping the Priory maintained to a reasonable condition?
Utter utter shambles and a total disgrace.
definitely
 
They are ! ....but Firokas owner appears to be clad in teflon when being dealt with by the toothless priory owners ox city council
The city council are corrupt and are a big failing on its duties to the city of Oxford....mind you if a developer came in and said I will replace the priory with 20 student flats you could bet your bottom dollar we would see flats within a year
 
I agree, but does that mean it has to be a usable building or one that just won't fall down.
Its as per the terms of the lease. If that means usable, it has been to usable and not left to a tenant to make do as the investment will be huge/

Seeing as the overall site is profitable, Firoka just cannot say we ain't got the money.
 
They are ! ....but Firokas owner appears to be clad in teflon when being dealt with by the toothless priory owners ox city council
Having dealt with similar issues, it requires a level of persistence, detail, lawyers and calmness to get around lessees like Firoka. You can do it if the will is there, and it's very simple to enforce
 
Having dealt with similar issues, it requires a level of persistence, detail, lawyers and calmness to get around lessees like Firoka. You can do it if the will is there, and it's very simple to enforce
I wish oxford city council saw it that way & had already dealt with the sad state of affairs re the grade 11 listed priory which they own @Gary Baldi
 
Having dealt with similar issues, it requires a level of persistence, detail, lawyers and calmness to get around lessees like Firoka. You can do it if the will is there, and it's very simple to enforce
I would suspect that the Council are wary of spending a lot of money in legal fees.
Kassam seems to virtually never back down and he also seems to have run rings round the council.
 
Having dealt with similar issues, it requires a level of persistence, detail, lawyers and calmness to get around lessees like Firoka. You can do it if the will is there, and it's very simple to enforce

In the case of OCC the will has not been there. It was a condition of the 2014 planning grant for the hotel that the Priory be refurbished BEFORE work commenced on the hotel. This was waived in 'a deal' by which the lease would be reissued with 99 year term and Kassam would fix both the inside and outside (which I think was part of the original refurbishment above anyway) BEFORE the hotel could open for business.

Both these conditions could have been simply enforced at the designated times. Why weren't they? I have some emails that indicate English Heritage and Oxford Preservation understood that a resolution was agreed between OCC and Kassam and work on the Priory was imminent; these date from late 2014 iirc. At that timeI had applied for the Priory to be placed on the 'building at risk' register.

What happened? I don't know. I sent my documents to Nathan Briant last year. I wonder if, since OCC is silent, he has approached Nick Worrledge, who should be well acquainted with what actually went down. I am sure there's nothing OCC wouldn't be happy to put on public record.
 
I would suspect that the Council are wary of spending a lot of money in legal fees.
Kassam seems to virtually never back down and he also seems to have run rings round the council.
Which means they are effectively letting any rich businessman to do what the hell he likes with their property, because they won't enforce a lease.
 
The city council are ******* and are a big failing on its duties to the city of Oxford....mind you if a developer came in and said I will replace the priory with 20 student flats you could bet your bottom dollar we would see flats within a year
You might want to withdraw that Baz
 
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