CoatesWatch had a whip-round; we've decided to forgo our usual evening tipple of a bottle of white cider each, and spent the money instead for the enlightenment of library campaigners everywhere. It cost us £2 from Companies House.
So what do we know? Lots of the Certificate of Incorporation is blank, but the salient points are these:
Address: 50 Isledon Street, London, N7 7LP (this seems to be a generic address for lots of companies, such as Aqua Terra Leisure, who run privatised swimming pools (this does not dispose us well towards them, need we say?) and the Iseldon Partnership. One wonders if it is one of those dubious pseudo-offices which offer addresses and mail handling for all comers, fraudsters, terrorists, et al
The directors: William Iain Wolseley, born 12/2/47, management consultant, William Timothy Coates, born 11/illegible/49, author, and Jonathan Gibbs, another management consultant, a young 'un, born on 7/4/56. There's then a list of subscribers, the same three, but this time at home addresses in Bristol, Hampstead and Stoke Newington. This is information anyone can see, but we won't embarrass them by publishing them here.
We'll say more about the articles of association another time.
Thank you, Coates Watch. You have performed an important public service here.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see that the Libraries Alliance shares a building with Aquaterra who are, as you have so carefully detected, providers of leisure services to local authorities (although they are a not for private provider, so a little unfair to imply that they are commercial operators with a profit motive).
It is perhaps more interesting to note that one of the directors of the Libraries Alliance is one Jonathan Gibbs.
Could this be the same the same Jonathan Gibbs, who until June this year was CEO of Aquaterra, according to this press notice?
http://www.ukfitnessnetwork.org/news/new-chief-executive-for-aquaterra-leisure-/
He is now "establishing a new company that intends to operate public services beyond the field of leisure."
I wonder if they are one and the same person?
If so, I wonder if people would have any questions about how a person with these interests being a director of the Libraries Alliance can support "a properly informed dialogue" between readers and councillors?
It is a very legitimate question, if only to establish that there is no agenda lying behind the Libraries Alliance's desire to "support a properly informed dialogue". I'm sure the Libraries Alliance would agree that we would want to avoid the impression that they have something to hide and will take steps to demonstrate that there are no conflicts of interest.
Coates Watch, thank you for this very useful public service.
ReplyDeleteWhile it's very unfair to criticise Aquaterra for being an operator of privatised leisure facilities (they are in fact a not for profit operator) there are legitimate questions over the fact that the Libraries Alliance shares its office with them.
Could the Jonathan Gibbs, who Coates Watch has done an exemplary public service in identifying as a director of the Libraries Alliance, be the same Jonathan Gibbs who was Aquaterra's Chief Executive until June 2010?
Is he the same Jonathan Gibbs who has now left Aquaterra and "will be establishing a new company that intends to operate public services beyond the field of leisure"?
http://www.ukfitnessnetwork.org/news/new-chief-executive-for-aquaterra-leisure-/
Assuming they are one and the same, I have no reason to doubt that Mr Gibbs is anything other than a fine, upstanding individual with a track record of providing good public services.
However, there is a legitimate question over whether there is a conflict of interest for directors of a Libraries Alliance that supports "a properly informed dialogue" and seeks to "replace" public and publicly funded bodies to do so, when they might have commercial interests in the provision of public services.
I am sure that the Libraries Alliance themselves would like to clear up any such misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the motivations of their directors and whether there is potential for a conflict of interest. It is a shame that, when asked to do this on the Good Library Blog, the author of that blog chose not to do so publicly.
If the Libraries Alliance is to be given any support then any lingering doubts that its directors have other interests that may conflict with the stated aims of the Alliance need to be quashed.
So where's Skorpy's comment gone to? The one you added which contained potentially actionable insinuations. According to CoatesWatch the only disappearing posts are those removed by Tim Coates from the Good Library blog. Were the lawyers consulted?
ReplyDeleteIt's still there. Blogger delayed comment publishing so, when Skorpy's comment appeared, a couple of hours late, we removed, at Skorpy's request, his (or her) commemts asking where it was, and one we put up based on the e-mail notification we had. Happy to publish the relevant e-mail alerts if you wish
ReplyDeleteThere is no comment vetting here. Everything is automatically published. We then remove spam etc after the event.
As you were. When tidying up we deleted one too many. So here's Skorpy's comment on this post, made at Skorpy has left a new comment on your post "The inside dope on the LIbraries Alliance":
ReplyDeleteThank you, Coates Watch. You have performed an important public service here.
It is interesting to see that the Libraries Alliance shares a building with Aquaterra who are, as you have so carefully detected, providers of leisure services to local authorities (although they are a not for private provider, so a little unfair to imply that they are commercial operators with a profit motive).
It is perhaps more interesting to note that one of the directors of the Libraries Alliance is one Jonathan Gibbs.
Could this be the same the same Jonathan Gibbs, who until June this year was CEO of Aquaterra, according to this press notice?
http://www.ukfitnessnetwork.org/news/new-chief-executive-for-aquaterra-leisure-/
He is now "establishing a new company that intends to operate public services beyond the field of leisure."
I wonder if they are one and the same person?
If so, I wonder if people would have any questions about how a person with these interests being a director of the Libraries Alliance can support "a properly informed dialogue" between readers and councillors?
It is a very legitimate question, if only to establish that there is no agenda lying behind the Libraries Alliance's desire to "support a properly informed dialogue". I'm sure the Libraries Alliance would agree that we would want to avoid the impression that they have something to hide and will take steps to demonstrate that there are no conflicts of interest.
Posted by Skorpy to Coates Watch at December 9, 2010 11:27 AM
The comment I am searching for is the one in which Skorpy was asking if Jonathan Gibbs of the Library Alliance was the same Jonathan Gibbs who is a director of Aquaterra etc., etc.
ReplyDeleteThat's the one which seems to have been removed...although, as you may be aware, very little can be permanently removed.