Portsmouth Lib Dems threaten Tories with legal action over claim of 'sham' £1 offer for St James' Hospital

Earlier this week, Conservative group leader Simon Bosher criticised councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson for the 'sham' £1 offer, which he described as 'an electioneering stunt' and said demonstrated the council was not serious about the deal.

But his exclusion of any reference to a 50-50 profit share agreement, which was included as part of the bid, in a letter sent to people living in Milton has prompted the libel claim.

'You have stated that the city council have put in a bid to buy this land for £1 and nothing more when you know perfectly well that the whole offer is a price of £1 plus half of the profit on redevelopment,' a letter from Saulet Townsend to Cllr Bosher said, 'This vital element you gave omitted.

'This is not merely political banter, it is blatantly untrue and must be corrected at the earliest opportunity.'

It makes several demands of Cllr Bosher:

- For him to circulate a letter 'with correct information' to the people his original letter was sent,

- 'that he 'remove and take down all wrong and/or misleading social media posts',

- and that he issues a written apology to Cllr Vernon-Jackson.

Cllr Bosher's letter, sent earlier this week to people living near the hospital, said: 'It is so shocking that they entered a bid for just £1 knowing it would never be taken seriously and would be rejected, all the while telling the public that they were doing all they could to purchase the site.

'[The Lib Dems] have lied, schemed and undermined your local community in the worst way possible, if what we're told is true.'

The row centres on newly-revealed documents detailing the council's bid submitted to the NHS to protect it from private developers and ensure affordable housing is built.

In response to a freedom of information request, NHS Property Services said the offer was below market value and the council proposal unprofitable. It said this 'potentially disadvantages reinvestment in the health system in the long term'.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Cllr Vernon-Jackson said he was 'looking forward' to receiving the apology from Cllr Bosher.

'What he had written was libellous,' he said. 'By only giving people a partial picture he was misleading them and that is not on.'

Cllr Bosher said he had instructed his own solicitor to issue a formal response.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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