'Gravy train' firm to close after 'damning' report

A "gravy train" private property company is set to be brought closer under a council's control after a "damning" report.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead's wholly-owned private firm RBWM Property Company (PropCo) was set in 2011 to provide affordable homes and housing for key workers.

But an independent report by Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) found it employed "an expensive management team, which are not aligned to council pay scales".

Royal Borough leaders are now set to approve abolishing its current structure and replacing it with an asset holding company directly managed by the council.

The review cites "cultural differences" between the private firm and council officers and that the setup left the council with "limited control" over its assets.

PropCo expanded to play a role in major regeneration projects agreed between the council and developers in 2016.

But CIPFA also suggested that it had never fulfilled its original purpose and instead generated its own income as a property consultancy.

"The primary driver for the creation of the company was to support the development of key worker housing and regeneration across the borough," the report says.

"In practice, PropCo has never been the primary developer for these sites.

"The council has retained the land ownership and the company has effectively performed construction project management services aligned to a professional consultancy model, utilising the management fees from the development budgets to fund operations."

Council leaders commissioned the review into PropCo's future in February 2024 and four of the firms former directors resigned that same month.

Plans say that moving forward there would be "no director salaries" paid to its directors.

Speaking to councillors scrutinising the plans on 27 March, the council's director of place Andrew Durrant said that would mean "the company will no longer employ staff, deliver consultancy work or have executive salaries".

Councillor Helen Price described the CIPFA review as "politely damning" and said keeping secrets within the firm had been a problem.

"We were not allowed to ask questions, the auditors wouldn't investigate it.

"We have to have more transparency."

Lib Dem councillor Gurch Singh said PropCo had "ended up milking the borough and the land".

"The thing was a gravy train," he added.

Leading cabinet councillors are set to approve the plan to bring PropCo in house on 2 April.

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