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Published: 29 January 2010
by RÓISÍN GADELRAB

A MARKET trader is battling to prevent the Town Hall snatching away her family inheritance – a row of nine dilapidated shops and flats worth millions in Finsbury.
Former florist Doreen Tibbs appealed against Islington Council’s decision to issue a compulsory purchase order (CPO) on 141-157 Whitecross Street at a public inquiry at the town hall on Tuesday.
Council officers des­cribed the buildings as “a rundown eyesore in need of complete renovation”. They have been lying empty for months.
The council wants to sell them to a housing association to create 15 homes and ease the pressure on Islington’s housing waiting list.
But Ms Tibbs pleaded: “I’ll do anything the council asks but I can’t agree a CPO... The banks are frightened, they don’t want a building with a CPO.”
A decision to secure a compulsory purchase order and provide security, which will cost Islington more than £1million on top of the price of the buildings, was approved by the council’s cabinet in January last year.
Ms Tibbs, who was born in Whitecross Street and started out as a florist in its market, inherited the buildings, worth more than £3million, from her family some years ago.
The properties are owned by Ms Tibbs’ company, Argonaut, registered in the Isle of Man, which is in turn owned by Oaklawns, in the British Virgin Islands. The council was unable to determine who owns Oaklawns.
Ms Tibbs told the hearing she had been unable to renovate the properties because of personal issues. “I had lots of trouble in my life,” she said. “I was on stress pills. I lost two people in a very short space of time. It was devastating... At that time my people were paramount, lives come before any object. I’m now back on track... I’m the only member of my family left.”
She said she had made a “verbal agreement” which would result in the renovation of the buildings, with some of them being sold.
Questioned on the validity of a verbal agreement, Ms Tibbs said: “If you come from my part of the world, working in the markets, that’s as good as anything. I take people on face value and that’s how I work.”
The council said it has four addresses for Ms Tibbs, including one in the Isle of Man. She told the Tribune she lives “anywhere and everywhere”.
Christiaan Zwart, representing Ms Tibbs, said: “The council is taking a step to take someone’s land against their will. Is it right that the council CPOs property that’s been vacant for 10 months?”
Jonathan Ferris, representing the council, said the properties had “blighted” the area for several years.
He told Ms Tibbs: “The truth is you haven’t a clue who you have an agreement with. You’re a trusting soul and you’re out of your depth.“
Council environmental health officer Jennie Goodall added: “We don’t think there’s any prospect of the building being brought into use without the making of the CPO.”
The council claims the properties have been empty for more than six months and are considered long-term empty, giving way to a CPO.
A Town Hall spokeswoman said the council had brought more than 450 empty properties back into use in the past two years but that 11,000 people remained on the housing waiting list. The Whitecross Street properties had the potential to provide 15 homes within two or three years.
A decision on the CPO bid is expected in the spring.