A tangled financial web has emerged as the fall-out from an Angus caravan park legal battle takes a fresh twist.
The South Links park in Montrose was the subject of a landmark private lease deal involving Angus Council and Wow Leisure in 2009.
Director and shareholder Bill McDonald was granted the licence for South Links but administrators are now in control of it after an application was made to the Court of Session.
He said Wow Leisure was approached by Angus Council shortly after signing the lease and he was advised that pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline were interested in “substantial investment” within their Montrose plant.
Mr McDonald said: “In anticipation of this investment, Wow Leisure was required to significantly curtail its trading activities.
“Angus Council acknowledged this and agreed to compensate the company for the significant financial impact this inevitably would incur upon the company, and as a partial acknowledgment they agreed to waive the rent due by the company during the period of discussions they had with GSK to finalise the details of the investment.
“Angus Council also provided the company with financial assistance by way of an unsecured loan to the company during this period.
“Subsequently, for reasons that have never been properly explained, GSK did not proceed with the investment, but instead chose another site in England to channel this investment to.”
Mr McDonald said discussions and legal proceedings commenced between the company and Angus Council in an effort to resolve matters.
He said he thought agreement had been reached whereby the sums due to Angus Council “would be re-paid by the company over a reasonable period of time” and in return he would “personally guarantee the sums due to Angus Council to secure repayment”.
He added: “Throughout this period, I personally invested a six-figure sum into the company in an effort to resolve matters.
“Two days before the matter was to be heard at Forfar Sheriff Court, Angus Council applied to the Court of Session to appoint an administrator to the company.
“This course of action was not intimated to either me or my legal team.”
Mr McDonald said he believes he has done “everything possible” to “facilitate and assist” Angus Council to assist with the proposed investment by GSK.
He said: “As a result of their decision to appoint an administrator, I have been advised there will be little, if any, chance of Angus Council recovering sums towards the repayment to them of the companies indebtedness to them.”
An Angus Council spokesman said: “Wow Leisure had not met the conditions of the lease and failed to make payments due the council.
“With no agreement reached in respect of these outstanding sums, Angus Council was left with no alternative but to pursue this present route.
“We understand there are people who reside at the park on a permanent basis and it is the case that the caravan site licence, granted under the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960, and the lease between the council and Wow Leisure Limited prohibits residential occupation.
“We are not taking any immediate action in relation to the operation of the site. Caravan owners will be notified of the current situation and how it may affect them in due course.”