THE opposition Lib Dems group on Warrington Borough Council is offering a cross-party approach to help implement the recommendations of the highly critical Best Value report saying they do not accept there has been ‘gross financial mismanagement’.
The Government requires comments on the proposed statutory interventions by 22 May.
Group Leader Cllr Mark Browne says, “The key aim is to do what is right for the town and we will do what we can to assist with this. The topics covered by the report are complex and we must face the fact that, despite training, many councillors find it difficult to get their minds round the issues. However, we are pleased that the Council is taking the report very seriously. We must not forget that the previous Conservative Government left public finances in a dreadful state and that most councils are in financial difficulty already, or likely to be in the next few years. Warrington is better off than many others but has a profile because of its high debt. There have been problems but we do not accept there has been ‘gross financial mismanagement’. Prior to the elections a year ago, the Tories were the main opposition party but they never put forward any ideas for what they would do differently if they had been in charge.”
Former Council Leader and Opposition Spokesperson on Finance, Cllr Ian Marks added, “At full Council meetings and the Audit and Corporate Governance Committee, the Tories adopted an extremely adversarial approach including personal attacks on officers. These were completely counter-productive because even when they put forward sensible points these were ignored because of the unpleasant atmosphere they had created. It is interesting to note that four ex-Conservative councillors and one ex-MP were interviewed by the Inspectors but only four Labour Councillors and one Liberal Democrat. Neither I nor the previous Lib Dem Leader were interviewed.
“We supported many of the Labour initiatives to generate income to protect vital public services, such as regeneration in the town, housing and solar farms. At the time such initiatives were in line with Government guidelines. We were less happy with out-of-town investments and certainly not with the investment in Together Energy because we believe this was outside the Council’s expertise. We were sympathetic to investing in a community bank but not in Redwood because of the nature of its ownership. We have repeatedly called for greater openness and transparency in decision-making. It is better now than it used to be, but still not sufficient.
“I was led to believe that appropriate due diligence on investments was carried out by outside experts so I was disappointed to read in the report about a time this advice was ignored. Relationships with the external auditor, Grant Thornton, were strained at times but their resignation was because they did not have the expertise to deal with the audit of a bank. We called for independent outsiders to be appointed to the Audit and Corporate Governance Committee and it was a shame that it took so long for Labour to agree to this.”
Deputy Group Leader Cllr Helen Speed commented, “We agree with the report that Scrutiny is not working very well. Nationally, some Select Committees are chaired by opposition MPs. When we led the Council, we offered Chairs to the then Labour opposition but they did not take this up. We welcome the proposal in the report for consideration being given to the opposition for chairing the scrutiny process.
“Because the Council was successful in generating income from its investments, we agree that the Labour administration thought they could get away without major transformation schemes. They now realise that in the absence of more funding from central government, transformation is needed. Despite putting forward a balanced budget for the current year, we are greatly concerned that the projected savings will not be realised.
“The Council now needs to work with our MPs, the voluntary sector, other partners and the Government appointed Envoys to carry out the reforms that are required. We must not forget that one of our MPs was a member of the Cabinet during the problem years. Officers must be held to account and we trust that the Labour administration will agree to our full participation.”
