Shambles over County Council policies (North Bedfordshire Liberal Democrats)

North Bedfordshire Liberal Democrats <bedford@bedfordlibdems.org>

Shambles over County Council policies

March 31, 2006 12:00 PM

Bedfordshire County Hall

Both the Government's Audit Commission and the County Council's Conservative administration have been slammed by the Liberal Democrats over an emergency meeting on 31st of March to ram through a raft of policies related to the Council's troubled finances.

The Audit Commission are threatening to bring back the date when the policies have to be in place so the Council is rushing them through. The Audit Commission are responsible for ensuring sound financial governance, so it is incredible that they should be creating a situation where finance policies have to be rushed through without significant scrutiny and without Councillors being given time to study them properly. However, without the policies in place there is no possibility of the Commission raising the Council's overall rating from its current WEAK status.

The Conservative Administration must, however, take responsibility for adding to the shambles. Initially they failed to realise that one of the policies required the approval of the full County Council, so a special meeting had to be called. Then, in spite of adequate time being available the notice for the meeting was sent out late, so that councillors and the public haven't had the notice they are entitled to and standing orders will have to be suspended to allow the meeting to take place at all. It took the Liberal Democrat opposition to discover both these failings.

Liberal Democrat Leader on the Council, Peter Blaine said: "This is a total mess, but it is in the interests of the people of Bedfordshire that the Council improves its rating as soon as possible. We are helping the Council get over the difficulties the Audit Commission and the Conservatives have caused but we have insisted that the policies are reviewed and scrutinised by Councillors as quickly as possible so that any deficiencies can be put right in short order".

ENDS