July 11th, 2012 |
Essex Conservatives Reject Inquiry into £5.1 Million Spending
Essex County Council have this week rejected having an inquiry into the spending of £5.1 million on Council charge cards.
This followed revelations in the Brentwood Gazette regarding spending £87,000 in hotels and resorts, £3,000 spent in bars, night clubs and discos, and various other items.
The inquiry was called for by the Council’s Liberal Democrat Opposition. They demanded transparency and openness on what has happened with taxpayers’ money, to provide the information that residents deserve.
The Conservative majority rejected the proposed Inquiry and failed to come up with any concrete proposals of their own to allay residents’ concerns.
Proposing the Motion, Cllr David Kendall said :
“County Council staff work extremely hard to deliver services to local residents, particularly vulnerable children in the care of the authority. However, this is public money and the Liberal Democrat Group proposed this motion in order to ensure that it is being properly spent.
“74% of the Council Tax our residents pay goes to Essex County Council and they have a right to know that their money is spent properly. If the Conservative Leader and Deputy Leader had agreed to speak to the local press when the story first broke, they could have addressed council taxpayers’ concerns.”
The Daily Telegraph is very unimpressed with the County Council’s spending:
Staff at Essex County Council have spent more than £5million pounds of taxpayers’ money on corporate credit cards in the last two years, including fast food, trips to theme parks and hotels in India…..
…..Figures published by the Brentwood Gazette as part of an investigation into council waste found officers spent £5,136,145 in 27 months. Eric Pickles, local government secretary and Brentwood and Ongar MP told the newspaper the amount “strikes him as excessive”. He said: “People at Essex County Council need to realise that it isn’t Essex’s money, it isn’t the Government’s money, it is the public’s money and the public have a right to know how it is being spent.”
Ron Oatham
Trevor Parrett
Bruce Smart
Chris Stanley
Pam Waldie
Elena Black
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July 11th, 2012 at 03:07
I am sure we can expect Cllr Colin Seagers to respond with alacrity on this matter. After all they are his Conservative colleagues……..
July 12th, 2012 at 07:07
Colin shouldn’t have to shoulder the whole burden for his party! And it should really be a County Councillor who responds to this – preferably, one who lives in our district.
July 12th, 2012 at 09:07
Admin,
I asked Colin as he seems to have a contribution to make on most subjects. However I have written to Stephen Castle ( cc’d to you & Ron ) asking him why the council has decided to withhold the information.
Every taxpayer in Essex should be up in arms over this. It seems to me that large corporations, banks, councils etc think that the current financial crisis has nothing to with them while it’s the man in street who is paying price.
July 12th, 2012 at 12:07
The press seem to have mostly established the ‘what’ on spending, now concillors (and the public) need to establish the ‘why’
July 13th, 2012 at 06:07
It’s strange, we get a few holes in our roads and this site is full of comments, our council will not reveal how / why they have spent £5.1m of OUR money and nothing get’s said.
Is it me ?
July 14th, 2012 at 07:07
Its a good point RR.
We do mention potholes quite a bit – and will probably write some more about them over the weekend. Partly it’s because we are telling people that a pothole has already been reported (either by ourselves or someone else). partly it’s because they are easy to photograph…. we are still trying to arrange the photoshoot where I put my old shoe next to 5 million pounds
(though would actually make quite an effective image)
But yeah, people don’t seem to be as interested in the financial issues. Even when Lord Hanningfield was sent to jail, the Conservatives still won the ensuing council by-election very easily.