Quote:
Originally Posted by Acrylic-bob
That is a rather apocalyptic sounding statement Ken. Are you suggesting that the Conservative Group on HBC are preparing to act in a way that would cause damage the Borough in order to secure some sort of political advantage? Or am I misreading you? Perhaps you could expand a little on your theme.
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Peter Britcliffe has something which is called the Cabinet Action Fund, a pot of money ringfenced for whatever the Leader of the Council sees fit to spend it on. In previous years it has been around the £60k mark but this year has been upped to £100k and the spending allowance for the controlling group as a whole has been increased by around £690k. The official figures suggest that there has been a £1.9m saving in the past year but most of that is made up from a VAT rebate and not a saving at all.
Just glance at The Accrington Observer each week and see how many cheques are being handed out by the Conservative councillors on a regular basis, and that is only the ones in the public eye. I have requested a full breakdown of this mystical fund since 1999 and not had the figures yet but it is not audited and no receipts have to be provided.
It is a shocking way to be accounting for the borough's money and not one Conservative councillor opposes it. It places a huge sum of money in the hands of one man, it cannot be right whatever party is in control.
Jaysay, before you even think about the old Blair & Brown routine, I couldn't give a toss about Westminster's previous mistakes. This is something I can actually do in Hyndburn, I would desperately like to cut all the wasteful spending on our own doorstep and it would be so easy to do.