Thursday, March 04, 2010

Tory-run Harborough in trouble with Audit Commission

The Harborough Mail reports that the Audit Commission is to launch an investigation into the Tory-run district council's waste collection contract.

Last November it emerged that the council has allowed the waste disposal company Focsa to open a depot on the edge of Great Bowden without planning permission. By coincidence or not, the Tory group leader, who represented the ward affected, resigned at the same time. The Liberal Democrats won the subsequent by-election with a crunching majority.

Now comes news that Harborough District Council has been breaking its own rules by allowing Focsa to operate without a signed contract and without a bank bond indemnifying the council against any loss should it go out of business.

The Harborough Mail report says:
Eric Ludlow, a spokesman for the Audit Commission, said: "The Audit Commission and its appointed auditors take seriously any suggestion that an organisation has significantly breached its financial procedures. The district auditor with responsibility for Harborough Council will consider the concerns that have been raised and will report to the council in due course. I can confirm that we have received information expressing concerns about Harborough Council's arrangements for sealing its environmental services contract."

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