To receive answers from the Cabinet Members to questions on their portfolios from other Members.
Minutes:
Councillor B Holdman addressing the Cabinet Member for Finance raised issues with regard to parking meters not working within the car parks in Tiverton, although some of the issues had been addressed, there were still 2 or 3 meters that were not working properly.
The Cabinet Member stated that he thought the issues had been resolved, however he requested details and stated that he would report back to the member.
Councillor B Holdman addressing the Cabinet Member for Community Well-Being asked for an update on the reopening of Tiverton Police Station to the public.
The Cabinet Member stated that renovation was taking place and he thought it would hopefully be opened in January.
Councillor F W Letch addressing the Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Regeneration referred to planning application 21/01379/FULL and the fact that a decision had been made by a planning officer without any consultation with the Town Council or the Ward members. He asked if the Cabinet Member could investigate the matter of how the decision was made without any consultation and that a written response be supplied so that it could be circulated to the Town council and local residents.
The Cabinet Member stated that he had spoken to officers and could confirm that correspondence was sent to the Town Council on 14 July 2021, however something had gone wrong, he would investigate the matter with the Director of Place and respond to the member in writing.
Councillor A Wilce addressing the Cabinet Member for Finance stated that: We have seen different sets of figures presented at different meetings. Scrutiny was given inaccurate information upon which to base their scrutiny of the 3 Rivers Business Case. Audit Committee were given altogether different figures as the basis for their discussions. When the matter went to Cabinet, Scrutiny and Audit recommendations were taken together - despite those committees having considered different figures.
The table given to Audit was not merely a correction of the table given to Scrutiny, but a wholly new table. Despite the column headings being the same, the new table contained 21 changes and put the Total Borrowing Figure at only £11.23 Million - that is more than £9.5 Million less than reality.
It is not enough to say that the
figures will be audited, Members and the public need to be given
confidence back in our accounting and reporting. And, just because
Cabinet eventually signed off on a - hopefully correct - set of
figures in the end, doesn’t mean that everything is
well.
The attitude of many towards the Council’s commitment to 3 Rivers, and the inconsistency in the 2020/21 Interest Received figures, has resulted in a member of the public questioning the accuracy of MDDC accounting, which Scrutiny has not been able to resolve, and which do not appear to be being addressed elsewhere.
Members cannot make proper decisions if they are not presented with proper information.
So, my question to you is: What will be done to ensure that both Members and the public can have full confidence in the figures being presented to us, regarding 3RDL, going forward?
The Cabinet Member stated that he would respond in writing, however the difference in figures was explainable, the figures were background figures and that it was the Business Plan that was being considered.