Off to the ombudsman then… Dear Allison Thank you for your complaint dated 23 July 2014. I have looked at the breakdown of the £80k cost which has been provided by the Council and as a result is in the public domain. It is clear from this breakdown that this represents the full costs incurred in the whole process of the revision to the Post 16 Transport Policy. I am informed that it was never the intention to mislead in this matter and the fact that the detail behind these costs were released and it is obvious what they represent bears this out. I accept your argument that many of the costs detailed such as those relating to officers of the Council and County Hall would have been incurred anyway but the fact of the matter is that £80k of the financial resources available to the Council have been expended on this process. I cannot therefore uphold your complaint for the reasons given above. If you are not satisfied with my response, you can escalate this matter to Stage 2 of the Council’s corporate process by addressing your complaint in writing to: The Corporate Complaints Officer County Hall Morpeth Northumberland NE61 2EF Yours sincerely Colin Logan Head of Financial and Customer Services Northumberland County Council Tel: 01670 622926 Mobile: 07909966410 Web: northumberland.gov.uk From: Allison Joynson [mailto:allison.joynson@btinternet] Sent: 23 July 2014 08:50 To: Logan, Colin Subject: Official Complaint Dear Mr. Logan I wish to make a formal complaint against the leadership of the council for deliberately, and provocatively misleading the public and the press regarding the use of public finances, specifically, the cost of the extraordinary meeting held on 11.7.14 at County Hall, Morpeth. The apparent cost of £80k was hugely exaggerated, and on closer scrutiny, most of the costs are councillor/ council officials time or buildings costs, which are paid for anyway. The only tangible costs truly attributed to this meeting appear to be £1088.01 for members travel costs, £163.73 for security, £19.80 for copying the agenda and £1019 for hiring a PA system (which even this may be questioned because surely the council have an obligation to the general public for their meetings to be heard – and it did not work properly!). The councillors and council officials are not paid an hourly rate, and council costs are not managed to project codes. All other costs are business as usual costs. Telling the press and the public that the cost of the meeting was £80k when in fact it was only £2290.54 is not only deliberately misleading, but brings in to question other financial claims from leaders of the council, and as such brings the council into disrepute. Yours sincerely, Allison Joynson Parents Against the Decision to Scrap Free Post 16 Transport.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 10:08:39 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015