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17.11.04
Liberal Democrat leader councillor Neil Williams has poured scorn on claims
by Labour that councillors were consulted properly over the controversial
payment of one million pounds to fund consultancy fees in a flawed bid to
turn the Alexandra Palace into a casino.
Cllr Williams was reacting to
claims by Labour councillor Andy Krokou, who in response to a question at
last night's Full Council meeting, said that the matter had come to Haringey Council and had been "approved unanimously".
Cllr Williams says that claims that councillors were adequately consulted
are a far cry from reality. In truth, councillors were presented with a
large pile of paper as they arrived at the last council meeting on 4th
October, which included as a "late item" the report of the last meeting of
Labour's Alexandra Palace Board (in fact, held thirteen days previously,
giving plenty of time to have circulated the single sheet report).
This bundle included the statement that the Board would be requesting
funding for the appointment of advisors, although the massive amount
required was not specified.
Far from "unanimous agreement", there was no
vote because the reports of the Alexandra Palace Board do not need to be
approved. The astonishing request for one million pounds was only revealed
the following day, when it was presented, yet again as an urgent item, at
the meeting of Labour's ruling executive.
Liberal Democrat councillors immediately tried to bring the matter before
the Council's scrutiny committee (a process that can be completed within a
matter of days) but they were told by the Council's legal services that
since it had been presented as an urgent item, the Labour Council's
constitution did not permit any challenge. Even more worryingly, it turned
out that the contract would be awarded without any need for a tender
process, and would include further contracts also to be awarded without
tender.
Councillor Neil Williams comments:
"Labour's claims that councillors had a say over this massive and
unacceptable bill are a fantasy. They know perfectly well that councillors
had neither the details of these payments, nor any notice of them to allow
them to be questioned in a full and proper manner.
"When such large sums of Council taxpayers money are involved, this whole
process is completely unacceptable. Labour have chosen to present these sums
for approval by their Executive in a way which almost completely avoids any
transparent and democratic examination by the opposition or the public.
"With Labour's absurd plans for super-casinos coming off the rails both
locally and nationally, this is looking more and more like an enormous waste
of money."
Lib Dem Parliamentary spokesperson, Cllr Lynne Featherstone, adds:
"Labour have wasted many millions at the Alexandra Palace over the years,
and it looks as if they haven't learnt a single lesson. It is even more
worrying that there is absolutely no accountability in Haringey over
proposals to spend such large and unplanned sums of public money."
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If you have any comments on this story, please let me know in the space below, or you can email me at lynne@lynnefeatherstone.org
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