THE leader of Slough Borough Council has been urged to resign over ‘indefensible’ financial failures following two damning audit reports.
The opposing Conservatives have demanded councillor James Swindlehurst (Lab: Cippenham Green) step down as leader after external auditors Grant Thornton LLP revealed concerns about the way the council governs its finances.
In their report on the 2018/19 accounts, they highlighted:
- insufficient capacity and skills within the finance department
- inadequate preparation of financial statements
- inadequate general and earmarked revenue reserves
- inadequate governance, monitoring and controls over our outside groups and companies
READ MORE: Slough Council under fire from auditors over 'fragile' finances
The Tories panned the Labour administration over the ‘deeply alarming’ reports, saying it will be residents who will be paying for Labour’s ‘mess’ and it raises serious questions about the council’s finances and financial governance.
The chair of the Slough Conservative Association, Mherunisa Hussian, described the leader’s ‘failures’ as ‘indefensible’ and has called for a ‘deep and thorough’ investigation to be conducted to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
She said: “How much longer will he continue to wrongfully blame the financial mismanagement on lack of funding, when clearly it is lack of oversight and inadequate management and governance that is to blame.
“The current predicament of the council’s financial position is a dereliction of duty and a betrayal of their oath of public service to the residents of Slough.”
The leader of the Conservatives, councillor Wayne Strutton (Haymill and Lynch Hill), added: “The leader of the council must take full responsibility for the alarming lack of scrutiny, and the financial mismanagement overseen by him. It’s time he was held to account for the reckless wastage of taxpayers' money and resign.”
Responding to the Conservative's calls, Cllr Swindlehurst rejected their demands for him to resign and has become lead member for financial governance to rectify these issues as part of the cabinet reshuffle.
He said: “It seems that with every local issue in the town – from bus lanes and e-scooters to the council’s budget – the Conservatives issue a press release calling for the leader to resign, these claims would have more credibility if they were not made every other week and certainly not a week after the Labour administration won 11 out of 14 seats contested at the local election.”
He added: “With my cabinet reshuffle I have taken full responsibility for the financial governance of the council going forward and will ensure that council officers correctly implement the full suite of recommendations contained in the report.”
READ MORE: Six facts you didn't know about Slough
The Conservatives also claimed the council is facing an ‘impending debt crisis’ as the local authority has accumulated high levels of borrowing of over £700 million.
Cllr Swindlehurst said it was ‘wrong’ to describe that figure as debt as the £700 million refers to borrowing the council’s capital investment programme, which includes upgrades to the town centre and improving and expanding new homes, schools, and leisure facilities, and claims the council will see revenue from.
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