Cheshire East Council today announced the Terms of Reference for the independent investigation into work carried out at Lyme Green.
The aborted plans to build a recycling station at Lyme Green cost Cheshire East taxpayers over £800,000. Planning rules were broken, as the main contractor commenced work on the site three weeks before a planning application was submitted, officers did not comply with EU Procurement Regulations and spent beyond the approved budget on the scheme breaking Finance and Contract Procedure Rules.
The probe will seek to explain how the decision was taken to begin building works on a waste transfer site at the depot, in Macclesfield, without formal planning permission.
A public meeting of Cheshire East's audit and governance committee on June 14th decided that the Council should begin an immediate independent review of the conduct of staff to consider whether there was a case for disciplinary or other appropriate action.
The staffing committee met on Monday, 25th June, to prepare draft terms of reference for the review and to appoint a sub-committee to oversee the process. This will include finalising the terms of reference and appointing an independent investigating officer.
This officer will have access to all information and will be able to interview any employees and councillors in order to produce the report as soon as possible.
The Council has stated they are committed to keeping the public informed regarding the progress on this matter.
Cllr Michael Jones today voiced his thanks to the staffing committee for drawing up the Terms of Reference for the investigation into the conduct of staff relating to the Lyme Green Depot.
He said: "I am very happy with the outcome of yesterday's meeting and would like to thank Councillor David Topping for his excellent chairmanship.
"It is important and necessary that everything we do regarding Lyme Green is open and transparent.
"I would like to be very clear that, as I was portfolio holder for resources at the time, I have now declared an interest in this matter and have stepped aside. However, I feel I have more questions to ask than answer. I am keen to ensure that this is a robust process in which officers and members have their unhindered say.
"I am also pleased that the process is moving forward and that a sub-committee will now look to appoint an independent investigator. This sub-committee will consist of Councillors Howard Murray (Conservative), David Newton (Labour) and Barry Moran (Conservative).
"I want to assure every resident that the fullest independent investigation will take place to review the conduct of staff mentioned in the report into Lyme Green.
"Many changes have already been introduced to prevent any reoccurrence of such a failure of the processes of the Council. However, it is only after the independent investigation has been concluded that the Council will be in a position to address some of the potential constitutional and cultural changes that I and other members envisage being necessary.
"I cannot emphasise strongly enough that further comment on this process should now be refrained from. It is of critical importance that the independent investigator has total confidence in which to conduct this investigation, without prejudice and, in doing so, is able to preserve the integrity of the process."
"This process must be able to continue to its conclusion without prejudice."
Chairman of the staffing committee Councillor David Topping said: "I would like to thank everyone for their participation in the meeting.
"This was a forthright and positive meeting and I am pleased that we are now able to publish the Terms of Reference."
Terms of Reference:
The Designated Independent Person (DIP) is authorised to call for interview any person including staff, members, Cabinet Members and Support Members and any other witness s/he deems appropriate. Any individual within a team can be called for interview if that person can supply statements to clarify actions taken by self or by others.
The DIP will have access to any documents including email messages which s/he deems may have a bearing on the necessary evidence required to reach a conclusion within the final report.
The DIP will produce, at the earliest possible opportunity, a report which will include evidence of any action or decision taken by any individual without due regard to council policy, permission or with intent to mislead. This to include clarification regarding who was responsible, to what extent were staff and/or members culpable and/or was the action/decision caused by cultural or procedural errors?
Comments
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It is understood that the elderly are queuing both in Congleton War Memorial and Macclesfield Hospitals, as they wait for a bed in what is deemed 'a suitable ward'. Neither nurses nor patients are euqipped to cope with the demeneted, in an open ward situation where peace, rest and sleep are essentials to recovery. Nor are the demeneted well-served by being cared for in the wrong surroundings. The Tatton Ward, Knutsford, was a haven of tranquility in the local area. Currently it is an abandoned building.
Cheshire East played a pivotal role in the NHS decisions., by virtue of its Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee, which has yet to do the job for which it was set up. Perhaps being chaired and filled with representatives of the political party which made the initial rash decisions, it has abrogated its 'scrutiny' function? In that case we might be well rid of paying out any public money for its running?
Who is making such rotten decisions? Who voted them in? Who employed them? When can we get rid of them?
Also Cheshire East Council is shipping the old right across the county, because it refuses to keep open the essential Day and Respite facility (Bexton Court) for people with dementia, in the Knutsford area.
Polite protest brings only attack by the Mayor's bouncers.. no change.. no relenting on this Cheshire East Council's barbaric treatment of the elderly and their family carers.
£800,000? Just thrown away? Grit your teeth and howl!
PS Then there is the £2 million or so, which this council has wasted on providing a Raliway car park in Crewe..the £80,000 it was fined by the Information Commissioner..I could go on.
And we still don't know why the £85,000 which was still being paid to Cheshire East Council by the NHS, in lieu of the closed Tatton Ward, was not used to keep Bexton Court open. Perhaps some Councillor or Officer might like to explain?
And will it come out of the pockets of the people who acted without
planning permission.. and those in charge of them?
And, wait a moment, what about Wesley Fitzgerald? He's slithered away rather quietly from his years of Council leadership. He only ended his somewhat controversial rule in May, when Michael Jones took over. Doesn't he have anything to say about what his officers were doing at Lyme Green? He always had lots to say about almost everything before. He's still a Councillor of course, so he's still in a good place to explain himself.
And then there's Erika Wenzel. She was the CEO before and during the waste transfer debacle. Didn't she notice what her immediate deputy, John Nicholson, was alleged to be doing? Or the Finance Officer, or the Borough Solicitor/Monitoring Officer? What exactly was she monitoring? This was all happening before Ms Wenzel started her long-term sick leave which may end up costing taxpayers more than £80,000. Shouldn't she be answering some questions about her attention to detail too?
I understand that the heirarchy of control goes upward like this. Officers (employed staff of the Council), Councillors (elected by taxpayers), Cabinet (elected Councillors chosen by the Leader to hold senior positions of power (such as Portfolio Holders), Leader of the Council. Is that right, does anyone know? If it is, doesn't that mean that Wesley Fitzgerald and Michael Jones have a lot of questions to answer?
Perhaps I could encourage residents and others to attend the next few Full Council and Cabinet meetings, to find the answers to the questions above?
Public participation could have a significant effect on finding out.