A senior officer at Cheshire East Council has been suspended as a result of the Lyme Green fiasco.
Cheshire East announced today that, following a meeting of the Lyme Green staffing sub-committee last week, a senior member of staff has been suspended from work pending further action by the sub-committee.
The officer concerned has not been named.
The sub-committee was established in the wake of the Lyme Green affair and acts in an investigating and disciplinary capacity.
The Chairman, Councillor Howard Murray, stated that he wished to make it 'crystal clear' that the act of suspension is considered by the Council to be a neutral act intended to protect all parties.
One of the committee's duties is to consider the recommendations made in an investigation report by a Designated Independent Person (DIP) which was completed in December.
Councillor Murray went on to say: "I realise than many people are now demanding to have sight of the report by the DIP. I understand their interest.
"However, a report by a DIP is specifically exempt from Freedom of Information requests and there are other legal requirements that severely limit its distribution.
"I cannot say the report will never be made available, which is for others to decide, but any form of release at this time would at the least be very unhelpful and may well jeopardise the legal process we are following."
He added: "It should by now be clear to most people that the sub-committee has been diligent, fair and effective in the handling of this task.
"If the time, effort and expense of getting to this point is not to be wasted then the sub-committee must be allowed to conclude its work - and this includes the exhaustion of any related appeals, unhindered and without distraction."
The suspension of a senior officer follows the resignation of Cabinet member Councillor Rod Menlove last week. Cllr Menlove was responsible for this area as Environment Portfolio Holder and announced that stepping down was "the only honourable course of action" for him to take.
In December 2012 two senior officers, whose actions were investigated in relation to the Council's proposal to build a recycling station at Lyme Green Depot in Macclesfield, also resigned.
John Nicholson, Strategic Director Places and Organisational Capacity, and Caroline Elwood, Borough Solicitor, resigned just days after the confidential report by a DIP, into the causes of the failure of the Lyme Green development project, was completed and passed to the Council's staffing sub committee for consideration.
A review published last summer revealed that the Council had spent over £800,000 of taxpayers money on the shelved Lyme Green scheme, the main contractor had started work on the site before planning permission was obtained and officers did not comply with EU Procurement Regulations or ensure there was effective reporting to members of the Council.
Cheshire East Council has announced that whilst the DIP report must remain confidential, they will shortly be publishing a report which "will tackle the serious management failings identified by the independent investigator, by making bold and sweeping changes to the Council's management structures and ways of working".
Comments
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Is none of this behaviour a police matter? If I take £800,000 of someone else's money and dissipate it in some inappropriate, and possibly illegal, manner, will I be arrested, and possibly charged for my behaviour? Or does being associated with a Local Authority deliver some kind of immunity from the laws that binds the rest of us? Does resignation mean that you walk away with a large payout, don't have to face up to your alleged actions, or any potential sanctions?
Still waiting to see what questions, if any, will be asked of the Councillors who had responsibility for the officers involved in this. If the Councillors are not up to the job of controlling the officers, should they be there in the first place?
So fed up with public servants at every level enjoying a lifestyle, arrogance and immunity denied to the rest of the population.
If he didn't know this was going on, he was derelict in his duty to local taxpayers to make sure our taxes were spent on democratically sanctioned projects, and his only option is to resign. If he DID know it was going on, then he has been complicit in an unlawful, botched calamity of a project, and should resign anyway. Either way, it doesn't look good for the person responsible at the time - Cllr Michael Jones - who for some inexplicable reason was elevated to lead the council by his fellow Conservative councillors even after this had come to light.