'One of the 7 worst Councils in the Country' (Norwich Liberal Democrats Online)

Norwich Liberal Democrats Online <info@norwichlibdems.org.uk>

'One of the 7 worst Councils in the Country'

February 4, 2008 10:54 AM

money going down a drain The latest Audit Commission report has slammed the finances of the Labour controlled City Council. In a letter to the Norwich Evening News Cllr Judith Lubbock comments on the report.

Dear Editor,

'One of the 7 worst Councils in the Country'

That's what the Audit Commission has said of the Labour controlled Norwich City Council's Use of Resources for 2007.

In a report to the Council on January 28th the Audit Commission's findings, covering the period May 06 to April 07, has described as inadequate 6 out of the 12 criteria used to judge how the council uses its resources. This means that the Labour controlled Council is amongst the seven worst district councils in the whole country.

I am concerned that with such a poor report on the use of the council's resources whether the council can deliver its service plans. It is beholden to those who scrutinise the council to raise concerns which I did at the Scrutiny Committee. The inadequate scores for putting in place arrangements to ensure that spending matches available resources and that budgets and a capital programme are soundly based to deliver strategic priorities gives me cause for concern.

The Labour council has taken great delight in pointing the finger of blame at the previous Liberal Democrat administration but this report covers the period that Labour have been in charge and their inability to make any improvements tells me 2 things - either the financial systems were so bad that the problems go back beyond the Lib Dems brief spell to when Labour were in charge or the current Labour administration have just not got to grips with things.

Yours sincerely

Judith Lubbock

Liberal Democrat Councillor

Norwich City Council