Toxic Tories still Inventing Fake News on ARCH

 Nick Oliver one of the two Councillors who put their own false reports through the Councils audit committee process on the Councils arms length company ARCH after Auditors and lawyers found ‘nothing of significance’ to report after the Police found there was no criminality in ARCH, in order to cover up for the massive expenditure and cost to the public purse of the change from ARCH to ADVANCE Northumberland  or what it has cost the taxpayer under his watch as finance portfolio holder for the Council, went public last year with an accusation that was based on a lie:

He outlined a situation under the previous administration in which the former chief executive and council leader would agree projects – ‘some very worthwhile’ – with Arch officers as part of the investment committee and then agree the loans from the council to fund them.

“That cannot be right and there’s a massive conflict of interest,” he said.

Coun Oliver also pointed to the previous administration’s medium term budget for 2017-2020 which delegated authority to the chief executive and leader to agree individual loans to third parties, primarily Arch, from a three-year pot of £450million as a ‘situation with no proper scrutiny or control’.

Murky’s investigations into the Governance of ARCH through papers lodged in public with the Local Enterprise Partnership find Councillor Olivers latest splurge during the current Budget process and his last two budget processes to be Completely untrue! And we have been led to believe by top people from the region that his statements are subject to the current multi agency investigations into Advance Northumberland and the Council with the public and the press waiting for the roll out of reports into the Tories particularly news regarding the reports on Advance being sued by the huge construction conglomerates working at Energy Central and how much the outcome will cost Northumberland’s ratepayers?

https://wwwchroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/northumberland-county-council-could-exposed-18790307

The constant spin by his false report writing partner Councillor Richard Wearmouth on promises surrounding projects around the County which haven’t been delivered has exposed Councillors Olivers mismanagement of public finances as they now can’t even get their stories together and through their need to protect themselves after the loss of former Leader Peter Jackson who condoned their behaviour, members of the public and opposition members on the Council which includes the nearly as Toxic Tories who support the new Leader Glen Sanderson,  have great difficulty believing the half truths dug up and spun out as fake news from the now ousted Peter Jackson administrations Portfolio holders, a Group which includes Oliver and Wearmouth.

Last Year the Toxicity Twins ran the idea of an investment board to replace a fully audited, proper and complex procedure that  included at all counts, trusn and corners the Leader of the Conservative Group Councillor Peter Jackson who had to condone all decision making is truly quite amazing, its as if the Tory Group did not trust him? And now he’s been ousted but what have the investigators dug up that isn’t misery for the Council Taxpayer?

But to show that ARCH and the Council was Governed correctly under the Labour Administration we have listed some of the headlines from the LEP reports into their Governance methodology, a methodology that was thought so safe that ARCH ran the issue of Government Rural Grant Funding on behalf of the region.

Arch and the Council operated as follows :

 

a)     Projects of an infrastructure nature were reported at the Councils capital works working group.
It looked at the Councils needs and wishes for physical infrastructure as well as Capital spend right across the County. Business plans were drawn up and the cross party group containing members of all political parties decided which projects were best delivered by the Council and which would be best undertaken by ARCH. Councillor Jackson sat on this committee.

b)     The decisions of the working group were reported to the Cabinet of the Council where Councillor Peter Jackson was a member. Unlike today with the £1Bn spending Council being run by a one party Tory cabinet Labour ran a mixed cabinet with members of all political parties among its prime decision making body, with Councillor Jackson representing the Tories, Councillor Reid from the LibDems and Councillor Kelly standing up for the Independents on the Council.

c)      The chosen projects were then transferred to ARCH, joint projects that were of a regeneration nature designed primarily by the North East Local Enterprise Partnership where Councillor Peter Jackson was leading member as part of the scrutiny process were also openly reported through the Council’s and ARCH Governance processes.

d)     An investment committee also met at ARCH which included Councillors and Officers and members from public and trade bodies where the pro’s and con’s of the projects were debated. Lending rates were set by the investment committee at a level to ensure they could be delivered and paid for in a reasonable time. This committee also discussed the recycling of ARCH profits to suit the ‘profit for purpose’ needs of both the Council and the communities of Northumberland.

e)     Projects then went on to the ARCH Board made up of professionals and Councillors, Councillor Peter Jackson was a prime member on behalf  the Tories on that Board which discussed the merits of the investments chosen to be delivered and the management of the company from  a legal perspective as prescribed by the Companies Act.

f)       The projects, finance and progress were monitored by the ARCH audit committee where Councillor Peter Jackson sat as a  member of the committee.

g)     The decisions regarding finance were recorded in the Councils Treasury Management system and monitored from there, that information then went on to the Councils Audit Committee for scrutiny through audit. The whole process was open and involved Councillor Peter Jackson and his Tory Group.

h)     It is correct that some financial decisions could be made by the Chief Executive in conjunction with the Leader but these could not break the Councils spending rules of ACCA, AGIG or Treasury management, were of a very minor nature and did not involve ARCH, it’s a pity that Councillor Oliver didn’t read the minutes of the Councils Audit Committee before he made his original opinion known in the press or ran out his latest untruth’s during the Council’s latest budget process.

In summary, there seems to be a completely unhealthy concentration on ARCH matters by Councillor Oliver when in reality the largest sums that may be worth worrying over are that of the Councils massive loans to the NHS where Councillor Olivers own Government are closing down the amount of spending power NHS trusts have and he should ask, will that affect the Council Taxpayers investments?