Cheshire East Council has confirmed that the head of finance has been suspended as a result of the Lyme Green scandal and is not on long term sick leave.
Earlier this month the Council announced that, following a meeting of the Lyme Green staffing sub-committee, an unnamed senior officer had been suspended from work pending further action by the sub-committee.
Cheshire East Labour Group issued a press release this week saying "The head of finance is on long term sick leave."
Having contacted CEC I have received confirmation that Lisa Quinn, the Director of Finance and Business Services, is not on sick leave but is the senior officer who was suspended from work two weeks ago.
Kim Ryley, Chief Executive of Cheshire East Council, said: "The Labour Party press release is wrong.
"Lisa Quinn has been suspended from work pending further action by the staffing sub-committee over Lyme Green."
Cheshire East Council spent over £800,000 of taxpayers money on the shelved scheme to build a recycling station at Lyme Green Depot in Macclesfield.
The suspension of Lisa Quinn follows the resignation of Cabinet member Councillor Rod Menlove, who was responsible for this area as Environment Portfolio Holder, and two senior officers, John Nicholson, Strategic Director Places and Organisational Capacity, and Caroline Elwood, Borough Solicitor.
A review published last summer revealed that the Council had started work on the site before planning permission was obtained and officers broke EU Procurement Regulations.
An independent report was passed to the Council's Staffing Sub Committee for consideration in December, which CEC has refused to make public as its release may jeopardise legal proceedings.
Chief Executive, Kim Ryley, has published a report to tackle the serious management failings identified by the independent investigation into the causes of the failure of the Lyme Green project. As a result of these findings a complete review of management roles and responsibilities will be carried out and management positions will be cut by at least 25% over the coming months. See previous article: 'Council set to scrap all current management posts'.
Kim Ryley's report "Becoming a "Strategic Council" - Review of Management Roles and Responsibilities", will be considered by the Cabinet on Monday, 4th February.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
We have had three resignations of staff, a cabinet member and possibly the former leader of the council and now have Kim Ryley stating
"................. has been suspended from work pending further action by the staffing sub-committee over Lyme Green." Not only was Lyme Green a disaster but also the length of time in bringing the investigations and staff disciplinaries to conclusion is a disgrace. Given the nature of issues surrounding Lyme Green I cannot understand why a period of 3 months was sufficient to bring the matter to conclusion in say April 2012.
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/the_report_of_the_designated_ind