Last week I reported on wilmslow.co.uk that local residents and councillors are now calling on Cheshire East to release the independent report they commissioned into the Lyme Green fiasco in 2013, which cost taxpayers over £1 million.
Having contacted Cheshire East Council to ask whether they will be publishing the Lyme Green Report they commissioned in full, or whether they are , or are considering doing so, they have now sent the following statement:
A spokesperson for Cheshire East Council said: "Councillor Mark Goldsmith, at the meeting of the Full Council on Wednesday 1st February, requested that the Designated Independent Person's (DIP) Lyme Green Report be published in full.
"The council has previously published a summary report in June 2013. Later in 2013, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) issued a decision notice accepting that a number of redactions were required prior to publication of the full report. In December 2013 the council published a redacted version of the report following the ICO's direction.
"The ICO decision was appealed. However, as reported to the Council's Cabinet in March 2015, the decision of the First Tier Tribunal of the General Regulatory Chamber (Information Rights) stated that, 'the council has disclosed as much information as it is able to do lawfully and fairly in respect of the Lyme Green DIP Report.'
"The council must, therefore, very carefully consider the legal position in relation to the report and Councillor Goldsmith's request."
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
Only by sharing the unredacted report into the events surrounding Lyme Green can the Council demonstrate contrition and provide themselves with a "Ground Zero" upon which to build back better.
They have no idea what id does to their credibility to simply blow away such a large amount of money a report they then deny those who paid(us) full access.
Just imagine the use that could have been made with that cash.
And then they wonder why they are held in contempt.
The recent Public Interest Report by Grant Thornton on Cheshire East's management between 2014 and 2018 highlights just how bad things were. The auditors say it was as bad as the Westminster 'Homes for Votes' scandal in 1986 and the more recent financial meltdowns at Croydon and Northampton councils. They also worked on those council scandals too and put Cheshire East into the same category.
They regard it their legal duty as auditors to publish their findings and acted totally independently of the current council. Cheshire East did not commission their report and did not have any involvement in its writing. The council received their report only hours before it was fully published. It was therefore not politically motivated.
You can hear what the auditors said at the recording of the special council meeting:
https://soundcloud.com/cheshireeast/council-1-february-2023
Thankfully, the auditors said the current council has radically changed and has considerably improved. They now say it is an "exemplar" council in the way it is managed under the new Independent / Labour administration.
The new Committee system of running Cheshire East (introduced by the Independents) has stopped a “strong leader” from ever going rogue and hijacking the council again. While the Conservative group continually resisted the introduction of this new system, they now publicly acknowledge it has been a great success.
So the police investigations have stopped. The dodgy deals, staff bullying, garden leave and pay-offs have now stopped. The waste and scandals have all stopped too.
Therefore, publishing the Lyme Green report won't uncover how bad things were. That has already been done. Instead, it is to finally draw a line under this sorry period in Cheshire East's history. So, I can stop apologising for scandals that happened before I joined the council. Scandals that made me just as angry as you and were the reason I become an Independent councillor, so I could help run Cheshire East in a much better way.
So, I hope by publishing the Lyme Green report, it can be a watershed moment. When we all acknowledge Cheshire East is now very different and a much improved organisation. So, we can focus on the challenges the council faces to deliver the local services we all want without continually referring to how badly it was once managed.
Cllr Mark Goldsmith
Residents of Wilmslow
Well said Mark Goldsmith; thinking back to where we were, the transformation has been massive, well done, let’s keep up the momentum.