Public taken for 'fools' amid questions over when council first knew of bankruptcy risk
As the full extent of Gloucester City Council's embarassing financial position emerges questions are arising over how long the local authority leaders havce been aware of the crisis.
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There are questions over how long Gloucester council chiefs have known about the “financial catastrophe” they are in amid fears the public are being taken for ‘fools’ and “drip fed information”.
Gloucester City Council revealed last week that they are in need of a bailout loan from the Government of up to £17.5m.
If they do not secure this funding, the council would effectively become bankrupt.
Council leaders have agreed a financial recovery plan to deal with the issue which has come to light after accounts from previous years have only recently been checked by external auditors.
However, there are questions over how long key people at the authority have known about the predicament the council is in.
Finance chiefs are understood to have been in talks with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government about the possibility of securing exceptional funding support.
Read more: City Council needs £17.5m Government bailout loan to avoid bankruptcy
And Conservative Councillor Sajid Patel (Barton and Tredworth) asked about the council’s “financial catastrophe” at a cabinet meeting (Wednesday, December 10).
He said he was concerned council chiefs were only briefed about the “dire” financial situation of the authority on November 26.
He asked if the council was “gameplaying” and “drip feeding” information while taking the public for fools.
“That was a day after we had a special meeting in this chamber where we debated and discussed the issue around the £1.5m black hole,” he said.
“Isn’t it just a bit of a coincidence you only found out a day after we had that special meeting?
“Or is there some gameplaying going on here where you are drip feeding us information and you think we are fools and the public out there as fools.
“It sounds to me like you already knew and the timing of it is beyond belief.
“Is it a coincidence also this timeline was around the time of the local government reorganisation proposal that you have had the senior management working on for the last 11 months?
“If there is gameplaying going on, it needs to stop now.”
Council leader Jeremy Hilton (LD, Kingsholm and Wotton) said they were briefed on November 26 with the “full impact of what the situation was”.
