As OnTheWight reported last week, there was some discussion at the Isle of Wight council’s Scrutiny Committee about the Cowes Enterprise College project.
While Cllr Richard Priest was not keen that council officers should be held accountable for the series of problems which have beset the school at an Inquiry, he did like the idea of asking the previous head of the council,
Steve Beynon and ex-leader of the council, David Pugh (who Cllr Priest unseated in the 2013 elections) to come back to be questioned.
David Pugh responds
OnTheWight got in touch with David Pugh to find out his reaction. He sent the following as a response:-
“I stopped being publicly accountable when I ceased to hold public office in May 2013. That is a consequence of Richard Priest replacing me as the councillor for Shanklin South. I will therefore not be attending any meetings.
“It is for the independent leadership of the Council to explain on what grounds they exonerated the two senior officers on whose watch this major project was not delivered on time, on budget or fit-for-purpose, leaving this legacy of problems.
“Given that these officers were in receipt of undisclosed sums of public money when they were cleared, I am surprised that the Independent administration at County Hall did not require them to be publicly accountable for explaining what went wrong.”
Steve Beynon has been in touch with the CP, advising that he also would not be returning to the Isle of Wight to be held accountable.
