At Thursday night’s Scrutiny Committee meeting, details (as published a week ago) on spending estimates of up to £15,000,000 for Cowes Enterprise College were discussed.
Many Islanders have called for a Public Inquiry to take place to determine where the project went wrong and who is responsible.
Call for secret documents to be released
Chair of the Scrutiny Committee, Cllr Geoff Lumley (Lab) made clear at the meeting that he had no desire to be part of a Public Inquiry into the fiasco unless all documentation relating to the project is made public.
He recalled the leader of the council, Cllr Ian Stephens (Ind), saying at a recent meeting that, “Scrutiny should roll its sleeves up and do an Inquiry into this”.
Cllr Lumley went on to say,
“I want full openness and transparency regarding what happened. We’re talking about a hell of a lot of tax payers’ money, we could be saddled with debt for a hell of a long time.
“I’ve said to the administration on a daily basis that they need to be open and transparent about precisely what’s transpired.”
Where is openness and transparency?
Former leader of the council, David Pugh, Chair of Governors, Rachael Fidler and one of the council officers previously involved in the project, Janet Newton, have all indicated they would like to see all paperwork released into the public domain.
Cllr Lumley said,
“We can’t get an agreement from the Isle of Wight council administration – that was elected on a platform of openness and transparency – to exhibit openness and transparency in this case.”
Draw a line?
The chair went on to say that Cllr Priest had said, “We need to draw a line under this and move on”.
Cllr Lumley said,
“I don’t think it’s time to draw a line, as the chair of this committee, as an elected member or as a council tax payer.”
No role for Scrutiny behind closed doors
He added that unless there was full openness and transparency, his committee would have no role in any Inquiry. He said he didn’t not want to be included in a ‘closed’ Inquiry out of the public eye.
Cllr Priest said the council’s focus must be the best interests of the children and “to be distracted in this way is a concern”.
Not administration’s responsibility to give permission
Deputy leader of the council, Steve Stubbings said
“I understand there is a confidentiality agreement in place and I am not personally prepared to comment and place myself in a position where I might be breaching such an agreement.
“Neither am I prepared to get involved in a discussion around giving someone permission to breach such an agreement. Mr Pugh and the other person you mentioned must bring forward whatever they wish to under their own steam, I don’t feel that it’s in anyway this administration’s responsibility to give them permission to do so.”
Members of the committee were all in agreement with the Chair’s view.
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