Members of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee will be meeting on Monday 28th September to consider a call-in of a Cabinet Decision, which the Corporate Scrutiny Committee argue was made without the full extent of information being provided to them.
Perpetuus Tidal Energy Centre (PTEC) are seeking an additional £244,000 to assist renewing licences and leases. The Cabinet refused this request, but instead agreed to extend the term of the original loan by five years.
The tidal energy company, which was taken out of hibernation earlier this year, was recommended by Cabinet to raise the funds needed by selling two thirds of the council’s shareholding.
The IWC invested £1,000,000 in the company in 2013.
Decision ‘called in’
The decision has been called in by Cllr Michael Lilley and supported by Cllr Debbie Andre, Cllr Andrew Garratt and Cllr Richard Hollis (the new Chair of the Scrutiny Committee).
They say the information about the relaxation of the loan terms was not provided to the Corporate Scrutiny Committee when they considered the Cabinet’s decision.
They say that if they’d been given this additional information it could have affected their decision.
IW Council “in danger of judicial review”
The councillors say,
“We also feel by reading information now available the IW Council is in danger of judicial review.”
What committee are seeking
The intended outcome of the ‘call-in’ is for the Corporate Scrutiny Committee to be able to:
Fully scrutinise the additional recommendation which was not listed anywhere in the original report presented to Cabinet to overcome any public concerns that the decision would result in the misappropriation of IWC and rate payers money in favour of a private company without the transfer of any consideration and without any independent scrutiny or supporting information
The Corporate Scrutiny Committee meeting takes place online on Monday 28th September 2020 from 3pm.
Papers for the meeting can be found on the council’s Website, where a link to the live meeting will be included before the meeting begins.
Another Cabinet meeting
The Cabinet will be meeting the following day (Tuesday 29th) at 5pm to consider the recommendation of the Scrutiny Committee. See the agenda before the meeting for a link to the live coverage.
Article edit
9.20am 24 Sep 2020 – Added info about 29th Sept meeting
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