Council defends cost of meeting training
WEST Lancashire Borough Council has defended itself after spending £1,575 on a training course for chairing meetings.
The council had come under fire after records showed the four figure bill for an online course attended by new mayor Cllr Terry Aldridge and his deputy, Cllr Maureen Nixon.
Our West Lancashire group chairman Cllr Adrian Owens described the expenditure as “indefensible” and argued that internal training could have been provided. He also pointed out that it came after long-serving employees were made redundant.
Cllr Owens said, “The mayor is an experienced councillor and a former chairman of Lancashire County Council. He has to chair about six meetings this year.
“It is indefensible to spend £1,575 of council taxpayers’ money on a one-day online training course on how to chair meetings. An internal refresher course including use of Skype should have been sufficient.
“In any circumstance this largesse could not be justified, but in the current situation it is outrageous. The council is still reducing its staff numbers to balance the books with more staff leaving on redundancy this month while leisure centre staff facing an uncertain future and possible shorter hours.
“In the wider community, many residents are fearful for their job security or having to tighten their belts. The council needs to ask every time it writes a purchase order – is this spending justified?”
In response, a council spokesman said the training course was actually attended by five people, including three officers, which worked out at a cost of £315 per person.
The spokesman added: “The session focused on council meeting procedures, chairing virtual council meetings and managing virtual civic engagements.
“Training materials were provided by the trainer to enable future sessions to be conducted in-house.”