Council clarifies £370k legal bill
Fees related to A9/A85 junction project
Perth and Kinross Council has admitted it had to pay solicitors at least £370,000 to settle issues surrounding its controversial A9/A85 junction improvement project.
In a statement released last week the local authority confirmed the sum was spent with Scottish law firm Brodies to arrange a series of compulsory purchase orders to obtain land for the new road layout west of Perth.
The council’s decision to explain the legal costs associated with the project comes after the PA revealed four weeks ago that its spend with Brodies increased 25-fold over a six-year period.
Two lists of invoices released under Freedom of Information laws show PKC spent £738,486.70 with Brodies between May 2010 and December 2015 - £5,966.72 in 2010, £40,436.16 in 2012/13, £300,691.91 in 2013/14, £232,907.99 in 2014/15 and at least another £158,483.92 in 2015/16.
Asked repeatedly how much of the spend with Brodies related to legal work linked with the A9/A85 project a PKC spokesperson had up until two weeks ago maintained that it would not be preparing an “official” response to this question.
This initial stance prompted criticism from John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, who said that even if some of the legal work was “sensitive” the council still ought to reveal more about what the cash was used to pay for.
Meanwhile Councillor Peter Barrett, who inquired about the council’s continuing arrangements with Brodies at a recent meeting, said he was concerned about whether the council was getting value for money through whatever deal is currently in place.
In response, a PKC spokesperson told the PA: “There are occasions when the council requires to appoint external legal advisers to deal with issues which require specialist knowledge, or are of such complexity that in-house staff would have to devote a disproportionate amount of time to them, impacting on their regular support for other important projects and services within the council.
“In addition, where projects are subject to strict timescales, it may be necessary to engage external solicitors with the resources to provide an entire team to deal with a variety of legal matters.
“Of the work allocated to Brodies just over half of the value, approximately £370,000 to date, does relate to legal issues around the Perth Transport Futures Project.
“This is not surprising in a multi-million pound major infrastructure project, which has included the use of compulsory purchase orders.
“Other work undertaken by Brodies includes support for compulsory purchase orders around the street improvement work at Mill Street, Perth and the establishment of the new Gleneagles link road, which represents around another £170,000 of spend.
“The remaining work relates to legal opinion on individual cases, and representation in court.
“There is no framework for legal services, but in obtaining external legal support, as with all contracted services, we work within the procurement legislation. The current legislation sets out a clear list of exempt legal services.
“Those legal services which are not exempt are included on ‘Schedule 3’ of the regulations – and as a result are only subject to a requirement for a ‘lighter touch’ procurement regime and then only when the value exceeds £589k.”