Four-figure cost of door repairs raises councillor questions

Angus Council spending more than £3,000 to repair a door has prompted a Carnoustie councillor to question contracts awarded under delegated authority with no councillor oversight.

David Cheape asked council officials if councillors could be given notice of council repair expenses in advance.

He highlighted the £3,285 cost of repairing an external double door at Camus House in Carnoustie, by Hadden Construction Ltd, in November last year.

Referring to a report which listed contracts awarded under delegated authority which covered a six-month period from October to March, Mr Cheape said: “Reading through some of them, one or two raise an eyebrow.

“In particular there’s one for the repair of one door for over £3,000 which I could probably build a small extension for.

“Even though I know the decision is taken under delegated authority, is it possible we could get a note of these in advance rather than in arrears.

“There is no point us querying things after the door has been shut. It would be good to see the proposed work and the contract before they happen.”

Strategic director Alan McKeown said that informing councillors in advance wasn’t practical as repairs needed to be made quickly, but suggested that a briefing be held with councillors to explain how the local authority handles repairs.

He added: “A framework is in place so we can get ahead of things. The nature of the work means that we don’t know about them before they happen.

“Contracts are in place so that we can move in very quickly and make sure that work is done.

“The £3,000 for a door might be a very high security door and therefore we need to have that fixed properly. We need to spend that money to keep people safe and keep property safe.”

He said that a briefing for elected members could prove beneficial.

“We’d be happy to have any suggestions on where you think we could improve.”