Row over council scrapping group
New leadership makes a change
A war of words has broken out within North Lanarkshire Council over the scrapping of a working group amid concerns over transparency.
The local authority binned a crossparty group over claims it had been part of a meeting with company Iskra Development in September last year.
However, one council source told the Wishaw Press that the group had been closed down by the new council leadership due to vindictiveness and that everything the group had done was above board.
The source said: “This was a cross party working group looking at various funding models.
“These working groups are established all the time within the council. The committee then reported back.
“The original committee had no “teeth” but following a housing committee meeting in February a new group was ratified.
“This was done long before the current administration came to power.”
The source claimed that the situation was handled in an unprofessional manner by the Council Leader Jim Logue and Deputy Leader Paul Kelly.
The councillors were tasked with looking at plans to build up 1,000 new council homes within North Lanarkshire.
The meeting with Iskra supremo Peter Martin took place in September last year.
Councillor Kelly explained the decision to disband the group. He said: “I have never been comfortable with the idea that private businesses could effectively make a pitch to a small number of members and I’m determined we will be transparent in all areas.
“That’s why the new leadership team immediately stopped this group and created a formal member/officer working group, which has input from senior officers and which will report to the Housing and Social Work Committee before any decisions are made.” An official spokesman for North Lanarkshire Council added: “Iskra Development do not have, and have never had, a commercial relationship with North Lanarkshire Council. Neither is the company involved in any tender exercise.
“A meeting took place between a cross-party group of councillors and a representative of Iskra, which was minuted by a member of council staff.
“Any suggestions made by Iskra Developments have not been taken forward.”