Cracks - latest bills Options

[Simon Kirby]

The latest slough of bills from the cracks debacle are revealed in the agenda to tonight's Policy and Resources Committee. I makes it another £16.5k of legal bills since the last count, and another £12.5k for some specialist HR legal advice which may or may not be related to the cracks snafu.

RUP made a public allegation some time ago now that the council had failed to make a claim in 2010 against their legal fees insurance which I presume would have paid up for what is now well in excess of £100k for the legal and other professional fees in pursuing the cracks claim. It's a significant sum of money, and a serious allegation which I presume RUP had good evidence to support. It's time the council published their investigation and told us honestly what the situation is. They're quick enough to publish press statements about grit bins and other similarly inconsequential pieces of fluff, and they're quick enough too to publish excoriating invective against members of the public who have asserted their rights or otherwise criticised the council, so in a matter that's of genuine public concern, involving as it does serious allegations of incompetence and maladministration, it's only right to be honest and open about what went wrong.