TNS £80,000 grant row: Behind-closed-doors meeting 'undemocratic'
The refusal of Shropshire Council to publish an audit investigation into a grant of £80,000 to The New Saints Football Club could be taken as ‘an affront to democracy’.
The comment has come from private investigator Paul Wiseman who has researched the grant on behalf of a group of Shropshire businessmen who approached him six months ago.
He said it appeared that the legacy grant circumvented State Aid regulations that prevent monies from being paid to a limited company.
Apart from £10,000, the money - granted in 2012 and due to be paid back in instalments - remains outstanding.
"The conditions of this grant were that it be named as a 'Legacy Grant' and repaid, interest free at a rate of £16,000 per year to a third party over a period of five years," he said.
The third party was named as Oswestry Council and the money was granted from the budget of the Market Towns Revitalisation Programme.
Mr Wiseman said that on January 17 he wrote to Oswestry Town Council and asked the town clerk what steps it intended to take to recover the £80,000.
"Oswestry Town Council passed on my request for Shropshire Council for clarification. On March 19, I was advised the town council had been told Shropshire Council was taking steps to deal with the matter, but did not specify what those steps were."
"We are now in July and an investigation conducted by Shropshire Council's audit team has presented a report to the Council Standards Committee, in closed session.
"If Shropshire Council continues to refuse to publish this report it will inevitable leave a question mark hanging.
"We live in a world where the expectation is transparency and openness at all levels of government.
"The citizens of Shropshire have a right to know how their taxes are spent and they may think that the refusal to publish a report touching on these matters is an affront to the democratic process of local government."
Mr Wiseman said that in a freedom of information request he had asked to see the copy of the legacy grant contract.
"I received an email apparently of the contract which had every single word redacted or blocked out. I simply laughed," he added.
Gareth Profitt for Shropshire Council said: "Shropshire Council’s internal auditors have carried out a review of the grant award to TNS in May 2012 as part of the Market Towns Revitalisation Programme.
"Their report was considered by Shropshire Council’s audit committee in private session. This is standard practice for such reports.”
