Row erupts over Nuneaton council leader office refurb

[dutchman]

The Conservatives have slammed the spend



A row has erupted over the refurbishment of Nuneaton council leader's office amid claims the Town Hall has '£10m unfunded problems'. Opposing Conservative leader, councillor Kris Wilson claimed that a Freedom of Information Act request revealed that the ruling Labour group spent £4,500 on redecorating the new leader's office.

Money, Cllr Wilson alleged, could be spent on providing a switch-on event for Bulkington lights. While the lights remain being paid for, the council said it could not afford to fund the actual switch-on event in the village and this has been left to the community to fund-raise for.

But the controlling Labour group has hit back, saying the cost of redecorating the leader’s office was £952 plus VAT. The £4,547.44 spend, Labour says, was the total cost of what has been described as a much needed refurbishment of four rooms in the Town Hall.

"The Tories have not properly read a quote prepared as a result of their Freedom of Information request," Labour said in a statement, adding: "When we took over it looked like the Leader’s office had not been redecorated since the 1960’s. Old furniture and curtains had to be removed because they were a fire hazard.

"The leader now has an office that is fit to receive local and national political, business and community leaders. It is now regularly used for meetings with elected members and officers. The wall decorations and desk chair have been provided by the Leader himself who is not sitting alone behind a closed door."

The Labour group has gone to claim that while the Tories said they left a balanced budget, it alleges there are millions of pounds in unfunded problems it is having to deal with since taking power following the local elections in May.

In the statement, the local Labour group added: "Anybody can set a balanced budget that doesn’t do anything and kicks the real problems into touch. The reality is that we have been left with unfunded problems which, so far, amount to £10m.

"In that context the Leader’s office and Bulkington lights pale into insignificance." Details of the £10m unfunded issues have not yet been revealed.