At a full council meeting district auditor Sue Sunderland said: “You should take no comfort from this letter. It is the worst letter I have written this year.
“Financial and good governance are important and there are issues here I have been telling you about for three years.”
Click here to read the full article
Cllr Watts has been resigning all of his directorships over the last 6 months – perhaps there is more to come…
Published in the Chad on Friday 23 December 2011 11:36
Bolsover District Council has been hit with a £25,000 bill for the extra work undertaken by the audit commission due to problems with the accounts it presented for 2010 to 2011.
The commission had to halt its annual audit in September due to 14 administration errors it identified in Bolsover’s financial statements.
At a full council meeting district auditor Sue Sunderland said: “You should take no comfort from this letter. It is the worst letter I have written this year.
“Financial and good governance are important and there are issues here I have been telling you about for three years.”
The auditor said charging an additional £25,000 would not have been necessary if the proper guidelines had been in place.
She added: “You as a council have to show you want to take action so I am not standing here next year saying the same things.”
In her letter to the district council Mrs Sunderland said the most fundamental of the commission’s recommendations were as follows:
l That the council review roles within the accountancy section to ensure staff could cope with the workload
l Officers should be given time to examine accounts in detail before they are submitted for audit
l The council’s audit committee should record the budgeting position more formally and should monitor progress throughout the year to ensure progress was made towards it plans.
Speaking during the meeting Councillor Eoin Watts, leader of Bolsover District Council, said: “We have to be honest with ourselves about where we have gone wrong. We have to accept the reporting processes were not right.
“Just make sure you report so you know where you have got to and where you need to be. If you do not get the processes right you do not get anything else right.
After the meeting Mr Watts said: “£25,000 worth of charges for extra work is disappointing but we put our hands up to it.”
He added: “We have some admin problems. It was all about the presentation of accounts.”
The council leader said Bolsover had suffered badly as a result of central government cuts and was doing its best to meet the new targets.
Watsy likes to blame everyone else but Watsy if you want to play at being the Leader you have to take the blame when your leadership fails. Bolsover will probably get another sick note until this problem goes away!
Residents are being invited to have their say on new proposals to help us be as fair as possible in everything we do.
We’ve drafted eight key objectives which we aim to work towards over the next four years to support our new Equality and Diversity Policy.
We’re asking for feedback from Derbyshire’s diverse range of communities to ensure our objectives address the issues they face.
People can have their say on the eight proposals which are to:
Our Cabinet Member for Public Health Councillor Carol Hart said:
“We’re committed to being fair in everything we do from how we deliver services, how we work with other agencies and in all aspects of employment including recruitment and the selection on new employees.”We continually monitor our performance this area and as we were working on our new equality policy we found eight key areas where we’d like to do better.
“Although we’re not obliged to consult, we believe it’s important to do so before finalising what will become the focus of our equality work over the next four years.”
The survey includes questions on all eight proposals and also gives respondents the chance to make their own comments about equality issues and suggest other factors we should consider.
Received in the inbox Friday 06 Jan 2012 20:33
Dear Barlborough Life
I’ve just looked at a video of the protest about the new movie “The Iron Lady” and frankly I can understand why some may be upset about this movie being made. That said I also note that quite a number of Labour Party councilors in “support” of the ex miners wives protesting, suggesting that the movie is “not portraying what should be portrayed.” Yorkshire Post Link here
I thought our local councilor at Bolsover (Watts I think his name is) wishing her dead was a bit distasteful. He also said he’d worked out the movie from the trailer he’d seen!
I then look at the BBC web site and I see that our local Labour MP Mr Dennis Skinner actually agreed to appear in the movie as an extra, even had a chat with the star of the movie Meryl Streep and doesn’t have the same difficulty with the movie. BBC Link here
Will the local Labour Party be asking for Dennis to resign?
Regards
Confused of Barlborough
Oh dear, could this be the end of a beautiful love affair, as we can see Anne Western (Derbyshire County Council Labour Leader) in support as well as Mr Watts. Shame no one told Dennis…
Do you remember in December when we posted a copy of Anne Western and her Twitter page http://barlboroughlife.com/?p=4641. Well she has obviously been embarrassed by this and has blocked her Twitter account and will only allow like minded individuals to read it
Only confirmed followers have access to @AnneWestern’s Tweets and complete profile. You need to send a request before you can start following this account.
Happy New Year Anne thank you for reading the blog…………………………
Received in the Inbox: Tue 3/01/2012 17:49
Dear Barlborough Life
I can’t believe how Barlborough Life can make the Barlborough Labour Party jump. Last week you published the ten highlights of 2011 for the Labour Parish Council. It must have caused them havoc as they have quickly cobbled together a “newsletter” which if you exclude the photographs is about 1 page of incorrect information. Why do Bolsover produce this with so many spelling mistakes have they not heard of spell check or should I say spel cheque!
Do you have any idea why they have put pictures of a playground on a background photograph of the Ward Lane playing fields instead of the Country Park or are they ashamed to mention how many more trees they will destroy? Why have they misled the public into believing that the Parish Council owns the Country Park when it is on a long term lease from the Sitwell Estate?
Will someone please tell us the truth about what is happening in Barlborough?
Thank you for your kind words, the Councillors do read the blog daily and they hate residents having opinions so please keep e-mailing in we know the Tax Payers Alliance are watching Barlborough Parish Council and Bolsover District Council closely and who can blame them with Watts and Western on the Council.
Received in the Inbox: Mon 2/01/2012 10:37
Dear Barlborough Life
Would you please post this message on your Blog as it will be read by the majority of the village?
Barlborough Civic Trust Management Committee would like to thank the members of the public who attended the Civic Trust AGM on Wednesday 28th December at the Little School. The Chair of the Civic Trust read out the Annual Report and updated the members of the public on the Civic Trust finances and again emphasised that the Village Hall and Little School are NOT funded by the Parish or District Council and relies soley on bookings and the Coffee Shop. The Chair, Vice Chair and Treasurer for 2012 were elected and two members of the public joined the Management Committee – and we thank them for their committment. If anyone wishes to contact the Civic Trust or make a booking this can be done at www.barlboroughcivictrust.com or admin@barlboroughcivictrust.com.
Barlborough Management Committee would like to thank all residents for their support during 2011 and look forward to their continued support in 2012.
As we see out 2011 and look forward to 2012 Barlboroughlife.com has had another excellent year with more and more “hits” every month from all parts of the UK. Barlboroughlife .com highlights the stupidity of our local Labour Parish Council, our County and District Councillors and how they waste our Council Tax time and time again. We also like to use this blog to praise the good work they do…………… but we haven’t had any emails praising their good work or seen any examples perhaps 2012 maybe their year. So thank you Mr Bean Watts for Leading Bolsover so well in 2011 (http://barlboroughlife.com/?p=4654) paying yourself and fellow Councillors more money and getting fined £25,000 by the Audit Commission – You must be so proud of your achievements! Mrs Bean Western has been proved time and time again that she misleads residents (http://barlboroughlife.com/?p=4598) it’s probably time she concentrated on one thing and that is perhaps her on line dating (http://barlboroughlife.com/?p=4641) apparantly she is discreet and fun loving! …………….grrrrr………….easy tiger.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Despite the council tax remaining the same, Barlborough residents are getting even less for their money – the Parish Council is doing less than ever.
1. Light in Doreen’s garden has been out for weeks – still not repaired.
2. Light on footpath between Sycamore Lane and Slayley View Road, broken for months and months – still not repaired.
3. Fencing in Manor Road playground, smashed to bits – still not repaired. Still no seats for parents and carers to sit on even after 3 years!
4. Graffiti on the dog bin and seats on Slayley Green.
5. The brick monstrosity on Slayley triangle being used as a litter bin.
6. No Christmas tree on the village green – why not?
7. Christmas lights for the lamp posts not put up, even though the Parish Council own them.
8. Under age drinking problem on the footpath between Clowne Road and Cottam Drive – you just need to look at the pile of empties to figure out what is going on.
9. Vehicles driving along the footpath between Clowne Road and Cottam Drive – where will it end?
It would appear the incompetance at Bolsover just filters down to Barlborough Parish Council. If the two District Councillors and County Councillor who purport to be working for Barlborough can’t get the above fixed, what hope do they have for anything else they attempt. Sack the lot!
Bolsover District Council has been fined £25,000 because of poor accounting. Watsy is quoted in the damning article in the Derbyshire Times ‘We’re not skint and we’re not failing to balance the books – we’ve had some administrative errors and we won’t run away from that.’ He drivvles on.
Instead of using our money to pay for their incompetence, the District Councillors (the highest paid in the country) should have a whip round and pay the bill.
