Row between councillor and Morecambe Town Council has 'cost taxpayers thousands'

A long-running row between a former town councillor and Morecambe Town Council is costing taxpayers thousands of pounds, it has been claimed.

The town council says that replying to three years of questions about their accounts and procedures has been hitting local residents in the pocket and has accused Councillor Roger Cleet of "a personal vendetta".

They said they believe he and a local government auditor based in Yorkshire are "trying to weaponise the audit processes against the council, purely to settle a personal grudge".

Councillor Cleet, an independent Lancaster city councillor for Heysham North, resigned from Morecambe Town Council in 2021 due to concerns he had about the council.

He has sent numerous emails to the council questioning their accounts and decisions since then, many of which have been copied to Beyond Radio. 

Councillor Cleet said he "has a democratic right to ask questions" of the town council.

Internal Audit Yorkshire was Morecambe Town Council's internal auditor until a dispute between the two parties over the council's accounts in 2020/21.

Safia Kauser, from Internal Audit Yorkshire (IAY), told Beyond Radio it was a "statutory right to inspect the council accounts" and claimed the town council was targeting her following a court case involving the council and IAY last year.

In the letter sent to Councillor Cleet, which was copied to Beyond Radio, Councillor Russell Walsh, chair of Morecambe Town Council, this week accused him of a public three-year campaign against the council and specifically its chief officer, Luke Trevaskis.

The letter said he and his associates had cost the Morecambe taxpayers vast sums of money and that independent auditors investigating their complaints had found no evidence of alleged corruption or financial misconduct by the council. The letter also invited Councillor Cleet to meet with council officials to discuss the issues.

Councillor Walsh's letter was sent after Morecambe Town Council was invoiced more than £13,000 by external auditors PKF Littlejohn, for services following complaints about the council's 2022/23 accounts.

Councillor Cleet told Beyond Radio: "The letter I received on 20th September 2024 from the chair of Morecambe Town Council was in my opinion a personal attack on an elected member of Lancaster City Council who has a democratic right to ask questions in their capacity representing over 2000 members of the public who live with the ward of Heysham North in the parish of Morecambe Town Council.

"It is everybody’s democratic right to be able to ask legitimate questions, especially when public funds are involved."

By law, parish councils such as Morecambe Town Council must have an independent audit carried out on their accounts and control systems each year.

Members of the public have the right to challenge the accounts, the council's systems and the audit results, with the council footing the bill for any further investigation by an auditor.

PKF Littlejohn investigated after 36 different objections were raised by Ms Kauser on behalf of a local elector (resident) for the year ending March 31 2023.

The local elector has not been named, but Councillor Cleet has told Beyond Radio it is not him.

PKF Littlejohn asked the council to respond to 16 of these objections before they could complete their audit, which they did in a detailed 51-page report.

The town council's full response to the challenges can be found in the Financial Reports section of the Morecambe Town Council website morecambe.gov.uk

The complaints included the council's purchase of quad bikes, spending £48,000 on architects for the council's now abandoned plans for a project on the former Frontierland site in Morecambe (pictured below), and the council's raising of £1m from taxpayers towards its Frontierland plans "without a business case or risk assessment" which led to a 231 per cent increase in the council's share of Council tax in 2023.

Objections which were not upheld (investigated but no fault was found) by the auditor, included allegations that the actions of council officers during the year indicated "misconduct in public office which should be reported to the police", that the council failed to follow financial regulations when appointing an internal audit service,  that the payment of a £7,000 grant to Morecambe Parish Church may have been unlawful, and claims that "the redaction of documentation provided during inspection appointments were carried out without the council’s authority".

The external auditor has now completed its investigation into the objections.

A report by PKF Littlejohn, available in the Financial Reports section of the Morecambe Town Council website, said:

"The council needs to comply with the requirements of its financial regulations and consider the budget and forecasting procedures as the council evolves.

"We received challenge correspondence in relation to the 2022/23 AGAR (the council's Annual Governance and Accountability Report) which we considered before completing our work.

"The authority will receive an invoice in relation to this additional work.

"The AGAR was not accurately completed before submission for review. The AGAR has been amended."

Morecambe Town Council said they had also taken "the proactive decision to address matters raised in the other 20 objections that have already been dismissed" by the auditor.

A council report addressing the complaints, said: "Our aim is twofold: to bring closure to the 2022/23 audit process, and to draw a line under the more speculative and baseless objections received in the expectation that they won’t be rehashed and resubmitted again in future years.

"The council feels compelled to do this because it strongly believes it is being targeted by Internal Audit Yorkshire after it had its contract for delivering internal audit services to Morecambe Town Council terminated in June 2021, due to the council’s belief that the work undertaken by Internal Audit Yorkshire contained several factual inaccuracies.

"Since then, the council has been subject to regular FOI (Freedom of Information) requests from Internal Audit Yorkshire and associated parties, many covering the same objections that have now been raised again through the audit process via a proxy (who has not viewed the accounts, had any direct contact with the council, or actually been involved in the process in any way that we can identify).

"We believe Internal Audit Yorkshire and associated parties are trying to weaponise the audit and FOI processes against the council, purely to settle a personal grudge.

"Objections are timed and designed to cause maximum disruption to the council’s ability to function by stretching resources and publicly discrediting the authority with spurious allegations, creating unnecessary and unjustified costs to the taxpayers of Morecambe in the process.

"As a responsible steward of public funds, the council cannot ignore the context of these issues. We are committed to ensuring that taxpayer money is used efficiently and effectively. We will continue to cooperate with auditors and regulatory bodies to address any legitimate concerns raised.

"However, we urge auditors to exercise discretion and diligence in their assessments to avoid unnecessary disruptions and expenses for the taxpayers of Morecambe.   

"Moving forward, we remain committed to upholding the highest standards of accountability, transparency, and governance within the council. We encourage open dialogue and constructive engagement with all stakeholders to enhance the effectiveness of our operations."

Several councillors spoke out about the situation at a meeting at Morecambe Town Hall on Thursday September 19.

Councillor Paul Hart (pictured below) said: "I'm really concerned that we have been double audited two years running. There has to be a point where we can get some authority to exclude this person from bothering us."

Councillor Roger Dennison (pictured below) said the challenges were bringing "inordinate costs to the ratepayers of Morecambe" but said "we have no choice (to pay the auditor's invoice), if people make challenges we have to deal with a statutory auditor who has to go through all the questions that are being asked".

Councillor Walsh said he believed it was "harassment".

Chief officer Luke Trevaskis said at the meeting that the time and cost being taken to respond to the challenges "has had a knock-on effect on all areas of service delivery" and confirmed that the total cost was more than £20,000.

We later asked the town council for an accurate figure and we were told: "The total in additional costs incurred and additional officer time expended above and beyond that normally expected between 2020 and today that has been calculated so far is £27,623.53 (excluding VAT)."

Earlier this year, an internal audit of the council flagged up that it would have had 'critically low' financial reserves if controversial plans to spend £1m of taxpayers' money on the Frontierland project had gone ahead.

The audit also found that its "system of internal controls was not in place, adequate for the purpose intended and effective" in 2022/23.

The auditor identified 20 'weaknesses' in Morecambe Town Council's processes for that financial year.

The town council was given several recommendations on areas to improve upon but the audit found "no issues related to fraud or corruption".

Read more: Controversial Frontierland plans would have left Morecambe Town Council with 'critically low' reserves - Beyond Radio

Morecambe Town Council proposes tax cut but no full refund of controversial £1m Frontierland hike - Beyond Radio

In the 2021/22 financial year, PKF Littlejohn also investigated the town council's AGAR after receiving challenges on behalf of a local elector.

They said the information they reviewed was "in accordance with Proper Practices and no other matters have come to our attention giving cause for concern that relevant legislation and regulatory requirements have not been met".

"We received challenge correspondence in relation to the 2021/22 AGAR which we considered before completing our work," says a PKF Littlejohn report.

"(Morecambe Town Council) will receive an invoice in relation to this additional work."

Read more: Auditor completes investigation after complaint about Morecambe Town Council - Beyond Radio

Auditor to investigate Morecambe Town Council for second year running after complaint - Beyond Radio

A complaint was also lodged against the town council in the previous financial year too, but an investigation found there was no wrongdoing by the council.

We asked Safia Kauser from Internal Audit Yorkshire for her response to the town council's claims.

Ms Kauser said: "The objections were raised by a local government elector who exercised their statutory right to inspect the council accounts during the inspection window and appointed Ms Safia Kauser (not Internal Audit Yorkshire as alleged by the council) as their representative to assist with the objections in this matter. 

"Morecambe Town Council has targeted their former internal auditor due to losing their counter claim against Internal Audit Yorkshire auditor and having costs awarded against them.

In April 2023, a District Judge made a ruling in a small claims court case involving Morecambe Town Council and IAY.

District Judge Skalskyj-Reynolds ordered that, by consent, the town council pay £1,538.18 to its former auditors.

The town council was the defendant in a county court case where the claimant was Safia Kauser, trading as Internal Audit Yorkshire. Councillor Cleet was a witness for the auditor in the case. 

A consent order is a judgment or order made by the court, but where the terms have been agreed in advance by the parties.

The case centred around a dispute over payment for services by IAY to Morecambe Town Council.

Ms Kauser's company had been the town council's internal auditor, completing an audit for the financial year of 2019/20 and an audit review for 2018/19.

The dispute arose following an audit report produced by Ms Kauser for the town council for 2020/21.

Morecambe Town Council claimed there were "inaccuracies" in the report and contracted another company, JDH Business Services, to provide the final internal audit report for 2020/21.

At a meeting in June 2021, Morecambe town councillors voted via a majority to accept the new internal audit report by JDH Business Services, and pay half the amount invoiced by IAY.

Ms Kauser claimed breach of contract and requested the full amount and other costs. The town council issued a counterclaim.

The case was heard at Skipton County Court on April 4 2023.

After hearing from Ms Kauser in person and town council representatives, the Judge, by consent, ordered that there be judgement for IAY in the sum of £1,538.18 payable by April 25 2023, and the town council's counterclaim was withdrawn.

In his response to Beyond Radio about the letter from Councillor Walsh, Councillor Cleet said that David Morris, former MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, had twice raised issues about the town council in Westminster.

Read more: Row over 'Frontierland tax' escalates as MP and Morecambe Town Council clash once again - Beyond Radio

"We have the 22/23 Internal Audit accounts provided by JDH Business Services who state on page 2 that correct procedures for Internal Control were NOT in place," he said.

"The 22/23 Annual Governance Annual Report (AGAR) was approved by only two councillors, both Lib Dems Jim Pilling and Paul Hart, along with 23 abstentions."

Read more: Only two councillors give thumbs up to Morecambe Town Council accounts as rest abstain - Beyond Radio

In his comments to Beyond Radio, Councillor Cleet highlighted one of the elector's objections "to the appointment of and payment to a barrister for the small claims court action against IAY which the elector contends was not authorised by the council".

The town council's response was that "any payments would have been duly authorised by the council".

The response said "there were no payments issued to a barrister for this purpose within the 2022-2023 financial year" and called the objection a "speculative assumption without regard for the facts".

Councillor Cleet has asked for an internal review, based around this objection. The council has written to him standing by its response. 

(UPDATE October 7 2024 - PKF Littlejohn has written to Councillor Cleet saying they will be looking into this complaint.)

Councillor Cleet also said the town council's idea for Frontierland was "fantasy plans for land which was never going to be in ownership of Morecambe Town Council", said that the council bringing the renowned Mars artwork to the Winter Gardens in Morecambe in 2022 "had cost taxpayers £38,000" and criticised the town council "taking on the contract from Lancashire County Council for nearly £63,295 for weed management, not in Morecambe Town Council area but the whole of the Lancaster District from Burton to Cockerham and out to Arkholme...no wonder people are now saying Beauty Surrounds Weeds Abounds".

He said: "After speaking to the elector who made the objections against the 2022/23 accounts, I too would like to sit around a table with the chair of Morecambe Town Council Russell Walsh, the elector and myself – just the three of us to discuss how we can move forward and to discuss comments made in his letter."

Morecambe Town Council has the contract to provide weeding services throughout the Lancaster and Morecambe district (for which they are paid just over £63,000 by Lancashire County Council for four months of the year) and employs a team to carry out weeding and other public realm works in the town.

Mr Trevaskis has previously said that Morecambe Town Council taxpayers were not subsidising weeding services in other parts of the district, but within the town boundaries only.

In 2024, the council replied to an audit which questioned its projected ticket sales for an event they held in November 2022 at Morecambe Winter Gardens - a world-famous display of artwork of the planet Mars (pictured below).

"The ticket sales projected for the Gaia arts project were £30,000 but only £13,983 were actually sold," said the audit report.

"We could not identify any underlying detailed budget assumptions to support the calculation of the £30000 figure. We were informed that ticket sales were impacted by a key staff member leaving the council before the event occurred."

In response, the council said: "Predicting income estimates for arts and culture is challenging and even regular annual events can vary greatly year on year due to unforeseen circumstances such as the weather.

"The council had initially estimated an income for Mars from ticket sales of £30,000. This figure was based on data received from the artist regarding numbers of visitors to similar exhibitions elsewhere (the Moon and Earth).

"When the council agreed the budget for the event, it was aware of the impact a lack of ticket sales may have on the annual budget. The council was aware that if anticipated ticket sales were not achieved, then expenditure for events throughout the rest of the year would need to take this into consideration, to ensure there was not a net overspend during the financial year.

"The council’s events officer also unfortunately resigned a week prior to the event and this impacted the promotion schedule, and subsequent ticket sales.

"Notwithstanding the above, the council’s decision to host an international art exhibition was not solely dependent upon revenue generation.

"The key to the future success and vibrancy of Morecambe lies in investment and regeneration, particularly in the areas of leisure and recreation. The events organised by the town council have gained Morecambe both national and international press coverage over the past 12 months - featuring on BBC, SKY, ITV, in additional to several national broadsheet newspapers including The Times, Telegraph, and Guardian."