Keighley council apology for ‘falling short’

A special meeting of Keighley Town Council is taking place next Tuesday, December 2, to discuss the contents of a damning ‘public interest’ report by external auditors which revealed at catalogue of weaknesses and poor decision making procedures.

Councillors are being invited to accept that the council had “fallen short of the standards” which residents had a right to expect.

The report concluded that the council had failed to properly safeguard the public purse and some of its practices may have been unlawful. Police are liaising with auditors over whether to launch a full investigation.

Auditors were called in when civic campaigners in the town raised several complaints about the accounts.

The agenda for next week’s meeting says that members of the public who complained to auditors ought to be acknowledged.

The agenda states: “To consider that the Council acknowledges the interest of those members of the public whose complaints led to the Report in the Public Interest and thereby given the opportunity for the Council to put its house in order, and apologises to the Electors of Keighley Parish for the specific instances where it has acknowledged that it has fallen short of the standards which they have a right to expect.”

The council has set aside 15 minutes for public comments.