Mayor refuses to pay share of £15m bill left by crooked official

YORKSHIRE’S only elected mayor is at loggerheads with three neighbouring councils after he said he would refuse to pay his share of a £15m bill run up by a major fraud at a joint weights and measures unit.
Doncaster mayor Peter Davies.Doncaster mayor Peter Davies.
Doncaster mayor Peter Davies.

Doncaster Council, along with district authorities in Sheffield, Barnsley and Rotherham, entered into an agreement to run the South Yorkshire Trading Standards Unit, but a scandal broke after its manager Mike Buckley died in 2005.

It emerged that Buckley had been engaged in a massive and long-running fraud, and his financial dealings led to the prosecution of three other businessmen who had conspired with him to make it look at though the unit was profitable.

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It was in fact making huge losses, and after Buckley’s death an examination of the books showed auditors at Sheffield Council should have picked up on the swindle, with an independent report leading to criticism of the authority’s staff.

Until now, Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham councils have only said they were in negotiation with Sheffield Council over how the fraud bill should be paid back, but Doncaster Mayor Peter Davies said Sheffield should take responsibility.

Mr Davies, who is up for election in May, said he could not understand how Buckley had been
allowed to “wander off with
such amounts of money” but added the taxpayers of Doncaster should not have to foot any of the bill.

He added that he was elected in 2009, meaning the whole
saga pre-dated his time in power, but said he had now been
left to deal with a situation left by predecessors and likened it to
the disastrous South Yorkshire Digital Region broadband scheme.

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“This was another agreement between the four authorities which should never have been entered into and leaves the people of South Yorkshire facing another £15m bill, with Doncaster taxpayers looking at a £3m share,” said Mr Davies.

“That is where I get rather angry. Since Doncaster Council was not responsible for the affair, did not employ the individual concerned and had no way of checking what his actions and movements were, the responsibility lies with Sheffield.

“As far as I am concerned, it illustrates the perils of entering into agreements with South Yorkshire’s other councils, and has parallels with Digital Region which looks like leaving Doncaster with a bill of £7m to £9m for another ill-thought out farrago.

“Most people would never have got involved in this in the first place. My approach to life is to ask would I put my own money into these schemes and in both these cases the answer is a simple and resounding no.

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“What’s annoying me at the moment is that officers of this council are negotiating a deal with Sheffield which will leave Doncaster’s council tax payers with a bill. Our response should actually be to tell them to clear off and sort out their own affairs.”

It is understood Sheffield Council has issued Doncaster with the £3m bill, and sent invoices for similar amounts to Rotherham and Barnsley, while agreeing to pay around £6m of the costs itself.

Barnsley Council refused to comment on the situation, while a spokesman for Rotherham Council said “negotiations are ongoing”.

A Sheffield Council spokesman said: “Negotiations with other councils are continuing and they are at an advanced stage. We wouldn’t wish to comment further than this at the moment.”