The leader of the council and a senior director have issued a humble apology and vowed to learn lessons after a planning fiasco which cost the taxpayer £560,000.
Last week, the Express told how Cheshire East had withdrawn an application to itself to build a waste transfer station at Lyme Green – after spending public money on site work without planning permission.
Following a planning meeting in which councillors and residents condemned the council for flouting its own planning rules, corporate directorJohn Nicholson, responsible for the project, said there would be more consultation.
But this week he has gone a step further with an ‘unreserved’ apology to residents.
He said: “I would like to say sorry and to apologise to both residents and councillors.
“In view of public comment, we will commence a consultation to gather all the views and questions from concerned residents and will work with the community to address these issues.
“We will again diligently examine all possible site options.
“As part of this process we will be very clear about how the site will operate and its impact on the local area. We will explore every option, including Lyme Green, to find the best site.
“To date, the site preparation costs have totalled £560,000. This includes costs associated with setting up the site, site clearance and the development of the project in general.”
He said the council would learn lessons from its mistakes.
He said: “This regrettable situation has given us an opportunity to review our processes for how we deal with projects that require planning permission.
“Clearly there are lessons to be learnt and improvements have already been indentified and are already being acted upon.”
Coun Wesley Fitzgerald, leader of Cheshire East Council, added: “I am sorry that we as a council allowed our judgement to be affected by a genuine need to seek to reduce the high cost of waste transfer, which the council currently incurs, due to the fact that we have no waste transfer station in the north of the borough.
“For this reason, it is imperative that we continue to look for a suitable site so that we can further improve our recycling services.
“As leader of Cheshire East Council, I want to apologise to everyone who has had cause for concern about this project.
“Important lessons in life are often hard learnt and this is no exception, and I accept that we could have approached this matter in a much better way.”
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"This regrettable situation has given us an opportunity to review our processes for how we deal with projects that require planning permission"
One process might be to, umm, abide by the law?
Same question I've asked the past two weeks - who has been fired? If I lost my company half a million quid, especially in these austere times, I don't think anyone would be concerned about what 'lessons' we had learned - I think I'd be out on my backside. Why are council officers and staff immune from dismissal?
Again people think that using the Word Sorry gets them away with everything.
In this day and age if there is no pain then nothing seems to change.
This is a prime case of blatant disregard and disrespect to the Public and their finance.
Monies of this size being wasted or used almost illegally, is inexcusable.
It is apparent from the Text that they still seem to think the site is suitable and as so much money has already been spent on the site this will be used as one of the positives to justify its selection.
Surely the people responsible at the top of the Council should be accountable and shown the door with any hint of a severance package being withdrawn as a result of their failure to act correctly.
This is a blatant act requiring serious disciplinary action.
So lets hear what’s happened and not that lessons have been learnt. That’s not enough!
And in the next breath we hear that “Thousands of disabled and elderly residents could be affected by council plans to cut funding for Shopmobility and make cuts to other key transport services.”
What difference would a quarter of the £560K wasted here make to the Shopmobility project??
Perhaps all those involved should be invoiced for the cost, Leader of the Council Chief Exec, Corporate Director, and any other planner involved.
"The leader of the council and a senior director have issued a humble apology and vowed to learn lessons after a planning fiasco which cost the taxpayer £560,000."
Do these people REALLY need a lesson in not spending OUR money without permission? If they do, should they be in a job?
Once again the council think the public are idiots.
i hope these council staff are going to resign if not they should all be sacked.
CEC is fast becoming a laughing stock. With its endless reversed decisions, its poor financial management and the air of amateurishness it brings. What is more surprising is that it's Tory controlled. Usually it's labour that hold that mantle
Meanwhile, the Bollin Bridge in Beech Lane looks like it is in increasing danger of collapse FIVE MONTHS after the initial incident. This wasted cash could have been used to fix it...