Tomorrow's meeting of Guildford Borough Council will see a vote of no confidence in the authority’s leader and a request for a best value commissioner among a flurry of fiercely critical motions.
Councillors have called for the immediate resignation of leader Julia McShane over ‘significant financial issues’ and the ‘realistic prospect’ that a Section 114 notice may have to be issued next year.
The no confidence motion also says there have been ‘disturbing disclosures’ within the housing revenue account, which indicate that a contractor has overrun his contract value by several million pounds.
According to the motion, the ‘astronomic differences’ between the contract value and authorised payments seem to have taken senior officers and responsible portfolio holders ‘by surprise’.
Councillor McShane is ‘deeply associated with these debacles’, it says.
A separate motion says the council is ‘extremely concerned to hear of yet more financial irregularities taking place, this time around a council housing maintenance contract’.
It calls for a best value commissioner to assess Guildford’s housing contracts and management of its housing revenue account, with documents made public to show ‘the extent of the challenges faced by the council’.
Guildford is in an ‘unprecedented situation with respect to financial management, service provision, staff morale and management stability’, according to another motion, which calls for the council to report monthly on key performance indicators.
Issues in the housing and planning departments and severe financial restraints place an ‘exceptionally heavy burden’ on senior officers who work for both Guildford and Waverley councils, another motion adds.
It argues that in view of the council’s poor recent financial performance, the job sharing arrangements have become ‘an extremely expensive experiment’ and should be ended as quickly as possible.
A council spokesperson said: ‘All motions tabled for the meeting on 10 October will be discussed in full then.’
Guildford published an update on its financial recovery plan today, which said a Section 114 notice 'is not needed at this stage'.
