Quango run as a private fiefdom?

 

 

An audit report on a body I sat on for ten years is a great shock.

It appears to have been run in part as private fiefdom to benefit the members of the board. In the seventies and eighties I represented the Gwent County Council on the Caldicot and Wentlooge Levels Drainage Board. It is quango that spends council tax money. During my years on the board I was unhappy because the landowner and farmer board members tended to take decisions that favoured other landowners and farmers rather than those in modest homes in newly built estates.

 I am seeking reassurances on the work of the Board in order that I may consider whether the remedial action taken so far is adequate to protect the interests of my constituents. 

Comments

[Paul Flynn]

The report is well worth reading. Many of the decisions taken were 'outside the law'. No prosecutions planned.

[marc]

More questions:

1. If something was outside the law, then are the police investigating?
2. Why do we have to wait for whistleblowers, usually ex-employees, to expose these wrongdoings? Where is the oversight and transparency?
3. Why do we need a body with a chief exec on 65k for this?

Too many "little" quangos spending millions and not being scrutinised by anyone effectively.

If Anglesey Council can be run directly for its persistent wrongdoing, then it's time to wind up this body too.