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Doubt over £25,000 'quake donation'
Peterborough City Council's move to give £25,000 to help victims of the Italian earthquake has been thrown into doubt today after town hall legal chiefs warned it may not be possible.
Peterborough City Council's move to give 25,000 to help victims of the Italian earthquake has been thrown into doubt today after town hall legal chiefs warned it may not be possible.It has left councillors who voted overwhelmingly to send aid, concerned as it became clear that voting for the generous gesture at an emotional meeting last week may have been out of order.
The authority's solicitor, Helen Edwards, has now issued a statement saying that the matter has to be looked into further to ensure the council has legal powers to use its funds in this way.
She added: "While there is deep sympathy for the victims and relatives of those affected, we must follow correct procedures when using public money"
The proposal to give 25,000 was moved by veteran councillor Charles Swift following a moving appeal by fellow councillor Cllr Marco Cereste, who is also chairman of the Italian Community Association. Now, however, it has emerged that the show of hands did not follow protocol and the matter will have to go to cabinet for a final decision. It has left some councillors who voted in favour surprised after Ms Edwards has issued a statement clarifying that the vote was intended to be an indication of support for the idea, not a decision.
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ET Comment:
Peterborough city council sent out a press release yesterday blaming "some media" for "misreporting" the outcome of the meeting on Wednesday night in which it was suggested that the authority give 25,000 to the Italian earthquake fund.
It failed to say which media it was accusing of misreporting when the release quoted solicitor to the council, Helen Edwards as saying: "Unfortunately, an informal show of hands was misreported by the media as being a definite decision to donate this sum and has resulted in some confusion."
Her comment was later amended with a further press release with the accusation of misreporting only being levelled at "some media".
The ET did not misreport this meeting. We gave an accurate reflection of what happened so we can only assume Ms Edwards' accusations don't refer to us.
In our report of the meeting (ET - 09/04/09) we quoted Ms Edwards as saying that she felt the show of hands by councillors was overwhelming and would take steps to ensure that their wishes were carried out.
Clearly no definite commitment to give the cash had been made at that stage, but a clear intention to do so was expressed.
But it also seems some councillors left the meeting convinced that the matter had been decided.
Helen Edwards has advised that checks need to be made to ensure that such a donation is legal and possible. Given the council's own finances and the fact that it is currently making staff redundant the donation is being questioned by some.
But that does not alter the fact that the overwhelming majority of councillors raised their hands to back the call for the donation to be made.
Cllr Marco Cereste seemed in no doubt afterwards that a decision had been made. He said: "It just goes to show that underneath all the politics, there are really terrific human beings with great moral fortitude and stature."
Perhaps this was more of a case of members misunderstanding. The fact is that a suggestion was made and councillors backed it (which is exactly what the ET story said).
There are two important questions here. Helen Edwards is right to check whether the authority can make a donation, but also councillors will also ask themselves if it is the right thing to do when the authority is currently making staff redundant.
Whatever the outcome the ET will report the debate fairly and accurately, but we hope that if people don't like the outcome they won't shoot the messenger!
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Related:
Council pledges 25,000 for Italian quake victims, by Asha Mehta, 9 April 2009.
Italian community to help quake victims, by Marie Baker, 7 April 2009.
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Cllr Stephen Goldspink however, is one of two councillors who abstained during the vote and he said: "Although I had a lot of sympathy for the earthquake victims, I didn't believe it was an appropriate way for us to take the decision, or an appropriate use of council funds. I felt we were bounced into making some kind of decision on the spot."
Cllr Goldspink said he would favour changing the rules on the spending of the community leadership fund, a 10,000 pot of cash allocated to each ward for councillors to spend, to allow them to make donations to charity while still accountable to their constituents.
It was Cllr Swift who stood during the meeting to suggest the city council start the fund. It is believed the sudden suggestion caused confusion, leaving some councillors believing a decision had been made while others thought it a recommendation which would have to be debated by the cabinet.
Cllr Swift was not backing down on the vote today however and said: "Under no circumstances will I accept a fob-off. We are the elected members of this council and I for one will not be told by officers that we cannot make this donation.
"I was leader of the council for 20 years and took similar action with other appeals – we've helped the Ugandans, the Vietnamese and the people of this country hit by severe floods. I will hold a special council meeting to challenge these officers and demand to be told why this donation is any different and why it cannot go ahead."
Council leader Cllr John Peach believes however, that emotion played a big part in the vote. He said: "It all came a bit out of the blue. You don't like to say you are not going to do anything or don't think it's worth giving money. The legal officer asked for a show of hands and most people, including myself, put their hands up to show we wanted to do something. We would want to find a way round doing something because councillors gave an indicative wish that we should do that."
Cllr Cereste said today: "It would be such a shame if we could not receive the 25,000 donation, as it is a lot of money which could do a lot of good for the people of Italy."
Spokesman for the GMB union David Shamma said: "Given the fact that the authority is in the process of making compulsory redundancies, it needs to look at its expenditure and should really remove the threat of redundancies as a first priority. We recognise the humanitarian tragedy in Italy and recognise that with a large Italian community in Peterborough the appeal should be supported.".
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