Walsall’s new Labour bosses on a collision course with their own backbenchers?

by danielbarker on 14 October, 2014

Walsall’s new Labour bosses could be on a collision course with their own backbenchers representing the Bentley area in a wrangle over who keeps the surpluses from local council land sale.

An urgent item was introduced at last night’s Neighbourhoods Scrutiny and Performance Panel to update councillors on progress of proposals for a new library facility at the Bentley Employability and Learning Hub.

Old Hall People’s Partnership would be manning the new library facility should it finally go ahead. As a result there would be no issues around the revenue implications.

Things were not so clear cut on the capital budget front however as there is a £650,000 shortfall in receipts from the sale of council owned land in the area due to the economic crisis. These receipts were going to pay for a new purpose built library in the original plan.

Because of the state of the economy coupled with the results of a survey of residents views as to the need for a new super library in the area, a much scaled down model using existing buildings was looking to be the most likely way forward. As a result there would actually be a large surplus on the sale of the land.

Here in lies the rub. Labour bosses on the council’s cabinet want to keep any surplus in the central coffers, even though when in opposition they had said that any capital receipts should be used for the benefit of the area.

The Project Reference Group also have said that any surplus capitol receipts from the project should be used in the Bentley area.

When pressed at last night’s scrutiny meeting the panel was told that the Cabinet had said any surplus would go back into the central coffers.

So there is a direct conflict between the Labour’s cabinet bosses and the local Project Reference Group which just happens to consist of the three ward councillors for the Bentley area all of whom are Labour.

Just who is going to win this battle of wills? We live in interesting times.

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