WNDC defends £3m consultants' bill
Shocking figures have revealed the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation spent more than £3 million on consultants in just one year.
In the Commons this week, Conservative big-hitter John Redwood, asked the secretary of state for local government, Bob Neill, how much government agencies had spent on consultants between March 2009 and April 2010.
According to the figures revealed, the Franklin's Gardens-based quango spent a massive 3,175,816.
The organisation's chief executive, Peter Mawson, said he was not sure exactly how the figures broke down, but said they would include both experts who were paid directly by the Government and others who were brought in by the WNDC to look at complex planning and development issues in the area.
He said: "All our consultancy work is designed to bring in specialist expertise to help us in the delivery of our core functions, which are all to do with delivering the regeneration of West Northamptonshire."
He added: "It is all properly approved and is subject to the normal rigours of ensuring good value for money."
Other figures released in the House of Commons this week have revealed the WNDC also spent 360,657 on legal advice between March 2009 and April 2010 and a further 306,590 on computer systems over the same period.
Critics of the WNDC, which was set up by the last Government to push forward housing expansion plans in Northampton, Daventry and Towcester, have said the spending figures simply add weight to their calls for the organisation to be scrapped.
The Conservative MP for Northampton North, Michael Ellis, said: "I'm absolutely appalled.
"This is a shocking amount of spending which certainly needs to be explained and I would think makes it even harder for the WNDC to justify its continued existence.
"In my view, it is simply not acceptable and shows a total disregard for the economic condition this country is in and for taxpayers' money.
"I think it is totally shameless."
Meanwhile, the WNDC has also been forced to defend its spending on computer systems.
In a series of questions which were asked in Parliament this week, a number of areas where the group spends cash were revealed.
Among them was the organisation's 306,590 bill for technology between March 2009 and April 2010.
The figure has been criticised by opponents of the organisation, but the group's head of finance, Ann Battom explained the money spent included systems for their offices, their website and audio-visual facilities for a conference centre at the new iCon building in Daventry.
She said: "These costs relate to the running of our IT team, websites and key systems, as well as equipment for our key development projects, such as the technology that will be installed in Daventry's iCon building.
"Our key systems include our online function which allows people to view and respond to planning applications. Given that we have satisfied most of our IT system requirements, we will spend significantly less this year, in line with a 25 per cent reduction in our overall running costs."
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