Private committee will discuss claims Northampton Borough Council boss should have declared interests over £10.25m Cobblers loan

The Chronicle & Echo has learned the “appointments and appeals committee” meeting scheduled at the Guildhall for Tuesday, August 30, will discuss the claims council boss David Kennedy did not declare an alleged friendship with former Sixfields director David Jackson as an interest in 2013.

The matter came to the council’s attention after the Chron reported claims that Mr Kennedy had been at Mr Jackson’s wedding in Spain only weeks before the chief executive was granted responsibility to oversee the £10.25 million loan to the Cobblers in July, 2013.

At the time, Mr Jackson told the Chronicle & Echo that he and Mr Kennedy were “merely acquaintances” and that they had never discussed the loan to the club.

It is understood that the purpose of the committee hearing next Tuesday will be to form a smaller sub-group, which will be tasked with drawing conclusions on the matter.

However, the sub-committee will sit in private and access to agenda papers will be kept from the press and public.

The cross-bench appeals and appointments committee is made up of four Conservative councillors and two Labour, though it is understood the sub-group will be made up of just three councillors.

The allegation that Mr Kennedy did not declare his relationship to estate agency boss David Jackson as an interest were first raised in July by Northampton South MP David Mackintosh, who has also faced criticism over his role in the failed stadium development at Sixfields.

Last month, the borough council said the allegations over Mr Kennedy’s interests would be taken seriously and “fully investigated”.

Northampton Borough Council has been approached for comment.