Handling of housing project slammed by OIC committee

Orkney Islands Council’s handling of a housing project came in for some harsh criticism in the council chamber yesterday, Thursday.

An audit report, discussed in private by the council’s monitoring and audit committee, showed there were “a considerable number of significant weaknesses in the procedures followed” and that there was evidence of bad practice from the conception of the project onwards.

In a statement released following the meeting, committee chairman, Councillor David Tullock, said: “Following on from the internal audit, practices have been uncovered which are totally unacceptable to the working of the council.

“Procedures were ignored, or disregarded, and no respect shown for the rules. It would appear that too many inexperienced officers, some in fairly senior positions, made decisions without proper knowledge or experience.

“Immediate steps have been taken with the introduction of a 35-point action plan to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

The contents of the report have not been made public and the OIC statement makes no reference to the costs involved.

A second report before councillors covered the findings of an internal audit of the wider housing development programme. Among the findings, this report concluded that a “stronger management structure” should have been put in place.

It was also found that while councillors are regularly updated, they have often been given insufficient information for them to properly scrutinise the way housing projects are funded.