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Showing posts with label made. Show all posts
Showing posts with label made. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Cllr Adam Lowe bullied and Misled Oakham Town Council members into paying unlawful £68,830.80 payment made to a contractor.




Covid 2019 has delayed this audit finding.

In 2019 I objected to a payment of £68,830.80 made to Cowman Road Surfacing Contractors, 
invoice dated 31 July 2018, paid in September 2018. 

because Oakham Town Council did not comply with central government procurement rules for this level of spending or with  European procurement laws and that little effort was made by the Council to seek value for money. 

At the Council meeting on 14 June 2017 it was agreed in principle to repair/widen the path and obtain three quotations. (Cutts Close Path)

The Council has informed the auditors that it wrote to five County Councils asking for recommended and approved contractors, inviting them to quote for the works. As a result of this exercise, only one response was received, from Martin Cowman Ltd. (no of evidence this was ever shown to members of the council or provided when I requested to see it as a Councillor)

At the Council meeting on 8 August 2017, the matter was discussed and as only one response had been 
received, it was agreed to seek tenders again, this time advertising in the press, on noticeboards and 
on the website. No further tenders were received and at the Council meeting on 8 November 2017 it 
was resolved to award the contract to Martin Cowman Ltd. (this part is true, but then what contractor looks at the council notice board or even the Rutland Times)

The invoice for the works was presented for  payment approval at the Council meeting on 8 August 2018 and was in accordance with the original 
quotation. Payment was not approved at this meeting but was deferred until the specification and path 
had been re-examined. (at this point the majority of members were unhappy with the process of awarding this contract and I pointed out to members that rules had been ignored)

At the Council meeting on 12 September 2018 the Chairman Adam Lowe gave a presentation on the subject and it was resolved to pay the invoice. (Cllr Adam Lowe misled  members accused me of lying and bullied members into agreeing to reverse there decision not to pay the invoice, a video recording of this presentation of false information can be found on youtube and a link was provided to the auditor)

The external auditor has concluded that Oakham Town Council failed to follow rules and regulations AS A RESULT THE PAYMENT MAY BE UNLAWFUL an auditor can not say the payment is unlawful, their full conclusion shown below means the payment made was unlawful and fortunately for Cllr Adam Lowe they are not taking Oakham Town Council to the High Court. The same happened when the previous Mayor was found to have made a unlawful payment without the Town Councils knowledge. That Mayor did the decent thing and resigned and repaid the couple of hundred pounds he unlawfully spent.

Cllr Adam Lowe has always bullied people to get what he wants and it needs to end. I have messaged him to seek a comment or an apology for how he treated me when he insisted the council would not be making an unlawful payment. He has ignored my message.

The auditors say I have a right to appeal their decision not to apply for a declaration under section 28(3) of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. Should I wish to do so, I must issue mu appeal with the High Court, I have told Oakham Town Council I may exercise my right to appeal if Cllr Adam Lowe remains office, I don't want to take this action because the costs would have to be paid by Oakham Town Council. It could also make the members who approved the payment liable for this expenditure. I strongly believe if Adam Lowe remains a member of Oakham Town Council nothing is going to change and they will continue to ignore laws and rules that they should follow.

Oakham Town Council is aware that I am raising a conduct complaint with Rutland County Council regarding Cllr Adam Lowes bullying and dishonest conduct during the time he was attempting to secure this unlawful payment. 



Auditors Conclusion: It is our view that OTC did not follow the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and thereby their own Financial Regulations in respect of this contract, as the contract was not advertised on the government’s “Contracts Finder” website. As a result the payment may be unlawful; however, the Council has informed us of the tendering processes that it followed (as detailed above) in an attempt to obtain best value for money. Despite these attempts, only one quotation was received and, in accordance with Section 11.1.f. of the Financial Regulations, the Council made the decision to proceed with the works with the only contractor who had tendered. In our view, this was not an unreasonable decision in the circumstances; however, we are minded to raise this non-compliance with laws and regulations in our external auditor report for 2018/19. Please note that there is no right of appeal against a decision not to issue a public interest report in respect of any of the objections. With regard to objections 3 and 4, you have a right to appeal our decision not to apply for a declaration under section 28(3) of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. Should you wish to do so, you must issue your appeal with the High Court within the period of 21 days beginning with the day after you receive this statement of written reasons. Yours sincerely PKF Littlejohn LLP


Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Conservative Councillor Leigh Higgins, deputy leader of Melton Borough Council suspended for comments in a speech he made at the Best of Melton Awards were considered to be of a sexist nature by some.

Conservative Councillor Leigh Higgins, deputy leader of Melton Borough Council suspended for comments in a speech he made at the Best of Melton Awards were considered to be of a sexist nature by some.

After comments started to appear online like this one:

'Debbie Longley

Lovely evening at Best of Melton Awards. 

However, if you want confirmation that some people still live in the Dark Ages; COUNCILLOR Leigh Higgins just asked all the ladies to stand up so we could be seen as it’s been a long time since we’ve been able to ‘enjoy’ those kinds of sights!!! (Needless to say I didn’t stand up)

It’s a business and community event you absolute sexist, chauvinistic tool. Plus, I am not there to be ogled by anyone! He also told us how he nearly lost his multi million pound business and had to go on to JSA, and that some other millionaires had to have food parcels. My heart bleeds.

P.S Congratulations to all the winners and finalists.'


This does not surprise me, he was taught by the best old Melton Tory farts back in 2015, you only have to look at @meltonblue who can say anything they like and offend anyone they like to understand this. Its a shame really he has turned into one of them. 





Leigh is forth from left photo taken in 2015 just before
he was elected onto Melton Borough Council








Friday, April 09, 2021

Cancer Research UK Market Place Oakham Rutland for far to many years this charity shop has made our market place look like a dump.

Cancer Research UK Market Place Oakham Rutland for far to many years this charity shop has made our market place look like a dump.

I often wonder why people here in Oakham are so anti charity shops, then I thought about it. Each time I walk through the market place I notice how it is blighted by Cancer Research. If it is not being used as a dump for residents rubbish, its their own weekly mountain of rubbish dumped outside the shop. I often look at what they throw out and think what a waste. Yesterday I notice a large bag full of brown paper bags still sealed in original packaging, along with many other bags containing many new items. used to run the shop, I personal nominate Cancer Research as the most disgraceful and wasteful charity shop here in Oakham. Cancer research appears to have far too much money. I and others remember when they wasted over £20,000 refurbishing this shop in 2013 and opening it for a very short period of time as a boutique style charity shop before reverting it back to a normal charity shop. £20,000, Just a little more than they pay each of their store managers. There are plenty of other business's in the Market Place that include the selling of food and drink, they don't dump in the market place.








Monday, March 22, 2021

Housing Infrastructure Fund St George's Barracks Rutland County Council Already Listed on Government Website as a Successful Forward Funding projects before Council decision is made

Housing Infrastructure Fund St George's Barracks Rutland County Council Already Listed on Government Website as a  Successful Forward Funding projects  before Council decision is made this evening?

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/housing-infrastructure-fund

Successful Forward Funding projects

Local authority Project HIF funding (£million)

Buckinghamshire Aylesbury Garden Town Growth Enabling Infrastructure Programme £172.3m

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Northern Fringe East £227m

Central Bedfordshire Transformational Growth in Biggleswade £69.6m

Cheshire East North Cheshire Garden Village £21.7m

Cornwall Truro Growth Area - Northern Access Road £47.5m

Cornwall Hayle Junctions Infrastructure Project £12.9m

Cumbria Carlisle Southern Link Road £134m

Devon South West Exeter £55.1m

Essex Beaulieu Station and North East Bypass £218m

Essex Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community £99.9m

GLA Docklands Light Railway - growth capacity £290.7m

GLA Meridian Water Infrastructure £170m

GLA East London line - growth capacity £80.8m

Gloucestershire M5 Junction 10 Improvements Scheme £219.8m

Greater Manchester Combined Authority Manchester Northern Gateway Urban Growth Programme £51.6m

Kent Swale Transport Infrastructure £38.1m

Lancashire South Lancaster Growth Catalyst £140m

Leicestershire Melton Mowbray Southern Distributor Road £14.7m

Medway New Routes to Good Growth £170m

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes East Sustainable Urban Extension £94.6m

North East Combined Authority South Sunderland Growth Area Cluster £25.4m

North Somerset West of England: Enabling Infrastructure for M5-A38 Strategic Development Locations £97m

Oxfordshire Access to Didcot Garden Town £218m

Oxfordshire A40 Smart Corridor £102m

Rutland St George’s Barracks £29.4m

Surrey A320 North of Woking £41.8m

Surrey A320 Woking Town Centre £95m

Surrey Slyfield Area Regeneration Project £52.3m

Swindon New Eastern Villages, Southern Connector Road £18.9m

Thurrock Purfleet Centre £75.1m

Wiltshire Chippenham Urban Expansion £75.1m