BVI Report - Statement by Spelthorne Liberal Democrat council group
Spelthorne Liberal Democrats Council Group statement on the report of the Best Value Inspection 17th March 2025
The report of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MCHLG) Best Value Inspectors (BVI) has been deeply critical of the Council in several areas, and as a consequence is proposing that Commissioners are appointed to oversee the running of the Council. We do not welcome the appointment of Commissioners, but we understand why the government might believe this to be necessary.
Link to Best Value Inspection report
Between 2016 and 2019, the Conservative administration spent over £1 billion of public money buying a property portfolio with the intention of providing an income to replace the cuts forced on local authorities by the Conservative government. The BVI report focuses on this borrowing and the inherent risk that it presents. The BVI team have concluded that the Council does not have the appropriate financial, governance and risk management processes in place to operate on a sustainable basis and respond to the challenges that are on the horizon.
The BVI report agreed with and has reinforced the findings of the external auditors, KPMG, who issued a Public Interest Report in December 2022. This report questioned the legal basis for the property purchases and highlighted the need for more robust risk management. This was brushed under the carpet by the Conservatives, who chose to believe the income would continue indefinitely and ignore any awkward questions. Concerns had previously been raised by the Public Accounts Committee in a report in 2020 and more recently by the current external auditors, Grant Thornton.
During the period between 2016 to 2019, the Conservative administration took on debts and risks that they did not understand and failed to put in place the resources and process needed to manage them. Whilst the purchase of the BP site in Sunbury offered a financially strong, long-term tenant at a strategic site with a good income, the subsequent transactions had a very different risk profile, and this is now being borne out by events.
The BVI report makes a dozen recommendations for improvement, all of which are endorsed by Spelthorne Liberal Democrats.
Leader of the Spelthorne Liberal Democrat Group, Cllr Lawrence Nichols said “We have argued for many of these changes in the past. We have had some successes, for example we got a separate sub-committee established to exclusively focus on the property portfolio. In the last couple of years we have managed to get annual property business plans produced and exit strategies created. This has been very helpful but has also served to expose the financial risks that are inherent within the portfolio. We want to engage with the Commissioners to share our analysis and understanding, and seek to help prevent any unnecessary impact on the local community”
As well as specifying a range of financially related improvements, the BVI report also calls for strategic improvements in respect of strategy, housing and culture.
The Deputy Leader of Spelthorne Borough Council, Cllr. Chris Bateson, said “We were aware of the scale of the massive debt we inherited from the previous administration in 2023 and consequently welcomed the Best Value Inspection. We are grateful to the inspection team for their diligence and we accept their recommendations. We will work in partnership with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to address the issues identified.”