Woking bankruptcy report to be discussed by council

A report looking at bankrupt Woking Borough Council's "long and atypical history of borrowing" is due to be discussed by councillors on Wednesday.

Auditors Grant Thornton published a public interest report on 5 November looking at the council's financial situation, which led to debts of £2bn.

It said accounting practice and systems were poor and that "significant mistakes were made" at the authority.

It also named Ray Morgan, who worked at the council in Surrey for more than 30 years, as the "principal architect of the council’s investment decisions".

He has previously said he was aware of the report's publication and that it would be inappropriate for him to comment ahead of the meeting on Wednesday.

Woking effectively declared itself bankrupt in June 2023 and now has government commissioners in place to turn its finances around.

An investment strategy which saw the council borrow hundreds of millions of pounds for regeneration projects, including the town's Victoria Square development, was the main reason for the size of the debt.

In papers to the meeting, councillors are being asked to accept the recommendations of the report in full and agree that an improvement and recovery plan should be reviewed and updated.

The council's leader, Ann-Marie Barker, has said she welcomed the publication of the report and that it represented "a pivotal moment in understanding the decisions and actions of the past" which had contributed to the council's current situation.

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