Calls for inquiry into council's finances

An investigation should be launched into how a council has been brought to the brink of bankruptcy – including over a controversial development deal, campaigners and councillors have said.

External auditors found "serious concerns" about how funds at Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) council were managed in previous years.

The council built up debts of about £200m, some of which it hoped to pay off with a £105m deal with Cala Homes for the building of homes on Maidenhead Golf Course.

But auditing firm Grant Thornton said the deal could actually leave the council in debt, and councillor Neil Knowles said there should be a public inquiry into what had gone wrong in previous years.

"I would like to know exactly who’s to blame," Mr Knowles said.

"Generally that's what people want to know - who did it and who's responsible?"

The agreement with Cala Homes, signed under the previous Conservative leadership in 2018, allows it to develop the land on the council-owned golf course.

RBWM was aiming to get £105m from the deal but the actual figure could be lower if Cala was to build fewer homes than were originally planned.

Grant Thornton said that possibility posed a "significant risk to the council's future financial stability".

It was also revealed that Maidenhead Golf Club, which leases the course from RBWM, decided to end its lease early, meaning the council has to pay £15.9m – an extra expense to this year's budget.

Campaigner Andrew Hill, who has spent years scrutinising the deal, asked if council staff had been prepared for these risks at a meeting of its audit and governance committee on Monday.

Executive director of resources Elizabeth Griffiths said the council had not expected the golf course to end its lease before the end of 2025.

Mr Hill called on auditors to launch an investigation into the deal, which he called a "governance failure and affront to democracy".

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