Council admit library ‘accounting error’

A council has admitted it made an ”accounting error” and is owed £82K in electricity bills from other tenants in one of its library building, following an investigation.

This week Conwy County Council’s cabinet voted to close Llandudno library on Mostyn Street – despite huge public opposition to the move – and relocate the service to Venue Cymru.

The council will now target £10m of UK Government funds to revamp the “tired” theatre, adding the library to what is described as an arts centre.

But the decision was scrutinised when figures presented to strengthen the case of the then-proposed move were questioned.

Savings

Speaking at last week’s scrutiny committee, head of finance Amanda Hughes presented the figures reflecting the savings the move to Venue Cymru would make; these included £46,000 in electricity bills.

But Llandudno councillor Louise Emery pointed out the council only owed 38% of that £46,000 bill – throwing all the listed savings into doubt.

Cllr Emery revealed the other 62% was owed by tenants of Mostyn Estates, who occupied another part of the library building.

Ms Amanda Hughes then said she would conduct an investigation into the matter, which has revealed Conwy is owed £82,000 from other tenants of the library building.

Owed

The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked the council to clarify whether they knew the bill £82K was owed to them. The council insisted that it did.

A council spokeswoman said: “The building includes the library on floor one, ground floor entrance, and second floor offices, not the whole Victoria Centre.

“In agreement with the landlord, the council pays the bills and then recharges the landlord for 62% of the total.”

She added: “Money is still outstanding for 2023/24 and 2024/25 because there is some electrical investigation work currently taking place. Electricity consumption in the building has increased (almost doubled), and both the council and the landlord want to know why. This electrical investigation work is taking place, and when it’s resolved, the landlord will owe us 62% of the legitimate cost.

“At present, the outstanding amount for 2023/24 is around £48K (billed but not paid) and for 2024/25 is around £34K (not billed yet) – subject to change depending on the reason for increase in electricity consumption”

She added: “There was a mistake in the figures provided to scrutiny committee; it was an accounting error. This was because the income from the recharge had been recorded in a different service’s accounts and therefore wasn’t part of the net costs recorded for the library service. However, the statement in the committee report that the co-location of services in Venue Cymru will result in savings of at least £100,000 is still correct.”

Due to being away on council business, Cllr Emery was absent from this week’s meeting where cabinet members voted in favour of closing the Mostyn Street library and moving the service to Venue Cymru.

Cllr Emery came under fire at the meeting, with deputy leader Cllr Emily Owen accusing her of “amateur dramatics” and Cllr Nigel Smith saying she had tried to embarrass the head of finance.

Duty

Speaking this week, Cllr Emery hit back: “It is my duty as a scrutiny member to scrutinise all financial information presented to us. It is also my duty to represent my residents and local businesses who overwhelmingly didn’t want the library to move. That is all I was doing at last Wednesday’s scrutiny meeting. If this has upset members of the cabinet, then so be it.

“I only received the final and supposedly accurate library costs at nearly 10pm the night before the meeting. The following day I used my initiative to contact the landlord of the building to ask if they would share their electric costs for the remaining areas of the library building, as I still could not believe they were that high. What they told me, less than two hours before the meeting, was completely different to the information given in the report. I had to bring this up at the meeting.”

She added: “It is not my fault that the financial officer was given the wrong information and far too late. This has made me concerned that other costs, particular future costs for the library at Venue Cymru, are also not accurate. I shouldn’t have to fact check figures given to members, but I will now be asking for the detailed business case for the £10m project so I can indeed fact check!”