The possibility Conwy spent £620,000 of taxpayers’ money without going through the proper democratic process could be investigated by Wales’ auditor general.
A special meeting has now been called following a yet-to-be-named councillor tabling a motion to discuss the matter fully in a bid to uncover how the decision was reached to spend the funds.
The £620,000 of council funds were spent on Eirias Park’s 3G pitch in Colwyn Bay.
The local authority had submitted a multi-million-pound funding bid to the UK Levelling-Up Fund for the sports pitch.
If the bid had been successful, the money would have been used to increase the capacity of Parc Eirias stadium by constructing a new south stand as well as changing rooms, medical rooms, and media area – and a 3G pitch.
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But the bid failed, and although the Welsh Rugby Union contributed £100,000, Conwy paid £620,000 for the pitch out of its own funds, without the matter being debated by councillors.
A special meeting will now be held at Bodlondeb on July 27.
Earlier this week, Clwyd-West MS Darren Millar called for an investigation.
A spokeswoman for the auditor general has now said that could happen.
“We are aware of recent media reports regarding expenditure by Conwy County Borough Council on a 3G pitch at Parc Eirias, Colwyn Bay, and confirm that we have received correspondence from Darren Millar MS on this matter.
“We are in contact with council officers and understand that a report will be issued to the council’s finance and resources overview and scrutiny committee next month, confirming the process for agreeing this amount of expenditure.”
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She added: “We will review the details of that report before considering if any potential audit work is needed on this matter.”
A Conwy County Council spokeswoman added: “The matter was raised at the finance and resource overview and scrutiny committee on July 3 and responses provided at the meeting. The committee have requested a further report in relation to this matter, and the item will be considered at the next meeting.”
Earlier this week Darren Millar MS commented: “These are extremely serious allegations, and taxpayers deserve to have answers.
“While I obviously welcome any investment by the local authority in the town, given the number of concerns that have been raised with me by residents, I have referred the matter to the Auditor General for Wales and asked that he investigates the issue.”
He added: “We are not talking about a small figure here. This is a huge amount of public money, and we need assurances that the proper procedures for agreeing this spend were followed.”
A Conwy County Council spokeswoman said: “The matter was raised at the finance and resource overview and scrutiny committee on July 3 and responses provided at the meeting. The committee have requested a further report in relation to this matter, and the item will be considered at the next meeting.”
She added: “A Special Meeting of the Council has been called and will take place on 27 July. The agenda will be published in due course.”
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