Wealden District Council has decended into a "coalition of chaos" says the Conservative MP for Sussex Weald.
Nusrat Ghani has voiced her concern about the anti-Conservative alliance running Wealden taking council tax payments in error from thousands of residents.
The mistake led to personal accounts going overdrawn, bank charges being imposed on residents, mortgage payments being missed and personal credit ratings affected.
Council Tax was collected by mistake from more than 17,000 residents and businesses just after Christmas. The Green Party leader of the council blamed council staff for the error. However, Ms Ghani refers to the incident as ‘alarming’ and has accused Wealden District Council of failing to be transparent with councillors and local residents.
Nusrat Ghani said: “It is curious that the Liberal Democrat, Green Party and Labour Councillors held no public meetings to share further information and provide residents with support.
The Liberal Democrat, Green Party and Labour-led Wealden District Council is failing local residents and I have grave concerns about the diminished level of accountability, creating a coalition of chaos.
Further, for local politicians to blame the error solely on Walden District Council officials is unacceptable. Residents vote for politicians to take decisions and manage council finances. It is shameful to blame officials and for Councillors not to take any responsibility.
"I wrote to the Green Party Council Leader CIlr Rachel Millward, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Clir James Partridge and the Labour Lead Member for Housing, Benefits, and Revenues Clir Daniel Manvell, requesting an urgent meeting this week with them, as leaders of all three political parties that form the Wealden District coalition, to explain the chaos and their plan of action to ensure this error does not occur again.
The council is starting an internal enquiry but many councillors are demanding a full, external review to ensure the mistake cannot be repeated with the devastating consequences for those affected.
