Public "should know" how Coventry council-owned companies are faring

Coventry councillors have opposed holding private discussions on the performance of council owned groups. They spoke out on a move to exclude the press and public from part of a scrutiny meeting yesterday, 20 November.

The meeting discussed the performance of organisations where shares are owned jointly or solely by the council. These include Coombe Abbey hotel, Tom White Waste and the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre.

Three out of four council papers for the meeting were split into private and public sections. The council claimed this was because they had financial information required to be kept private by law.

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But opposition Conservative group leader Cllr Gary Ridley (Woodlands, Con) objected to a move to hold part of the meeting in private, saying taxpayers have "a right to know." "I think it's wrong some of this information is being [kept] private," he added.

Cllr Ridley also said he could not understand why a report on the region's growth hub was private. His ward colleague Julia Lepoidevin said she was "deeply deeply concerned and feel that the public should know."

But the pair's bid was not backed by the five other Labour members of the committee who were able to vote. Meeting chair Cllr Gavin Lloyd (Sherbourne, Lab) claimed it was the right move given commercial information in the reports and claimed as much information as possible will go out.

Cllr Ridley later said he accepted some of the information in the report is private. But he asked if the group could discuss it openly when it is public, noting accounts must be filed by the end of the year.

The committee agreed with his bid, meaning a future meeting could see councillors quiz officers on more detailed aspects of how council-owned companies are performing. A senior councillor also agreed with Cllr Ridley's point about one of the reports.

Cabinet Member Cllr Jim O'Boyle (St Michaels, Lab) said he could not see why the growth hub papers needed to be kept private. He said he thought Cllr Ridley is "absolutely right" and pointed out information is in the public domain.

"I am a bit surprised, I would ask colleagues look at that again, because that, that cannot be right[,]" he added. Council officers also agreed the report could be public in future, and the meeting agreed to take questions on both sets of papers at the same time.

Council leader Cllr George Duggins (Longford, Lab) also commented on the issues. He claimed the council is "transparent" and added: "There's a lot of good news that comes out of this council though it's not often reported as regularly as it should be."

But he also said it was an "inevitability" that the main issues around the performance of the council's investment management company were in its private report. This was "because of the fact of the commerciality in particular around Coombe and Tom White Waste," he said.

Cllr Duggins confirmed recommendations from the committee would be considered at a council shareholder committee due to be held today, 21 November. This meeting also has a private agenda and reports and will decide whether to accept the performance reports on the council-owned groups.

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