Former Larne mayors Roy Craig and Andy Wilson urge Mid and East Antrim Council to ‘come clean over finances’

Roy Craig, a former Independent councillor and Andy Wilson, a former Ulster Unionist representative, have urged the local authority in an open letter to make public an independent financial report by business advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Mr Craig was mayor from 2004 until 2005 and Mr Wilson, from 2010 until 2011.

The correspondence was sent to Mid and East Antrim Borough Council after media speculation over an apparent £7m shortfall in funding.

The former mayors’ letter asks: “What led to the situation where it is reported that MEA is facing a financial shortfall of nearly £7m this year? The public needs to be told how this was allowed to happen.”

They claim that when Larne Borough Council was “wound up and subsumed into MEA, there was a surplus of over £2m”.

Larne, Ballymena and Carrickfergus Borough Councils merged in 2015 to form one of the 11 new ‘supercouncils’ as part of an amalgamation of local authorities in Northern Ireland.

The letter continued: “In our opinion, Mid and East Antrim Borough Council needs to get back to basics.

“As a start in regaining public confidence, the car parking charges in Exchange Road and Circular Road need to be scrapped and a focused plan of action for town centre regeneration embarked upon.

“The imposition of charges in hitherto free town centre car parks is unfortunately typical of the way Mid and East Antrim Borough Council has treated Larne and its ratepayers for almost 10 years.

“We are told that this was agreed by councillors in ‘workshops‘ and confirmed in the rates setting process in February. However, there is not a single reference or a minute of this policy being agreed to be found on the public record,” the former mayors claim.

“The so-called consultation process in June went well below the public’s radar,” they add.

“Yet the signs have gone up and the charge point machines have gone in. Even a cursory glance at both Exchange Road and Circular Road East will tell you that hardly anyone is using these town centre car parks any more.

“Presumably, the increase in revenue from parking charges is predicated on a certain level of occupancy in those car parks. However, the evidence is that town centre workers have migrated to parking in any free car parking spaces they can find in the vicinity of their work. Therefore, the policy is self–defeating, whilst at the same time causing annoyance to local residents.

“Surely, the newly-elected council should be making decisions on these sort of things. If this had to be done to stop an above inflation increase in the rates, what other charge increases are in the offing?”

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council has said previously: “We face increasing demands on our resources and price increases on what we spend. This is alongside a reduction in income that forms our budget. These are challenging times for councils and we need to respond.

“To support our demonstration of efficient use of resources against council priorities, delivering services for the benefit of our residents, councillors are committed to implementing measures that address these failings and provide oversight and transparency of the core business of the council.

“This will enable assurance on value for money and put in place systems, processes and reporting that should have been developed since RPA in 2015.

“We are working closely with external public bodies in supporting our oversight and grip to enable solid foundations to be created and support the council in its ambition to deliver services for citizens that they need and value.”