Busting into City Hall
Article published: Monday, July 21st 2008
I love local authorities. The petty corruption. The bakelite councillors with their Dennis Norden glasses. The endless ‘wheelie bin Nazis’ news stories. The sheer, unashamed, slightly retro municipality of it all.
What I like most is the fact that despite Margaret Thatcher’s best efforts to neuter Britain’s redoubtable local councils, they still wield budgets worth hundreds of millions of pounds. Unfortunately, almost no-one ever asks them what they’re doing with it all. Take my local council: how much, for instance, is Manchester City Council paying urban development consultants and transport advisory firms? And who are they? And are they linked to the property developers getting planning permission for massive new East Manchester developments, and transport firms bidding to run Manchester’s promised new trams and buses? And who’s getting those juicy transport contracts anyway?
I’ve just made up this little conspiracy theory. But how do I know it’s not true?
Actually, I can find out this and a multitude of other things. But only this month. Orchard News Bureau has cleverly remembered that under Section 15 of the Audit Commission Act 1998:
- At each audit under this Act, other than an audit of accounts of a health service body, any persons interested may—
- (a) inspect the accounts to be audited and all books, deeds, contracts, bills, vouchers and receipts relating to them, and
(b) make copies of all or any part of the accounts and those other documents.
This goes much further than the Freedom of Information Act. You don’t just have to request information: you can march right into City Hall and demand to see all the documents relating to any council’s expenditure for the last year. But only for one month each year.
Strangely, almost no-one ever exercises this municipal right – because almost no-one knows about it. My local council’s dates of most local authorities’ inspection periods. For instance, you have the right to see Manchester City Council’s audit docs between 9 July and 5 August only. Most councils have similar audit timetables, meaning that their books are open sometime in July or August.
So hurry hurry hurry! If you’re after a fun summer’s day out, everyone should pop down to the council offices and ask to see the books. Even if it’s just to freak out the accountants.
More: Manchester
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