A councillor has hit out at a lack of transparency and openness surrounding Ventnor’s new public toilet — but the mayor says that is not the case.
Ventnor Town Council (VTC) is in the final stages of agreeing a new £150,000 toilet in the Central Car Park with a parking space issue with the Isle of Wight Council needing to be resolved before building work can start.
Despite the progress, however, Councillor Colm Watling, a member of VTC, has criticised the way in which the public body has found a contractor to build the toilets.
Companies have been invited to bid for the work. In some cases, public authorities advertise the contract through an online contract finder, which attracts a wider range of bids. In the case of the toilets, VTC asked 3 preferred bidders to provide quotes, the same way they had procured work at Salisbury Gardens.
Cllr Watling, however, argues policies laid out by government says all public procurement must be based on value for money and it should be achieved through competition unless there are compelling reasons to the contrary. He said:
“The contract could have been advertised. It should have been advertised. It was not advertised.
“The environment, local jobs and running costs should have been taken into account — they weren’t. Why is that?
“Why would [VTC] proceed with the lowest of three quotes in the face of opposition, when it could advertise and procure on the basis of fairness transparency, and take into account the environment, social value and lifecycle cost? The Isle of Wight Council do, other town councils do.
Article continues below this advertisement “I have been trying to get VTC to understand the rules of procurement for a year, and they have defended themselves to the point of absurdity at every opportunity.”
Isle of Wight Councillor for Ventnor West, Cllr Gary Peace, said more than 1 town councillor had approached him about the concerns raised. He said:
“This is public money being used. VTC are asking for additional support from the Isle of Wight Council and there is public mistrust surrounding the procurement process used.
“I fully support Ventnor and any regeneration opportunities available to the town and its residents and I will continue to support VTC in its endeavours. But this support is contingent on proper process and financial transparency.”
Mayor of Ventnor, Cllr Stewart Blackmore, however, said the process has been open and transparent ever since the project was proposed and throughout its progression — with open meetings and published minutes.
Cllr Blackmore said Cllr Watling had a bee in his bonnet over the procurement process and he was entitled to his own opinion, but Cllr Blackmore was entirely happy with the decision.
“We at Ventnor are very aware of our duty to the public and our due diligence process so we took two sets of legal opinions, one from the Hampshire Association of Local Councils (HALC) and our own solicitors on the process we were about to undertake, ensuring it was completely open, transparent and legal. We were assured by both parties that that was the case.
“Cllr Watling thinks we should have advertised it and invited tenders, that is not how we did it.
“When we did Salisbury Gardens a few years ago we had a list of preferred bidders all out there in the open, all good standing, and that was how we approached the offering of the project to a builder.
“You can see in the minutes Cllr Watling has never voted against any of this at any stage but he seems to think we should cancel the project and start again.
“We are not prepared to do that two years down the line. This is something we need for our public and something, I think, the public will welcome.
“The funding was put into our 2020 budget so there is no impact at all on the precept for the coming year.”
Legal advice given to VTC from HALC said the council is not required to publish details on the Contracts Finder website if they intend to make the opportunity only available to particular contractors.
The contract has not been awarded yet as final issues are resolved but the preferred contractor, VTC has said, is D N Associates.
Not sure I’d like the toilets to be open and transparent……..
some clearly would
This smells of brown envelopes to me.
lol
£150,000you could build a house for that
Yes you could but it wouldn’t be transparent and open.
Here we go again , funny hand shake club
So they want another £150k to replace the Toilet block built a few years ago and sited 50 yards from the new proposed block? Just who built the last one, and who is building the ‘new’ one? More to the point, why have VTC now spent over £250k building toilet blocks within peeing distance of each other, only to close the last ‘new’ one because it wasn’t used often enough, or was being used as a meeting point for the local numerous druggies in Lower Ventnor. Perhaps they think that moving it 50 yards will stop misuse, in a high drug area with plenty of youths walking the streets at night!!! Couldn’t make this stuff up!.
To keep the drug heads out they should do as Cornwall do charge a very small amount to use them then no need for a new block.
ahh didums…did someone get left out of the money go round and a place at the public cash trough on this project.
guess those councillors aren’t in the inner circle when it comes to pass the sealed stationary.
Just give it to the local builder, his transport cost will be minimal, he will always be available if problems crop up later and you’ll save a mint in the time and the cost of going out for and deliberating on quotes.
How about opening some of the already functioning toilets for us so called “keyworkers”
Brown envelopes are so dated.
Its bitcoin now, ah councillors!
I’m guessing the contractors are adding the appropriate glory holes for the councillors to have their annual evening meetings.