Councillor questions £2.3 million grant to repair roof of Leamington landmark

The former leader of Warwick District Council has questioned whether councillors were told enough about a £2.28 million grant ahead of setting this year’s budget.

Councillor Andrew Day (Con, Bishop’s Tachbrook), who led the authority until May’s local elections, argued councillors should have been made aware of an Arts Council England grant to cover the bulk of the cost of repairing the roof at the Royal Pump Rooms, Leamington Spa.

The council’s report states repairs are “urgently required” with leaks leading to the “permanent closure of parts of Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum” and “widespread water damage to the internal fabric of the building”.

The district council applied for the funding and received a full allocation, subject to finding 10 per cent of the costs itself, on February 17 – more than a week before the 2023-24 budget was finalised.

Cllr Day said the money had been “gratefully received” but added: “Principally, it does not relate so much to this item but the way in which we then, as all councillors, set the budget, whether or not we were aware of the fact that award had been confirmed.

“I appreciate it was under wraps and couldn’t be announced publicly but surely it could have been dealt with as a confidential item.

“The concern I have is more about probity in our budget setting. We (the Conservative group) discussed this at some length, the previous finance portfolio holder is in that group and we felt it was a material consideration that all councillors should have been made aware of when we set our budget for this year.

“As you will recall, we also made provision to put funding aside for the roof.

“Our group simply asks, leader, that you confidentially discuss that with senior officers, and if we could please have a view at some point. It is important that when councils come to set budgets that they have all the facts at hand.”

Graham Leach, head of governance and deputy monitoring officer, the second-highest ranked legal professional in the council, interjected to say: “We need to be careful in terms of considerations, perhaps we might need to go into confidential session to get some advice on this.”

Cllr Day said he would be “very happy” to do that but noted: “The paper specifically states a date on which this council was advised we had received that grant, albeit under moratorium.

"That is in the public domain, I am not trying to be overly difficult but it is a material consideration in a budget setting process.”

Leader Councillor Ian Davison (Green, Leamington Brunswick) requested that portfolio holder for resources Councillor Jonathan Chilvers (Green, Leamington Brunswick) and Andrew Rollins, the district’s head of finance, discuss the matter.

“I don’t think there is an issue (regarding confidential information) because I have asked people to discuss it, not to give us a view now," he said.