Open letter following last night's Audit Meeting - To: Councillors Alexander, Carr and McCall

To: Councillors Alexander, Carr and McCall (and some 1500 residents via social media, email and change.org)

Last night once again demonstrated that the Council continues to fail the residents of Blakelands. The comments and actions of some of the Members of the Audit Committee last night were not only insulting, they were a disgrace. It should not be necessary to remind Committee Members that the meeting was being live-streamed and the actions of certain Members (falling asleep, constantly yawning, texting, head shaking and watching TV) were visible to everyone.

We came to the Audit Committee, with a petition backed by 587 people, in the expectation that our views would be listened to and debated. Instead, we were not listened to and neither was the very person who clearly wants to draw a line under his work, Mr Dorfman. We were grateful for Mr Dorfman’s candidness in acknowledging that the public had lost faith in his review and it was time for someone else to take over.

As our Councillors, you have said that you support our cause and our search for the truth. We are therefore asking you to submit a motion under Milton Keynes Council’s Procedural Rule 15.1 to rescind the decision of last night’s Audit Committee on grounds of:

1. Illegality;
2. Irrationality; and
3. Procedural unfairness.

a) The Committee failed to consider that it is irrational to place arbitrary time constraints on Mr Dorfman without prior discussion or agreement. As Mr Dorfman explained at the meeting, there was a large amount of work that was still necessary to be undertaken and things needed to be checked. The Committee did not ask Mr Dorfman whether it would be feasible to undertake all of this work and to produce a complete report by the deadline as set out in the resolution.

b) The Committee failed to take into account the comments of Mr Dorfman that he felt it was time for a line to be drawn under his work and for someone else to takeover. The Committee also did not consider that Mr Dorfman did not want his name to be the centre of the resolution.

c) The Committee failed to take into account the comments of the two independent members, who expressed their views that further work needed to be undertaken and investigated by external individuals.

d) The Committee failed to exercise the Council’s statutory duty of care towards Mr Dorfman who has acknowledged that he has recently been suffering from personal issues and ill health.

e) The Committee passed a resolution which is factually inaccurate and misleading. Paragraph 3 of the resolution is irrational in relation to the internal audit report because it did not conclude the decision to grant planning permission was sound. The scope of the internal audit did not include the decision-making of Development Control Committee Members to resolve to grant planning permission for the warehouse.

f) The Committee failed to consider the petition submitted by 587 people. Councillor Cannon explained at the outset of the meeting that he had received the petition and the Committee would need to discuss it and consider its response. There was a failure to do so and the petition was not discussed or debated at all by Members.

g) The Committee failed to consider the legitimate expectation given to the residents of Blakelands by Milton Keynes Council’s former Deputy Chief Executive, Paul Simpson, over the external review and the letter from him dated 17 May 2019

Due to the time restraints for submitting a motion to rescind a decision and the requirement to notify Milton Keynes Council’s monitoring officer of the intent to submit such a motion, we would request your response by 16:30 today.

Thank you.