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Councillor says sorry
A LEADING Derbyshire county councillor has been branded incompetent by a Government watchdog for her handling of a parish council's finances, where she worked as a book-keeper.
Cllr Tracy Critchlow, who was the Conservative's Parliamentary candidate for Mansfield at the last General Election, has since been dismissed from the post of Responsible Finance Officer at Tideswell Parish Council.
She told the Advertiser this week that the problems had come at a difficult time in her life, and she apologised for the trouble caused.
An Audit Commission report into the parish council's books for 2008/9 revealed that cheques received, totalling 4,773, were not banked in the year, and that invoices for rents worth about 2,800 to the council were not raised.
And VAT was not reclaimed, which means council taxpayers have potentially lost out to an unknown amount.
The Commission lists the mistakes in its official certification of the account, and describes them as being "due to the incompetence of the (then) Responsible Financial Officer."
Other criticisms include failure to get approval of the statements of accounts in time; failure to complete the annual return and the incorrect inclusion of VAT in payments for the year.
Cllr Critchlow is a councillor at the Derbyshire Dales as well as the County authority, where she holds the post of cabinet member for young people.
Cllr Critchlow said she was very sorry for all the difficulties she had caused.
"It was during a difficult time of my life. I was struggling to cope," she said.
"But there are no excuses for letting people down. I deeply regret the upset I have caused and for providing a poor level of service to Tideswell Parish Council.
"I have already apologised to them for falling behind in the work I was doing for them. I never meant to cause Tideswell or the parish council any inconvenience or problems."
Councillor Critchlow confirmed she no longer does any book-keeping work for local councils.
Born in Chapel-en-le-Frith, Cllr Critchlow lives in Tideswell. At the last General Election she stood in Mansfield for the Tories where she received 26 per cent of the poll, or 12,741 votes.
Her County Council ward of Hope Valley covers Chapel-en-le-Frith, Dove Holes, Peak Forest, Sparrowpit, Castleton, Edale, Hope, Aston, Shatton, Thornhill and Bamford.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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