Torbay Council vote mix-up costs taxpayers £4,140

A barrister sorted the issue in a six minute meeting, costing taxpayers £4,140

A voting mix-up has cost Torbay taxpayers more than £4,000 in legal advice costs, a Freedom of Information (FoI) has found.

A Torbay Council meeting in June saw council officers temporarily stripped of powers due to members voting against authorising officers being able to make non-critical decisions without having to refer to councillors for permission.

The motion was lost by 18 votes to 17 due to a Conservative councillor being given permission to leave the meeting early.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said a barrister was called upon to resolve the issue, and their advice was acted upon at a one-issue meeting at the beginning of July which lasted six minutes.

The mix-up saw a usual annual council formality of rubber-stamping officers being able to make day-to-day decisions in their departments rejected, the LDRS said.

It cost the council £4,140 for the King's Counsel's (KC) opinion, who said decisions could continue to be made at the discretion of the council’s chief executive and that certain key meetings should go ahead as scheduled - including those of the planning committee.

No party currently has overall control of the council, which is divided between 18 Tories and 18 opponents.