Northampton County Council cash crisis: Auditor's report will be 'learning piece'

The council sold its new multi-million pound HQ - One Angel Square - to aid its budget problems

A public interest report will investigate how Northamptonshire County Council overspent its 2017-18 budget by £35m.

It will look at the decisions which led to the financial collapse of the council last year.

The Conservative-run authority will have to cover the cost of the report which is expected to be about £100,000.

Chief auditor at KPMG Andrew Cardoza said the report will be a "learning piece" for other organisations.

Libraries in Northamptonshire were taken over by the community to save them from closure following the council's financial collapse

Public interest reports are part of the Audit Commission Act 1998 and are issued when auditors believe they should highlight significant matters to the public.

Mr Cardoza said he hoped the report would be published within six months, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"We will carry a public interest report in terms of how we got here as an authority from where it was in terms of the overspend, etc.," he said at a meeting at County Hall in Northampton.

"And that's a useful piece of information that brings in all of the history of where it was, where it is.

"There is a learning piece there for other organisations."

Following its financial collapse, the council twice banned all but essential spending in 2018. Its budget for 2017-18 was about £416m.

The cash crisis led to roads not being gritted throughout winter, libraries being taken over by the community and the government giving the council permission to raise council tax by 5%.

The county council will cease to exist from spring 2021 with two new unitary authorities planned to replace the county and district councils.

The estimated cost of the transition is upwards of £60m.