Greater scrutiny of South Kesteven council leader urged after report

The report cost South Kesteven District Council £5,000

A Lincolnshire local authority leader should face greater scrutiny from fellow councillors, a report has said.

South Kesteven District Council commissioned the report, but did not release its contents for almost a year.

It concluded there was not regular scrutiny of leader Kelham Cooke and some members did not read documents ahead of meetings.

The council said the delay in releasing it was to allow an action plan to be created and declined further comment.

Independent councillor Ashley Baxter told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the report proved the Conservative group were not holding their leaders to account.

"This report makes uncomfortable reading for Conservatives, which may be why it's taken a year for it to be released. It has taken constant lobbying by myself and others to bring it into the public domain," he said.

He said it highlighted a lack of scrutiny and a a reluctance by Conservative councillors to challenge or question the administration.

The report was produced by an independent auditor from the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny at a cost of £5,000 and was received by the authority in August 2021.

It said there was a "clear commitment to scrutiny" at the council, but highlighted some gaps and recommended there be more frequent challenges to the leader at committees, and that the number of committees be reduced.

It said the leader was "keen to rectify" to lack of scrutiny, but Mr Baxter said he had not noticed any improvement.

The report was only released following pressure from opposition councillors, though the council has not published the action plan which it said was the reason for delaying the report's release.