Cheshire East Council paying for 500 unused mobile phones

Councillors have been told the authority is paying for 500 unused mobile phones

A cash-strapped council footing the bill for hundreds of unused staff mobile phones is a sign it has "lost control", a meeting has heard.

Cheshire East Council pays contract fees and bills for 3,000 mobiles, with 500 not used for several months.

The issue was raised during a meeting of the Corporate Policy Committee, which was seeking to make savings of £1.2m.

About £100,000 of the sum is earmarked to be cut from the IT budget.

It comes after the Labour and Independents-led authority forecasted a shortfall of £18.7m - a sum blamed on inflation and the rising costs of social care.

'Lost control'

During a committee meeting on Thursday, James Pearson, a Conservative councillor, said the phones issue had been revealed by interim chief executive David Parr on the council's intranet.

"This is clearly an example of where the council's lost control," Mr Pearson said.

The sums incurred in the phone bills were not referenced during the proceedings.

Sam Corcoran, leader of Cheshire East Council, thanked Mr Parr for uncovering the matter.

During the same meeting, councillors agreed to close the authority's headquarters in Westfields, Sandbach - which opened in 2008 - as part of costs-cutting plans.

Staff will relocate to Delamere House in Crewe once it has been refurbished, at a cost of £2.2m.

This report was compiled by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, a partnership between the BBC and regional news organisations to cover news from local authorities and other public service organisations.