Northumberland County Council 'whistle blower' worried 'leader biased'

Council leader Peter Jackson has been accused of possible bias by chief executive Daljit Lally

A council chief executive who raised "whistle-blowing concerns" about the authority's development arm claims the council leader may be biased as a result of a personal relationship.

Northumberland County Council's chief executive Daljit Lally was put on "extended leave" after emailing councillors to raise her concerns.

She has contacted police about some of the issues.

Conservative council leader Peter Jackson has declined to comment.

In an email chain seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mrs Lally contacted cabinet members of Friday 7 August and accused Mr Jackson of potentially being biased "due to a possible conflicted personal relationship that he may have".

She said she also had "significant concerns about [development arm] Advance and a failure to act in the best interests of the council".

Efforts to arrange a meeting with Councillor Nick Oliver, the cabinet member for corporate services who has responsibility for governance, had been unsuccessful, she added,

Mrs Lally forwarded her email to the 67 county councillors later that day and was put on leave shortly after.

Mr Oliver declined to comment when approached by the LDRS.

'Act of silencing'

Advance Northumberland was set up to replace its predecessor, Arch, following concerns around governance and spending under the previous Labour administration.

In response to Mrs Lally's claims, Advance managing director Ken Dunbar described the organisation as "well run".

He added it would "thoroughly investigate" if significant allegations were brought to its attention.

Currently no party has overall political control at the council, although the Conservatives have the most number of councillors.

The Labour group accused the authority of carrying out an "act of silencing" by placing Mrs Lally on leave and called for a meeting at which Mr Jackson could be questioned.

In a statement, the council confirmed Mrs Lally had "commenced a period of extended leave" and said interim leadership arrangements had been put in place.

Northumbria Police confirmed it received an email relating to Advance but said it had yet to speak to the sender.