Rossendale Council rejects MP’s ‘gagging order’ claims

And the council hopes Mr Berry will ‘correct the record in Parliament’.

Last week, the Conservative Rossendale MP raised various accusations during topical questions at Westminster with Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister who has had different remits over the years.

Mr Berry said: “In July 2019, the minister’s department issued new guidance effectively outlawing gagging clauses across government departments. Does the department have any plans to extend that to local authorities?

“I am sure that the minister would, like me, be appalled that Labour-run Rossendale Council has issued a gagging clause against its elected representatives, backed-up by a threat of legal proceedings, because it wants to cover up a £12million fraud, in which Labour councillors may have been complicit, and about which they certainly have questions to answer.”

Oliver Dowden said: “My right honourable friend rightly raises some very concerning allegations. So-called gagging orders should not be used in that way and I undertake to look into the matter on his behalf.”

Mr Berry did not give more specific details about his accusations in Parliament. He did not name any single organisation, person or project. other than the council and Labour councillors.

Speaking separately to the Local Democracy Reporting Service recently, Mr Berry raised similar accusations about what he alleged was an ‘undemocratic’ culture or use of restrictions surrounding discussions about Rossendale Leisure Trust and the former East Lancashire Empty Homes Programme.

Both matters have been raised at various council meetings, in public and private sessions. Questions have included the staff management, political governance and the different financial impacts of developments on Rossendale Council budgets.

Mr Berry told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “For some time, I have been uncomfortable with the way the leisure trust was run, about transparency. I cannot see how the huge debts happened. It was an arms-length relationship but I did not think there was transparency.

“I think the biggest challenge for Rossendale Council has been the £10million lost from the former Lancashire Empty Homes Scheme. There is no leisure centre issue that could not be addressed if that money hadn’t been lost. I think the challenge now is what we can pull together to ensure the existing leisure facilities are not hollowed-out by the council.”

He added: “Leisure trusts are not subject to Freedom of Information requests. I’ve done a lot of pushing and prodding to find out how it got into a financial mess.

“I am also really uncomfortable that Rossendale councillors were told, directly by the council, that they would be prosecuted if they discussed or spoke out about the spiralling costs of the Empty Homes scheme. A Labour councillor told me that. I wonder what is so toxic at Rossendale Leisure Trust and the council that we are not allowed to know? I think that’s so undemocratic.”

The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked Rossendale Council for comment on the various comments from Mr Berry recently.

A spokesperson said: “The council refutes Mr Berry’s claims about a so-called gagging order and can confirm that no such order has ever been put in place to prevent members asking or responding to questions. All matters relating to council business are conducted in accordance with the council constitution.”

The spokesperson added: "Rossendale Leisure Trust operates leisure facilities on behalf of the council and, as per the national picture for public sector leisure provision, has faced some extraordinary financial challenges.

“These include rising energy costs of up to 300 per cent, [customer] use below pre-Covid 19 levels, the cost of living crisis seeing more people make choices about their spending including on leisure, increases in the National Living Wage and associated pay differentials, wider inflation pressures on the cost of goods, services and chemicals; and an ageing public leisure [property] estate, making many facilities inefficient and costly to run. 

“Across the country, two thirds of the public leisure estate is ageing and past its expected lifespans or overdue refurbishment. All these issues place financial pressure on the trust and on the council. But this is not dissimilar to issues being faced by most local authorities and leisure trusts across the country.    

“That is why independent specialist advice was commissioned to support the council in understanding the risks associated with these extraordinary financial pressures and the steps to take to mitigate them.

“This was reported to council in May 2023 and was heard in private in accordance with the council’s constitution. Following this, an action plan was agreed by full council in June 2023 and continues to be implemented, including, for example, the action taken to transfer the ownership of Whitworth Leisure Centre to Whitworth Town Council.

Whitworth Leisure Centre and its swimming pool discussed at Rossendale Council, June 2023

“There are no plans to further-reduce the leisure offer in Rossendale. And extensive work has been carried out, in partnership with sport governing bodies, Sport England and other partners, to identify routes for further investment in the valley’s facilities, as well as supporting grass-roots sports and leisure organisations to develop their offer.

“There is no doubt that the issues widely documented on the East Lancashire Empty Homes Programme have affected the availability of resources to the council over that last 10 years, as have the huge reductions in funding from central government. The issues relating to this programme were investigated in-depth by the police, an investigation that ended in 2021 and which lasted over two years. This concluded that there was no fraud, no charges would be brought against anyone and that no members of any party could be held responsible. ”

The council spokesperson added: “Mr Berry has not approached the council for information. But we would be more-than-happy to meet with him to discuss the allegations he made in Parliament. Following that meeting, we hope that he will be able to correct the record in Parliament."