Conservatives have revealed that the newly installed Labour Leader of Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council has forced the taxpayer to fund a pointless redecoration of the Leader's Office - leaving the taxpayer to foot the bill of almost £4500.
Seeing work going on in the Town Hall, Conservative Leader of the Opposition - who worked in the office for 3 years - queried the costs by submitting a Freedom of Information Act request to the Council. The results of the request were staggering - £4,547.44 spent on redecorating a room not open to the public.
Cllr Kris Wilson, Leader of the Opposition, said:
"This waste of money on the Leader's vanity project is absolutely disgraceful. At a time when he has pulled the funding of £1600 for the Bulkington Christmas Light switch on that we set aside in our budget in February, falsely claiming that there is no money, he then goes on a spending spree to redecorate his office at the taxpayers' expense.
"As Leader I made do with buying some new pictures - at my own expense - to go on the walls to brighten them up a bit. I never dreamt of telling officers to spend over £4500 to redecorate my office. When making difficult decisions I led by example, not having any money spent on politicians."
The claims that there is a poor budget state left by the outgoing Conservative administration are demonstrably false.
Cllr Wilson continued:
"At a recent report to the Labour Cabinet in July, their own agenda stated in black and white that we left them a golden legacy of a £260,000 surplus in last year's budget. We also passed a balanced budget for this financial year in February 2024 that was legally balanced and set aside money for the Bulkington Christmas Light switch on and not one penny to redecorate an office only the Leader, a few officers and the cleaner will ever see.
"The new Council Leader should hang his head in shame, apologise to the residents of Bulkington for his double standards and reinstate the budget for the Bulkington Christmas Light switch on immediately."