HOUSING boss Noel Spencer has been accused of failing to take seriously the £1.5m rent arrears owed to Bolton Council.
And a furious row has blown up after it was claimed that Cllr Spencer, chairman of the housing committee, left a meeting at which the arrears were being discussed before it had ended.
Cllr John Walsh, Deputy Conservative Leader, accused the Labour stalwart of adopting "a cavalier attitude" towards the situation.
As reported in the BEN, the council is planning to tackle the debt crisis with an 18-point action plan which it believes will reduce the arrears over the next year.
Scheduled
Cllr Spencer has reacted angrily to Cllr Walsh's allegations and pointed out he was scheduled on the day of the housing committee working party meeting to chair a meeting of the Priority Four Group.
"These meetings can sometimes be quite touchy and as the chairman Cllr Howarth was away, I, as vice chair, had to step in.
"Far from failing to take the issue of rent rrears seriously, I and several of my colleagues from the senior housing team have been meeting every week for a number of weeks.
"At these meetings we have been looking closely at the progress being made in reducing the level of arrears," he added.
In a statement, Cllr Spencer dismissed Cllr Walsh's call for a further investigation into the arrears as a "waste of time and money" which would be better spent on improving properties.
Speaking about the arrears, Cllr Spencer spelled out the heartache behind some of the figures.
"It's true that we do have some tenants owing us more than £3,000 but these are not bad people who have done a moonlight without paying their rents.
"A large percentage is due to the overpayment of Housing Benefit. Most of these overpayment have been made to elderly tenants. This has come about because they have filled in their forms wrongly because they were confused.
"In many cases this has not been deliberate and they are already paying off the arrears on a weekly basis," he added.
Cllr Spencer's explanation, however, has been challenged by Cllr Walsh who has pointed out the council has a duty to check all claims for housing benefit on an annual basis.
"If we take it that the average council house rent is £35 per week, then £3,000 arrears represents two years. Surely any incorrect claims would have been wheedled out after 12 months.
"No other organisation would tolerate such a situation, people would not be allowed to ignore their mortgage payments .
"There must be a further investigation into this whole affair. The more information that comes to light makes it clearer than this whole business has been handled in an inept manner and I find Cllr Spencer's response lax and glib," added Cllr Walsh.
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