Liberal Democrats have attacked moves by a Labour lead member to authorise some £16,000 spending of the Haringey’s new area assembly budgets for special small projects.

The move follows an underspend on the new budget, which the Lib Dems say has been caused by lack of proper preparation for the scheme. In an email sent to all Labour councillors, but not Liberal Democrats (except for the Lib Dem assembly chair in the west of the borough), the Labour Lead Member has spent the money without consultation.

Lib Dem Leader Neil Williams comments:

“It is unacceptable that this has happened, and that large amounts of money are allocated without input from councillors and residents. Like my own area assembly in Muswell Hill and Highgate, I am sure other areas had projects in reserve where they would have liked to spend the money on local residents’ initiatives. This should have had first call.

“I specifically asked Cllr Reith at a meeting of the borough’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee what would happen if the budget was underspent, and this was brushed this aside and was said to be not an issue.

“Now, we have this rushed spending, which is being done without consultation with area assemblies.”