Cheshire West and Chester Council leader’s firm wins £46K contracts

Mar 24 2011 by David Holmes, Chester Chronicle

THE council leader's company was paid £46,000 by Cheshire West and Cheshire Council in 2010 for work done on adapting homes for the disabled.

But Cllr Mike Jones had to go through a competitive tendering process administered by a body independent of the authority.

A Freedom of Information response shows Saltney-based ASC Developments (Chester) Ltd, in which Cllr Jones and his wife Suzanne are directors, received £46,725 in 2010 for that part of the adaptation work covered by a Disabled Facilities Grant administered by the council.

A council spokeswoman said: “The process is administered by a body called the Homes Improvement Agency (HIA) which is independent of the council.

“They work with the individual to help them with the planning, procurement and management of the work.

“The procurement phase is conducted by the HIA on behalf of the individual and the council who will split the cost.

“For each project they will obtain quotes from three companies who work in that area and are on their approved contractor list and, in most cases, will select the lowest cost estimate.

“The home owner will confirm if they are happy with the selection and the work will be undertaken. At the end of the work the individual pays their share of the costs and the council pays the element to be funded from the Disabled Facilities Grant.”

The council has supplied examples of tender documents where ASC was awarded the contract.

“In each case ASC was selected on the basis of being the lowest cost tenderer,” added the spokeswoman.