THE story about Bolton Council's "secret" grant to Asons raises an awful lot of questions.

In return for the grant, what assurances did Asons give to Bolton Council?

Cllr Morris said the grant would help to secure 400-500 jobs. Where did Mr Morris derive this figure from? Asons claimed as recently as last year that they employ around 280 people and that was before they embarked on a cost cutting exercise. Has Bolton Council simply accepted a number given to them by Asons or have they conducted any investigations of their own ?

Asons publicly declared that they planned on a bespoke development of the Churchgate site including rooftop garden, restaurant and "staff facilities designed to the highest specification". Are Bolton Council able to confirm whether council taxpayers' money was used in whole or in part for some of these ideas and also detail how the £300,000 has been spent?

To alleviate suspicion, can Bolton Council provide a timeline of events surrounding the land on Clarence Street where Asons had originally planned to build new offices? This land underwent a significant amount of development and preparation so presumably Asons owned the land in order to work on it. The site is now abandoned so can we please be told who now owns this land and given details of the transactions surrounding the transfer of ownership?

Did Bolton Council offer the grant to Asons or did Asons request it ?

Where can Bolton News readers see a list of other businesses that the council has afforded grants to in the past?

Bolton Council has a duty to be transparent as to how they spend our money and the grant given to Asons is a red line in the sand. The council should be afforded the opportunity to be completely transparent about their distribution of taxpayers' money.

M Kozlowski

Bolton