BOLTON Council leader Cliff Morris has ordered a full independent audit of the decision taken to award solicitors firm Asons a grant of £300,000.

Cllr Morris said he wants to reassure the public after news broke of the private deal and prompted angry reactions across the borough.

In a statement, Cllr Morris said: “Financial transparency and trust at this challenging time is more important than ever and this is why I am calling for a full independent audit of this investment to reassure the public.

“As always, the council’s legal team checked all aspects of the agreement to ensure that we are complying with the law and our processes, and I am confident that an external audit will confirm this.”

The Labour leader said he was ‘disappointed’ in comments made by Tory leader Cllr David Greenhalgh, who accused him of running a ‘dictatorship’ by signing off the grant before he or anyone else was aware of it.

He said: “Openness and transparency runs through the veins of our culture at the council and we have robust systems in place to ensure this continues.

“Cllr Greenhalgh was copied into correspondence at the very beginning of this process in September and there was ample opportunity for him to question this process and raise any concerns, which I would have welcomed because that is what he is elected to do.”

This is strongly refuted by Cllr Greenhalgh, who maintains that the first time he became aware of the decision was ahead of an executive meeting on November 7 when it was noted that the decision had been made.

He said: “I can categorically state that I did not receive the letter informing me of the Asons grant under Emergency Powers, and this not the first time this has happened.

“The first time I became aware of the grant was on receipt of the agenda for the leaders meeting on the November 7."

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Offering an explanation for why the council decided to award the money to Asons, Cllr Morris added: “I remain committed to supporting our local businesses and I have argued in the past that we allocate one-off monies to support our local economy, investment and jobs – which is no secret.

“There has been a suggestion that the money could have been used differently – for example to fund 30 apprenticeships.

“Our agreement with Asons guarantees that 263 jobs will be retained in the town centre for at least the next five years – which has a much higher impact on our economy, and underpins our ability to continue supporting apprenticeships across the borough.

“Within that time the council’s investment will be repaid through their business rates, which we estimate to be more than £460,000 and this will be reinvested across the borough.

“This is on top of the value from retaining the firm in the town centre, which should return £10million to our local economy over the next 5 years. If we had not invested in this project, we would have been left with two empty town centre buildings, and a significant loss of income as a result.”