Council boss in £5.6m homes riddle

Helen Lockwood

CONTROVERSY surrounds an Oldham Council executive director, under fire in a leaked inquiry report into a failed £5.6million scheme in East Lancashire.

Helen Lockwood, Oldham Council’s executive director of co-operatives and neighbourhoods, has reportedly been rebuked in a independent investigation into the collapse of a major Homes and Communities Agency vacant properties contract.

Mrs Lockwood was chief executive at Rossendale Council when it took on the operation for Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Pendle and Hyndburn authorities in 2012.

Rossendale Council was granted a reported £4.8million by central government for the scheme, to bring around 500 vacant homes in the areas back into use.

But the project was left in ruins after AAAW Ltd — the firm appointed by Rossendale council to manage the scheme — went into liquidation in January. Rossendale Council faces costs of up to £600,000 during this financial year, and must also manage around 350 properties in various states of repair.

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph reported how a leaked draft of an investigation into the financial impact and management of the scheme, launched by Rossendale council in July, states Mrs Lockwood took a “close interest” in the renovation programme, and it appeared no other senior officer was “given the opportunity to be effectively involved” until the scheme’s financial problems came to light in late 2014.

Mrs Lockwood, who has more than 30 years’ experience in the public sector, left her post at Rossendale Council to move to Oldham last December.

Rossendale Council appointed management firm AAAW Ltd to run the project in 2012, and that company went into liquidation in January. In February an estate agent was appointed to inspect all the renovated properties - and found 90 per cent of them still needed work.

Council officers are also said to have ignored several “warning signs” from other local authorities or housing associations. The final report is due in December. Mrs Lockwood has not been available for comment.

Investigators will forward their findings to Lancashire Police and criminal charges have not been ruled out.

A Rossendale Council spokesman said: “A full independent investigation is taking place. We will not be commenting on a draft report, but we currently have a team working on the housing project which is getting these properties back into use.”