Liverpool NDC board member quits

Louise Baldock stood down from Kensington Regeneration's board in protest at proposals she claimed would waste taxpayers' money and fail to give residents enough say in how money is spent.

Kensington Regeneration has worked with Liverpool City Council for three years to formulate a succession strategy for the NDC. It wants the income generated from its assets - around £220,000 a year - to be transferred to a community interest company (CIC) set up to fund priority projects in the area.

But Baldock opposed this plan because the CIC, which consists of residents and Kensington Regeneration board members, intends to spend £92,000 of this on overhead costs such as rent and salaries. She also claimed that the plan would not give residents enough control over funding decisions.

Instead, she called for the money to be transferred to an existing small grants fund in the city from which local bodies could bid for money or for residents to be allowed to vote on where money should be spent. However, the board rejected her proposal.

Baldock said: "The official view is that the NDC was reluctant to delay the decision-making process. But I believe some individuals were worried about giving too much control to residents.

"I don't think Kensington Regeneration staff understood that it was my job to scrutinise proposals and ensure we were making the best use of available funds. They perceived me as a threat and refused to listen to my proposals."

A spokeswoman for Kensington Regeneration said: "The business plan for the CIC has been developed in close cooperation with the city council. The aim is to ensure the lowest level of risk for public money and the highest level of community governance. The opinion of board members was that all possible alternatives had been thoroughly researched."

She claimed Baldock did not ask for a debate on her alternative proposal until 2 October, which was considered to be too late.

She also said that Baldock's concerns about overhead costs were unfounded. "There are costs involved in operating a social enterprise, but they were not thought to be excessive by any of the regeneration and local authority practitioners we consulted," she said.

Meanwhile, Baldock said that two local Liberal Democrat MPs had written to the Government appealing for the NDC's decision on its succession strategy to be overturned. She said: "My view is that there is a groundswell of public opinion against it."