Politicians have expressed concern about the payment of millions of pounds by Liverpool Council to a community trust.
The ECHO has documented how the council paid millions of pounds and granted properties to a network of trusts and companies in Everton and Croxteth.
We recently revealed how there was a disparity of £1,419,131.14 between the sum the council had records of paying to Alt Valley Community Trust ( AVCT) and the actual amount paid.
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We recently revealed how there was a disparity of £1,419,131.14 between the sum the council had records of paying to Alt Valley Community Trust ( AVCT) and the actual amount paid.
AVCT describes itself as a social enterprise dedicated to improving the lives of people in north east Liverpool.
The council revealed that they paid £811,933.86 to AVCT in response to a Freedom of Information Act Request.
However an inspection AVCT's accounts by the ECHO revealed that the council had paid them £2,231,065.00.
That means the total sum paid to the network of connected organisations was £2,696,722.63 between 2013 and 2020.
A spokesperson for AVCT has previously confirmed to the ECHO that the figures relating to the council payments in the annual accounts submitted to the Charity Commission and Companies House are accurate.
A spokesperson for the council said that the authority was now carrying out a full review of their response to the FOI.
Last week the ECHO revealed that the council had no record of a shopping parade that was granted to the Neighbourhood Services Company (NSC.)
In 2013 The Neighbourhood Services Company (NSC) was granted a 99 year lease to a parade of shops off Landford Avenue.
The ECHO obtained this information by searching Land Registry records.
Phil Knibb, AVCT's chief executive officer, is also company secretary of NSC.
Information on the NSC website states that it is a social business aimed at developing jobs.
Richard Kemp, leader of the city's Liberal Democrats, said: "This is yet another example of the complete lack of systems which occurred over the past decade and which has brought in first the Best Value Inspection led by Max Caller and now intense scrutiny of our work by the very expensive Commissioners.
"How could the Council lose track of £1.4 million? How could we not know what the taxpayers of Liverpool got for its money? How can we have transferred control or ownership of a shopping parade to an outside body without knowing who gave the authority, who signed it off and which solicitor agreed to which terms?
"I have no idea whether or not these transactions were good for the council and taxpayers or bad for them. There are circumstances where a council can dispose of assets for little or no financial return because of the social benefits that will arise from such a transaction. The point is that we don't know and should know."
Steve Radford, leader of the city's Liberal Party, said: "If the council has no records of these transactions that has to be alarming."
Cllr Jane Corbett, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources, said: "We have been reviewing the use of our discretionary grants going back to 2015 as reported to Cabinet, and are currently looking very carefully at the future use of these important grants.
"We now have a new community asset transfer strategy in place , agreed by Cabinet recently which enables us to show best value is achieved. Linked to this we are detailed work on the community use of our council assets, both land and buildings, and are in the process of drawing up a specific strategy on this.
"It's vitally important that we use our funding and our council buildings and land in the right way for our city, our communities and our neighbourhoods, showing transparency in the decision making process and proving that best value is being achieved."
A spokesperson for AVCT and NSC said that they had saved Liverpool Council large amounts of money during a period of austerity by managing previously loss making facilities.
The spokesperson said: "We are in total agreement with Councillor Kemp and believe that there should be transparency in terms of how the council allocates funding and be able to demonstrate the benefits secured by asset transfer. All organisations should be required to follow such processes.
"As social businesses we have invested heavily in community development initiatives and alongside the aforementioned services we have established further community facilities, a vocational training college, two nurseries, a building and maintenance centre, an adult care centre, regenerated two shopping parades and secured a loan to build a new parade of shops on Landford Avenue. The land was derelict and the shops had been demolished following increased incidents of anti-social behaviour yet NSC invested in the area to meet the needs of local residents.
"We are immensely proud of our contribution to developing community well-being and peoples’ lived experiences and extend an invitation to you to visit and explore the range of social benefits that have been secured to date."
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