Now that the chickens have come to roost following Woking Borough Council’s borrowing frenzy, followed by the resignations of senior officers hanging like an albatross around residents’ necks, it is essential to have a truthful debate as to why Woking ended up with a £1.2 billion debt, expected to hit £2.6bn.

Likewise, a lot of expectation is suddenly placed on finding the silver bullet and answers as to why Woking was allowed to amass the highest debt in the country. What good will finding those buried bodies be after ruining residents’ lives?

Equally worrying is whether these investigations will make any difference. 

Other than learning the same expensive lessons from an endless list of similar public inquiries held after major scandals costing millions of taxpayers’ money, for example, child abuse, NHS trusts, Leveson, Grenfell, HS2 and Covid. 

Over the years, millions, if not billions, could have been spent on funding public services and infrastructure.

Woking could have minimised its crippling debt if public concerns were heard on time and not ignored. 

Instead, we keep repeating the same mistakes.

Is it because politicians have their own interests and axes to grind at a cost to the public purse? 

Part of the pattern is that after creating a problem, “experts” are appointed as consultants and advisers. 

Not forgetting the situation in the first place was created by other “experts”, if not the same ones.

It beggars belief that if “experts” are so brilliant, why do they not avoid pitfalls in the first place, and save time and millions of pounds?

Considering its size, Woking Council has seen a huge exodus of senior council officers in just over two years. Amongst others, two chief financial officers are shortly to be replaced by a third, while temporary appointments currently replace the director of planning and legal positions.

It is appalling that chief executive Julie Fisher resigned last month, having joined only in April 2021. Why would their replacements be any different and accountable if there is a corporate failure on such a scale?

Whereas, after all these years, our Woking MP did not intervene by always maintaining that he has no official standing or control over the council, but is now suddenly busy blaming the current administration in his weekly News & Mail columns for proposing cuts to services and almost single-handedly engaged in various campaigns to save Woking.

He says: “My current focus is on the financial challenges at Woking Borough Council, and I have been speaking about these issues with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities, in addition to having regular update meetings with the chief executive of Woking Borough Council, Julie Fisher, assuring government support as these financial challenges are fully worked through over time.”

Why has he changed his stance from not having control to having so much influence?

Undoubtedly, the government-appointed commissioner’s advice, which comes at a price, is a legal necessity and invaluable in shaping Woking’s future to address the colossal debt. On top of it, council-taxpayers will also need to spend a lot on other consultants and specialists to help untangle Woking’s financial mess and, together with commissioners’ fees, it will run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

However, let’s hope advice from the “experts” is not just about making savings by cutting services, job losses and the fire sale of assets at a loss. Similar to shutting the stable door after the horses have bolted, as happened during the austerity policy adopted in 2010, the consequences of which are still faced today, causing years of misery for residents.

Although the one-off cost may seem negligible compared to the £1.2bn or may not be a valid comparison to the £19m budget deficit or proposed £12m cuts, it adds up. 

More importantly, it raises the question of why the government and its advisers did not intervene earlier and allowed it to worsen over the years until now.

Residents feel angry and want those responsible brought to account. 

Following the outcome of investigations, instead of inflicting misery on blameless residents, something positive needs to be implemented by holding past and present officers, including politicians, accountable for the mess.