THE man whose former company is at the centre of the report into the long-running suspensions at South Lakeland District Council, this week denied any knowledge of the issue.

Gordon Taylor was the man behind Taylor West Associates, the consultants who were taken on by SLDC to produce a report on a new pay and grading structure, reports Michaela Robinson-Tate.

As previously reported, it later emerged that the annual cost of the new structure would reach £1.6 million by 2009 or £1 million more than the £600,000 originally estimated.

The discovery led to the suspension of three senior officers, and an investigation by local government expert Rodney Brooke. Mr Brooke has produced a report for the council, a copy of which has been obtained by The Westmorland Gazette.

When asked about the report, Mr Taylor said that the company no longer existed, and that he did not know about the issue.

"I don't have any comment to make," he said. "This is news to me. I have never seen the report and I don't know what you are talking about.

"I gave up Taylor West some time ago for health and personal reasons and as far as I'm concerned Taylor West no longer exists, and that's the end of the matter.

"As far as I was aware there were some queries about some of the costings, that they (SLDC) have never come back to me about and they took the project on themselves."

When pressed for further information, Mr Taylor said he did not want to be quoted.

At a meeting last Friday, members of SLDC accepted Mr Brooke's findings, and adopted his recommendations.

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