INDEPENDENT members of a town council have accused Labour counterparts of spending public money unlawfully.

Eight members of FAIR (Free Association for Independent Representation) have called for an independent investigation into financial practices at Ferryhill Town Council, on which Labour has a narrow ruling majority.

They believe senior Labour members authorised expenditure of council funds over the last seven years, despite not having any legal power to do so.

“There has been a hell of a lot of malpractice,” Councillor Brian Gibson told a meeting of Dean Bank Residents’ Association, on Monday night. (Monday, September 1)

He said he decided to go public with the claims after independent members were criticised for inaction and because discussion about their concerns had been blocked in the council chamber.

Cllr Gibson said the issue came to light following an investigation into the misuse use of a council debit card by former town clerk Jamie Corrigan, who was cleared of any wrongdoing.

He said: “We looked at the whole question of having leaders and deputy leaders at a town council but not only had they elected them but they had taken the additional step of giving what could be called executive powers to sign off expenditure such as staff overtime payments, mileage allowances, expenses, a wide range of financial transactions.

"What we found after more digging was a court case that such transactions were deemed by a judge in the High Court as unlawful practices.”

Former town and county councillor David Farry told the meeting he was involved in the investigation and had reported his concerns to the council auditor and is awaiting a response.

He said: “By my calculations alone, in expenses and payment of increments to salaries, at least £250,000 is what the people of Ferryhill have lost by the blatant abuse of such delegated powers.

“The Labour controlled council is totally out of touch and the people of Ferryhill have been badly let down.”

Coun Gibson said the concerns had been reported to Durham County Council, Labour leader Ed Miliband, Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and UKIP leader Nigel Farage.

A letter sent to those politicians by FAIR councillors calls for ‘full and far reaching independent investigation’.

A spokesman for Ferryhill Town Council said: “The council refutes in the strongest possible terms any allegation that it is making payments which are unlawful, unjustified or excessive, or that proper procedures have not been followed.”