We have elections to Epping Forest District Council on May 6, with one third of councillors being elected.

Normally we could look at the most recent audited accounts to check upon the stewardship of the authority, but not this year. Whilst draft accounts for March 31, 2020 can, with difficulty, be found on the website, audited ones cannot, because the audit has not been completed. One might expect there to be a statement about this on the website but there isn’t; they were after all due in November 2020, deferred from September.

All may be well with the finances of the council but how do we know?

It is unacceptable to hold an election where such fundamental information is unavailable. For all we know there may be a big hole from the council’s property investments and unpaid rents. After all, if this were a private company the directors would face prosecution.

Michael McGough

Wellfields, Loughton