A ROW has broken out over who should advise Pendle Council on setting up a leisure trust to run its sports centres.

Consultants Lawrence Graham were appointed despite Labour claims that its team made an error during its presentation to councillors and officers.

Labour and local government unions Unison and the GMB backed a rival application by Leisure Partners Ltd.

Labour's Tim Ormrod told a meeting of the full council: "They (Lawrence Graham) arrived at least half an hour late and the information they gave us was flawed."

His colleague Frank Clifford said: "It was a comprehensive team but they got it wrong."

He added: "We felt that they (Leisure Partners) had lots more experience, seven years of experience in running a leisure trust."

But Tory Pauline McCormick argued: "Lawrence Graham were much more in our way of thinking. They are the right people to go along with." She said someone could be half an hour late travelling from Colne to Burnley in bad traffic.

Liberal Democrat David Whipp added: "Lawrence Graham can give us good impartial advice. We can then look at that and make a decision." The sticking point for Labour was over figures supplied by Lawrence Graham about the issue of rate relief the trust would attract.

Simon Randall, a partner in London-based Lawrence Graham, denied the firm had given wrong information. He explained: "We didn't put any firm figures down in our formal document. During the presentation we didn't give any definitive figures, just a ballpark figure without having the benefit of the full details concerning rate relief being available."

The rival consultants each made a presentation to a working group of councillors as part of moves to set up a trust to run the council's major sports centres such as Pendle Wavelengths and Pendle Leisure Centre. A trust would mean savings for the council and attract more investment.

Lawrence Graham will be asked to give impartial advice on the four different types of trust that could be set up in Pendle. Councillors will have the final decision on which one is chosen.

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