“I should have read every single one of the 900 lines and spotted it, and I didn’t" Spreadsheet error blamed for Bedford parking charges

Both this £2 fee, and the £2 Sunday parking charge, have been removed under delegated authority to councillor officers, he added.

Councillor Jim Weir (Conservative, Great Denham) told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that the original report showed that the charges were going to be introduced.

“But, it’s quite clear in the report that it also says we won’t,” he said.

“The 900 entries on the fees and charges [spreadsheet] got a little bit confused at some point.

“Therefore the parking was showing as overnight at £2, we categorically stated again [at the Executive Meeting, January 8] that it will not be charged. That would be removed because it was erroneous.”

The Fees and Charges Report containing these additional charges was sent in a reports pack to Full Council (November 27) and was debated at Budget and Corporate Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee (December 5). Councillor Weir was asked why no one noticed the error.

“Because it’s nearly a thousand entry line spreadsheet,” councillor Weir said.

“If you ever go and look at the report and start scrolling through the fees and charges, it’s page after page after page.

“All the words said no, but the numbers appeared and they were passed down through officers, and they acted on it.

“But as soon as the first person shouted we realised that was an error somewhere.

“So we didn’t u-turn, it wasn’t a conspiracy, it wasn’t a mayoral pet project.

“It was an error, they do happen, and I apologise because it is under my watch because, I’m the portfolio holder so it was my error.

“I should have read every single one of the 900 lines and spotted it, and I didn’t. So I do apologise to anybody that’s been caught on that.”

During yesterday’s Executive Meeting (Wednesday, January 8), the Liberal Democrat group leader, councillor Henry Vann (De Parys), said: “I think we need to be really clear that either members of the Executive knew what was going on, or people didn’t know what was going on, which is also hugely concerning in terms of the operation and functioning of the council.”

The LDRS asked councillor Weir if the administration should know what every officer is doing, when they are doing it, and how they are doing it.

“No, and that would be disrespectful to officers as well, wouldn’t it?” he said. “And we just don’t have the capacity or time to do that either.”

During December’s Budget and Corporate Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee councillor Christine McHugh (Goldington) and councillor Michael Headley (Putnoe) spoke of their concerns of the “across the board” 10 per cent increase in parking fees.

The £2 evening and Sunday charges were not explicitly mentioned, even after mayor Tom Wootton said weekend parking was free.

A Lib Dem spokesperson said: “The Sunday, evening and overnight changes were not presented to the committee, as the increased charges didn’t become apparent to anyone until the new year.

“It is very poor governance that the committee had not been properly informed of these plans and we have discussed this with the council’s monitoring officer,” they said.

However, the two entries introducing these fees were shown on page 52 of the report sent to the Committee.