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A series of damning reports exposed the Causeway council's handling of land deals
Niall Deeney, 19 Apr
A councillor who campaigned to expose financial irregularities at the Causeway Coast and Glens council has said she is standing down because the “defunct” council is “incapable of change”.
Stephanie Quigley, who sat as an independent after quitting the SDLP in 2020, had been among a small group on the council who pushed repeatedly for an expose on the handling of land deals by senior officials.
The role played by senior council officers in deals that saw sought-after land rights granted for rock-bottom prices was exposed in a hard-hitting audit report published last summer.
Read more:
More than 130 complaints against Northern Ireland councillors since last election
Ms Quigley, who represents the Coleraine area in
Co Derry
, said there is little evidence of change despite “damning report after damning report” into the running of the council.
Speaking to Belfast Live after announcing her decision not to pursue re-election next month, she said: “The council is really defunct, to be honest, it’s not really working. When you know you have done everything in your power, and more, and there’s no change – there’s no appetite for change, there’s no political will – walking away is the best thing I can do.”
Councillor Stephanie Quigley
An “extraordinary audit” of the way land deals were handled by the Causeway Coast and Glens Council was completed by the Northern Ireland Audit Office in July last year.
The audit report revealed the “unusual” extent of the council chief executive David Jackson’s personal involvement in deals, amid what the local government auditor described as a culture of “bypassing best practice and guidance to get land ‘deals done’”.
The auditor also noted there were “perceived conflicts of interest”.
A group of councillors, including the independents Stephanie Quigley and Padraig McShane, had presented a series of documents to
Stormont
officials prior to the audit being ordered.
Councillor Quigley had proposed a forensic audit of council’s finances in February 2020 but, despite passing a majority vote, the decision was overturned during a special council meeting later that year while in committee – meaning the press and public were excluded.
The audit, led by local government auditor Colette Kane, was ordered in November 2020 by the Department for Communities at Stormont after it emerged the council had granted property rights to a developer for a plot of land at the Ballyreagh Road in Portstewart for just £1 in 2016 — without a proper valuation having been completed beforehand.
The land right – known as an easement – was sought after by the developer to provide access to a proposed hotel development worth £20 million.
Alongside this deal, the legality of which has now been called into question by the auditor, the report highlighted another, separate 2015 transaction for a different luxury hotel project for land at Castleroe Road in Coleraine, overlooking the River Bann.
The lawfulness of that deal had also been called into question by the auditor, and the chief executive of the council was described as having been “directly involved” in the transaction.
A subsequent review, which was discussed by the council at a special meeting last month, cast doubt on the “capacity and capability at political and senior leadership team levels” to address problems, or an “appetite within the council to take a fresh approach with a different leadership style”.
Councillor Quigley said her decision to step down has been influenced by the failure of the council to change.
“There has been damning report after damning report,” she said. “We pushed for the forensic audit but it was blocked at so many levels. We went to the department so many times. I, personally, went to the audit office with my concerns alongside a number of other councillors so they were aware of what was going on. Eventually, the minister called for an extraordinary audit. When it was printed it was like massive vindication.”
She continued: “The recent report showed that the council doesn’t have the ‘capacity’ to change. The council is not functioning. I believe the council is incapable of change. There comes a time when you have to be self aware enough to know that you’ve done all you can. It’s now up to the powers that be to do something, to not fail the ratepayers.
“Council can’t do anything now. It’s not a council decision now. It’s up to the Department to do something. The right thing now [for the Department] is to come in and take over the running of council.”