Concerns have been raised after £250,000 of building materials were left unsecured at a Dumbarton council depot for over a YEAR.
Councillors said they were “alarmed” and “astonished” after it was revealed UPVC windows and doors and timber roof battens were stored in an open area at sites along Elm Road for more than 12 months and not adequately protected from theft or damage.
West Dunbartonshire Council has said that Covid-19 restrictions were the reason for the situation, with the materials meant to be sent directly to properties for work during lockdown.
Raising her concerns at an audit committee last week, Dumbarton councillor Karen Conaghan of the SNP, said: “I found it quite alarming that something like this had gone on for so long.
“I’m wondering how many years these had been accumulated over and what sort of value there is on these 166 units?
“Moreso what is going to happen to them? Are they now redundant and scrap or is there anything that can be saved out of them.
“I’m also interested in the action plan to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. It’s quite concerning that it could go on for such a lengthy period without us knowing about it.
“Where was the failure that allowed that to happen?”
In response, Andi Priestman, WDC’s shared service manager for audit and fraud, said: “The majority of the stock was built up as a result of Covid-19. The team were continuing to purchase replacement windows as a result of their ongoing maintenance programme.
“However, due to Covid, we were prevented from being able to go and fit those. The stock has built up over time, however they didn’t find a secure area to store the windows and timber battens.
“When we carried out the stock check that’s when the auditor saw that there was quite a significant value of materials lying in an area within the site itself which was not secure.
“Immediate action has been taken to secure the stock.
“A process is now underway to bring the items into stock for allocation.
“Our expectation is that any waste will be minimised.”
Labour’s Daniel Lennie questioned why the situation was allowed to arise, as he labelled it “astonishing and incredible.”
The Clydebank member said: “As a storeman myself in a past life for many years I find this absolutely astonishing and incredible.
“New stock comes in, it’s logged in, it goes out and it’s logged out. There really shouldn’t be an issue.
“Is our stock checking hardware too complicated to operate?”
Ms Priestman replied: “These individual items were direct purchases which should go out to the property.
“But given the circumstances around lockdown they had to be stored elsewhere.
“Over time the level of direct purchases held within the site will reduce because they’ll start going out to the properties.”
