IN December 2017 Redwood Bank was worth £9.5m and the council’s 33 per cent share in the bank for which it had paid £10.3m only nine months earlier was worth £3.2m, a book loss of £7.1m.

In the unaudited accounts for 2017/18 the council valued its 33 per cent investment in Redwood Bank at £8.6m, indicating the bank was worth £25.8m, implying it had turned its accumulated £3.5m losses into an accumulated profit of £16.4m ie in just three months and only seven months after the bank had opened for business it had made a remarkable profit of £19.9m – an annualised return of £79.6m.

The Guardian reported a council spokesman saying the inability of the auditors to sign the accounts is due to a technical issue.

The accounts are four months overdue and the council has yet to explain the nature of the technical issue that is preventing approval, or indeed offer any indication when they expect approval will be granted.

One has to wonder if the failure to approve is in any way connected with the valuation used by the council in the accounts.

The same auditors took over two years to approve Derby Council’s accounts for a similar reason concerning the valuation of assets.

This cost Derby residents £1m to put right.

At the time Mr Robinson, the chief executive of Derby Council, used the same phrase Warrington Borough Council has used: “It’s clearly a technical mistake and that is why the officers responsible don’t work here anymore.”

Next April the council is due to make its third and final £10m investment in Redwood.

The risk is that WBC’s accounts will still be unaudited and should the auditors eventually conclude the investment illegal then self evidently it would clearly be wrong to have made that final investment.

As a matter of prudence and to protect public money it seems appropriate that WBC should wait until the accounts are approved before the final investment is made.

There is a question about this on the agenda for December 17 council meeting so we will know whether WBC is prepared to take this risk with our money.

Should in due course the investment be found illegal it will be interesting to see whether any WBC officers follow their Derby colleagues and find they aren’t working here either.

RICHARD BUTTREY Stockton Heath