STROUD District Council has given an assurance that it is addressing concerns about the running of Merrywalks car park.

After completing an assessment of the operations and controls of Stroud car parks, auditors found that the procedures to keep track of cash at Merrywalks was ‘unsatisfactory’.

Following an article in last week’s SNJ, Nigel Studdert-Kennedy, chairman of SDC’s audit and standards committee, said: “The audit committee is aware of the situation and is keeping abreast of the developments. I am keen that this comes to a swift and satisfactory conclusion.”

Auditors said there was no clear way of checking that the amount of money collected by the payment machines tallied with the sum given to the council.

Merrywalks currently operates on a different system to other SDC car parks.

The council is in the process of acquiring new ticket machines which all adhere to the same system, making it simpler to keep track of figures, said Cllr Studdert-Kennedy.

The collection and banking of cash is contracted out to G4S and the council is in negotiations to ensure a thorough understanding of procedures.

Subject to these discussions, new ticket machines will be installed in all SDC car parks by April.

Checks on monthly invoices, submitted by the contractor, were misleading because of a computer system incompatibility issue, added Cllr Studdert-Kennedy.

The issue was on the agenda of the audit and standards committee last Tuesday, February 3.

At the meeting, councillors also questioned the length of time it was taking for negotiations over a contract concerning the roles of SDC and Merrywalks management and the division of money.

Discussions started in December 2013 and have been agreed in the main but some legalities are taking time to work through.

Cllr Keith Pearson said: “It seems ridiculous to me that it takes 14 months to sign an agreement that’s already been agreed on heads of terms. I just find that unbelievable.

“It ties your hands. We can’t go ahead and do all sorts of things we need to do at Merrywalks.”

“Let’s sort it now or perhaps there’s another way forward.”