In December 2023, Bolton Council accepted £1,000,000 in taxpayer money from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and their Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF) to commercialise and construct a Bolton town centre heat network, using a sewer source heat solution. This scheme would have seen thousands of properties being forced to adopt a heat network, at substantial cost, tying them into a permanent system.
Conservative councillors had warned at several meetings, including meetings of the Executive Cabinet Member and Place Scrutiny Committee, that this project was a wasteful pipe dream, set to cost the taxpayer millions of pounds. These warnings were ignored.
Briefings from the Director of Place and other senior officers, as well as reports provided to the Executive Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment, confirmed that the scheme would be unviable without Bolton Council’s participation, as this would have meant the council committing to the scheme and all the infrastructure costs included, estimated to be in the millions of pounds. Therefore, Bolton Council knew the scheme would be unviable and ruled out participation.
However, despite this, the Council proceeded with the procurement exercise, costing the taxpayer almost £1,000,000. This is a clear dereliction in fiscal responsibility that the local authority should seek to undertake.
Conservatives are calling on the Leader of the Council to issue an apology to the taxpayers of Bolton for wasting almost £1,000,000 in taxpayer money on an ideological vanity project that the Labour administration knew was not going to go ahead because they wouldn’t commit to their own participation which made the scheme unviable.
Leader of Bolton Conservatives, Cllr Nadim Muslim, said:
This is typical of a Labour Party that is more bothered about their ideology than the taxpayers of Bolton. When council officers are saying a scheme is unviable without their participation, then you don't go ahead.
And who is taking responsibility? No one. The Labour Leader must apologise to the people of Bolton.
It's just another example of how they can't handle the finances of Bolton Council. First with ASONS, then with NCP, and sacking the Chair of the Audit Committee for exposing a near £1 million fraud. How can anyone in Bolton trust Labour with their money?
