''I want to expose council tax quangos''

31 January 2013

In another attack on councils, the Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has said there are secretive unelected and unaccountable quangos working with local authorities which were responsible for pushing up council taxes against government instructions.

He was targeting his anger at such council tax levying bodies as integrated transport authorities and crematorium and drainage boards, who he reckoned operated in virtual darkness and secrecy. You couldn't even find them with an internet search engine.

"I want to open up this secret state, and ensure their council tax setting is accountable directly to the people and their policy decisions are open and transparent," Pickles said. "At best, their meetings are buried away on the darkest parts of the internet. At worst, they don't even exist on Google."

Speaking at the Local Government Network annual conference, Pickles singled out a case in Manchester where households were having to pay more because the "unelected waste authority" had agreed a private finance initiative (PFI) deal that saw the local council paying twice the going rate for getting rid of its waste.