Statement concerning Colin Tearle

11.28.50am GMT Sat 5th Nov 2005

In an edition of Shepway News published in May last year we ran an article which stated that "the last Conservative budget in Shepway led to a £700,000 black hole in Council finances". We did not intend to suggest that this was a deliberate act on the part of the Conservative Cabinet or Mr Tearle, only that it was an unforeseen consequence.

We are completely satisfied that it was the Council which entered into the Highways Agency Agreement and not the Contract Services Board under the chairmanship of Mr Tearle. We also accept that he did not take part in the decision making process.

We also suggested that the Conservative Cabinet was responsible for a substantial loss of investment income. We did not intend to suggest that Mr Tearle bore any personal responsibility for decisions in respect of particular investments.

We wish to apologise to him for any misunderstanding that may have arisen as a result.