LABOUR councillors have apologised to Warrington’s Conservative leader over “misinformation” circulated about him in the row over the Titan prison saga.
Coun Terry O’Neill, (right) the leader of the Labour group on the borough council and senior councillor Paul Kenny (left) both made public apologies at a meeting of the full council.
Tory leader Keith Bland – deputy leader of the council – had exploded in anger after repeated statements that he was present at a private meeting between the council leadership and the developers of the Omega business site.
Labour were criticising the Liberal Democrats and Tories for not taking a strong enough line against the prison at the meeting.
But an angry Coun Bland said: “I have never been at a private meeting with the developer.”
He said leaflets had been distributed stating that he was at the meeting and reports had appeared in the press.
But he had never been at any such meeting and didn’t even know it had taken place until he read about in a newspaper.
Coun Ian Marks, leader of the council – who was at the meeting- confirmed that Coun Bland had not been at the meeting.
But he said: “I was there – and I did make it clear that a prison was not part of our vision for Omega.
“At the time, I wasn’t even sure what a Titan prison was. Afterwards I researched it and found it was even worse than I had thought.
“Coun Bland and I then issued a joint statement that the council was strongly opposed to the idea of another prison in Warrington and also to the whole concept of Titan prisons.”
The two Labour councillors both apologised to Coun Bland over the mistake, which, they said, had happened because they had been given “misinformation.”
