KEIGHLEY Town Council’s new clerk and civic centre manager has rejected any suggestion criminal acts have been committed by the local authority.

Tom Ferry, who has filled the vacancy left by former clerk Miggy Bailey, said the council was forging ahead with recommendations made in an external auditors’ report, and asked for its members to be allowed to carry out their duties without being “distracted”.

In the aftermath of the highly critical report by auditors PKF Littlejohn, which highlighted a string of failures related to the council spending and governance, Keighley MP Kris Hopkins called for a police investigation.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman confirmed officers were looking into whether there are grounds for a criminal investigation.

But Mr Ferry said: “If I thought there was a remote chance of criminality within the council then I would not be here today. The council has rightly made its apology to the people of Keighley for falling short of the standards they should expect.

“The process has already started to rectify those areas in the auditors’ report, and the council has tasked its policies and governance committee and finance and audit committee to make arrangements to comply with the report.

“I and other council officers will be working with those committees to provide an action plan for the council to address the recommendations and to provide positive assurance to taxpayers. We’re committed to preparing and implementing the action plan with a view to all actions being carried out for February 2015.”

Mr Ferry said: “One of the first things I shall be asking the council to do is to resolve that it meets the eligibility criteria to use the General Power of Competence (GPC).

“This will allow the council to use the power in the interests of the community. Had the council been in a position to use this power when setting up the civic centre, the word ‘unlawfulness’ would not have been so prominent in the [auditors’] report. I ask that in the interest of the work being undertaken to be fully effective and implemented, that council members and officers are not distracted, as has been the case in the past two years.

“I’ve been following the activities of the council for some time now, and I know from this the job at Keighley Town Council is not for the faint hearted,” he added.