A DISTRICT council's chief executive has refuted a claim by the district auditor that his authority has shown undue procrastination when deciding its new political structure.

Teesdale District Council has held off making decisions about what form its new structure should take until it knew what all the options were. The three forms of executive first put on the table, which have been reported in the D&S Times, were not thought suitable for Teesdale, where members preferred the current committee system. Their waiting game played off as a fourth option, for councils with less than a population of 85,000, was added.

But in his management letter to the council, district auditor Mr Dave Parkin said the council had not yet fully responded to the national agenda for the new political structures and as a result there had been no experimentation with new arrangements. The fourth option would not permit the status quo and some revision would be needed.

He advised that the council needed to act quickly to identify its preferred option, carry out appropriate consultation, develop a revised constitution and scheme of delegation and consider new arrangements for corporate governance.

But the council's chief executive, Mr Charles Anderson, said the council had been waiting until October 26 for government guidance about the extra option and he refuted the fact that there had been undue procrastination.

Members agreed to Coun John Salter's suggestion to set up a formal officer-member working group to progress the idea of the preferred option, adopting an initial system of three policy and three scrutiny committees, which would then be modified as appropriate, reporting to the full council and ensuring that every member was involved.

But the final outcome will hang on whether the electorate of Teesdale wishes to pursue the idea of a referendum. The required number of valid signatures needed to call a referendum in the dale is 993. Any prospective petition organisers are advised to contact Mr Anderson at the council offices in Galgate. He has had one formal inquiry so far