A WREXHAM councillor has described the lack of financial controls in place at a major arts hub as "very worrying".

The comments came from Cllr Dana Davies at an audit committee meeting on Thursday afternoon, after Wrexham Council had identified what it called ‘serious weaknesses’ in financial procedures and a lack of awareness of the relevant regulations at Ty Pawb.

A scheduled audit was conducted into issues at the £4.5 million market and arts centre, which has previously attracted criticism for how it has been run following a contract dispute with traders.

The auditors said: “There were examples of a lack of awareness of, and compliance with, financial regulations and other key governance requirements which, although no significant material losses or errors were identified, represent serious weaknesses in financial control.

“There is a need to further improve financial controls overall including making officers more aware of financial procedure rules and other key governance requirements and the need for compliance with them."

Cllr Davies said it was very worrying that controls had not been put in place and requested some re-assurance from the Chief Executive that project management toolkit's were being used properly.

"Although you're saying there was no loss of money, if there have been no formal controls in place, how can be sure that people have been sent invoices?"

An example of the type of issues that need to be addressed involves the four paying machines for the centre's multi-storey carpark, with an improvement required about reconciling the cash received with the amounts recorded on the software systems on the pay station, a situation described as a ‘weakness’ in the controls.

Cllr Marc Jones was another to express concerns and said it was "inconceivable" that a major project such as Ty Pawb, would not be aware of what it had and not have a comprehensive inventory.

He said: "I don’t understand why we are playing catch up when we knew this was happening, and planning to do this for years.

"How do we get caught out as a council on this? I'm staggered. How has this happened? It is on our watch as an Audit Committee."

The Chair of the Committee said a message would need to be sent to the scrutiny committee highlighting the concerns that had been raised and that it was necessary to "raise our eyebrows and concerns in the expectation that they will be considered."

The unplanned audit, known as ‘Investigation B’, highlights failures which the authority admitted could expose it to ‘major financial loss’, and has also been given a red level of assurance.

The Employment, Business and Investment Scrutiny Committee meet on Thursday, June 13 at 4.00 pm in the Guildhall.