When you start looking a bit deeper into the behaviour of Harlow council, like has been suggested here, you come across a few things that might raise an eyebrow or two. Unfortunately for Danielle as she’s the first person on the list of Harlow Councillors her business dealings and declarations were one of the first we looked at.
Danielle is quite the entrepeneur really. Danielle has interests in 3 companies (1 of which hasn’t been entered correctly in the Register of Member’s Interests – Danielle, you’re welcome for the heads up). One of those businesses is: Beauty in Community CIC which at first glance doesn’t seem to be doing very well, but we won’t hold that against her. It’s a tough economic climate after all. We’d like to point out that if you go through the accounts for the company, there is a rather hefty “Administrative Expenses” of £31948. Typically this cost would be to cover a salary for the directors, but that’s not always the case. You do have to question why those administrative expenses are greater than the gross profit leaving the business in a small amount of debt. How has this business generated revenue? From grants? We don’t know, because yet again you cannot submit an FOI to a private company.
The business is a CIC: CICs are limited companies which operate to provide a benefit to the community they serve. The purpose of a CIC is primarily one of community benefit rather than private profit.
The reason we’re putting a spotlight on this business is because Danielle won a prize a while back from Harlow Town Centre Awards. She had the distinction of being chosen as the Best Business/Entrepeneur. You can read all about it here. Who do you think judges this competition? Yes, you guessed it, Harlow council. Isn’t that convenient? Danielle received a £50 prize too! We here at the Sentinel can only wonder where that money came from, but we have a pretty good idea.
Some points to ponder:
- As a councillor, don’t you think the right thing to do was to exclude herself from the competition? After all the judging was closed to the public. Don’t take our word for it, have a look at the awards leaflet here.
- Why do you think Danielle received the award? Do you think it was a tactic to be able to get our local Conservatives into the press in an underhanded way? Our guess is yes.
- Why did the local “journalist” not mention in the article that Danielle was a councillor?
At the time of writing one of the other businesses Danielle has an interest in was in the process of being struck off. That action looks to have been suspended for now.
One last question: Would you want a councillor who seems to be struggling to comply to the rules for LTD companies looking after our finances in Harlow?
If you would like to pass over some information in the strictest confidence please email: whistleblower@the-harlow-sentinel.com