THE top officials running Worcestershire County Council attempted to "rubbish" the crucial investigation which saved a popular outdoor centre from closure, a leading councillor has said.

In an astonishing attack on the county's principal officers, the chairman of the watchdog scrutiny committee, Councillor John Buckley, claimed his inquiry into the planned closure of Llanrug outdoor education centre was "badly let down" by the actions of the chief officers management board (COMB). Coun Buckley's non-political scrutiny committee - which has been praised by inspectors as being among the best in the country - uncovered evidence of "systematic failure" in the way Llanrug was managed by the council.

His report convinced the ruling cabinet to reverse its decision to cut the outdoor centre's funding.

But Coun Buckley told a full council meeting: "I think COMB let the scrutiny committee down very badly. There was a lot of pressure put on to rubbish the report we were doing, and I would like to ask the new chief executive to get a grip on this. It was a very bad time for scrutiny in this council. I would like to thank (council leader) George Lord for dealing with this situation in the proper way in the end. The cabinet changed its decision and we can't ask for any more than that."

After the meeting, Coun Buckley said: "It was pretty rough going. There were letters going round saying the report didn't stand up and we hadn't looked at all the information, and that we were just being political. I was pretty upset. There was a lot of pressure on the cabinet not to accept the scrutiny report, right up to the last day."

COMB is made up of the council's chief executive and six top directors. It is their job to oversee the effective running of council departments and implement the policies of councillors.

The then chief executive Rob Sykes has since retired from the council and a new chief, Trish Haines, takes over in March.

In a statement, Coun Lord insisted he fully supported the actions of COMB during the Llanrug investigation.

He said: "We have every confidence in the advice we were given by COMB throughout. My cabinet colleagues and I have reversed our decision from July to withdraw the subsidy from Llanrug, and everyone is now focused on ensuring this runs as a self-sufficient centre."