THE two parties that won control of Oxford City Council in the May 4 elections are demanding an investigation into its finances, writes Mark Templeton.

The move comes as it was revealed that a department with a 22m budget has no accountant. And the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party are to call in the district auditor to scrutinise the council budget after a 100,000 shortfall was discovered.

Councillors say it is the multi-million pound city works department that is causing most concern. Greens leader Paul Ingram said: "The financial reports it files each month make no sense. They include only overall spending figures and there is never a breakdown of how the money is spent.

"It's impossible for us to see where money is going. The department needs to be more accountable." But city works director Graham Boughton said: "Our accounts were handled centrally by the council under the competitive tendering system.

"We will employ our own accountant who will answer to the council. We are not hiding anything here."

Both parties claim they have been left a 100,000 shortfall by the previous Labour group. Liberal Democrat Corinna Redman said: "Labour has drawn on 16m of balances over the past three years.

"It did not make adequate funding in its budget for concessionary bus fares and the cost of homelessness has risen drastically."