CORNWALL Council and St Ives Town Deal board have both said no impropriety has been found in the way they handled an unsuccessful application for a grant as part of the £19.9-million government programme to enhance and improve the coastal town.

A disgruntled St Ives businessman – who has made a series of allegations against the bodies – is blaming them for the closure of his bar in the town.

Earlier this month, Erasmus ‘Rassie’ Cloete closed Host St Ives, a bar and restaurant located on Tregenna Hill which had its last service on Sunday, October 5.

On social media, Erasmus said: “Our complaint with Cornwall Council and the St Ives Town Deal left a bitterness in our hearts and we want to invest our time elsewhere.”

In videos, posted on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, Mr Cloete has made a number of allegations about what he says are “transparency failures, lack of engagement and bias, and governance weaknesses” by the Town Deal board after his grant application was not successful.

He has also accused the council of “breaching multiple provisions of the Freedom of Information Act in handling my requests for information about the St Ives Town Deal”. The local authority says there is no evidence of impropriety.

The Local Government Ombudsman decided not to investigate a complaint about the assessment and management of Mr Cloete’s Town Deal grant application because “the complaint against the council is late and there is no good reason to investigate it now”.

Mr Cloete claims that the Readiness Checklist (RC) for mooted St Ives Town Deal projects had his name redacted. “Most importantly, they are asked: ‘Do you have well developed proposals of interventions in place that align to the Towns Fund objectives and address the strategic needs identified within your town plans?’ under which our project is listed.”

Mr Cloete says that his was one of only two private sector projects on the RC. He also claims that 94 per cent of projects that benefited from the fund had board representation.

“I think a board which receives 94 per cent of the funds is not really independent and you have to question how the selection criteria works,” he says in the video. Mr Cloete also said that there was no engagement with him when he bid for his project.

He argued that some of the projects which were deemed ‘shovel ready’ didn’t actually proceed. “Every time a significant project didn’t proceed, the money got reallocated only to projects that had board representation at the time. I think that’s very unfair and I know there were other people who expressed their dissatisfaction.”

A spokesperson for St Ives Town Deal Board said: “The claims referred to have been looked into and no impropriety has been found.”

Cornwall Council also responded: “There is a clear complaints procedure for anyone unhappy with the Town Deal process, which Mr Cloete has undertaken fully, with no evidence of impropriety found.”