A JUDICIAL review into the council’s mental health funding could simply be a waste of resources, said the politician in charge.

Coun Peter Mallinson, cabinet member in charge of adult social care, said a legal challenge which has been launched, questioning how well charity users were consulted over changes to funding, would only use up money and cash the council can ill afford to spare.

And following a chaotic council meeting on Thursday night, where mental health service users stormed out in protest, he moved to reassure them there is nothing to fear from the changes.

Coun Mallinson, (Con, Walcot), said: “I'd think if we were to instruct solicitors and barristers that there will be a cost to us.

“We could be travelling down a road of spending money we can't recover. When you come into conflict, it’s better to be resolved with the parties themselves.

“We don’t want to go down this road, but if we have to do it, we have to. It’s money – and time as well. Officers should be doing other things. We’d have to pay them to do this, when they should be making sure services are delivered.”

He also said the new funding arrangements were no cause for alarm. “They shouldn’t be frightened of anything,” he told the Adver. “It’s not a cost-cutting exercise. It’s good housekeeping.”

But Diana Finch, chief executive of the Swindon Carers’ Centre, which is funded by the council, said: “That’s not quite true to say there’s nothing to fear.

“The tendering process you have to go through is very difficult for small organisations. We have a management team, and some in-house financial expertise. But I think for some smaller organisations this is so new they’re in danger of falling at the first post.”

Kathleen Aitken, manager of Swindon Mind, said: “He says we’ve got nothing to fear from the changes – he really, really doesn’t understand.”

l AS REPORTED yesterday(fri), the council is embroiled in a legal row over its funding for mental health charities.

A judicial review is being sought, because the council aims to change how organisations, such as Swindon Mind and Phoenix Enterprises, get their hands on taxpayer cash.

Instead of simply renewing their funding each year, the council wants them to start tendering for contracts, just like any commercial organisation.

But some residents who rely on the charities’ services claim the council has acted unlawfully by overlooking their views.