NORTHUMBERLAND County Council is to demand another police force probes allegations of criminal activity carried out by its former, scandal-hit development company Arch after Northumbria Police said no criminal offences had been identified.

At Friday's extra audit committee meeting to discuss a damning 98-page report into the actions of Arch, members voted to request the current council's chief executive, Daljit Lally, ask a police force other than Northumbria to investigate the dealings of key members of the company, which was formed by the council's former Labour administration.

Members claimed they did not have confidence that Northumbria Police carried out a full and proper investigation.

Among the things highlighted in the report presented to the audit committee was:

Peter McIntyre, the former chief executive of Arch, sold his house in Morpeth back to the county council for more than £100,000 more than what the council believed it was worth.

 Graham Harper was employed as a consultant to Arch while the job was still being advertised and appeared to produce little work for the vast wage he received. Five board members of the company had written to the county council after the Conservatives came into power demanding Mr Harper receive the same benefits for a 10-year period.

Arch used £1.5m of taxpayers' money to help fund bar bills, utility bills and staff wages at Ashington Football Club, of which Wansbeck MP, Ian Lavery, a confidant of key stakeholders at Arch, was chairman.

A company employing Mr Lavery's brother and son successfully tendered for a £2.3m solar panel project without disclosing the relationships. The meeting heard that of the other four companies which tendered for the contract, one had gone out out of business, one was a plumbing and heating merchants and another was said to be based in Cramlington but was actually the name of a firm in Liverpool.

Audit committee chairwoman Georgina Hill, of Berwick East, questioned why police did not question the people implicated in the report and she also wondered why the Crown Prosecution Service was never contacted with relation to the allegations.

She said: "What have they been doing for 14 months if they haven't interviewed anybody and haven't contacted the CPS?"

She continued: "There's grounds for a lack of confidence in the police force, and the public have been asking us these questions."

Vice chairman Mark Swinburn, of Cramlington Village, recommended the committee demand a new police force to investigate the claims of criminal activity and that the Home Secretary be informed of the request.

All but one member of the committee agreed with the decision, with Labour councillor Lynne Grimshaw, for Bothal, saying: "I think this is undermining our police force. They are not siding with anybody and I think it's despicable to suggest that."

A Northumbria Police spokesman said: “We can confirm that Northumberland County Council contacted police with concerns relating to finance and governance at Arch.

“Police have been working with the council and reviewed a large quantity of documentation that it provided continually throughout this period to establish if there were any criminal offences.

“Officers thoroughly reviewed the documents provided and we can confirm no criminal offences have been identified. Therefore, the matter has been finalised.”