Councillor accused of forging loan signatures

A Gloucestershire county councillor obtained loans of £150,000 for a social club by lying about documents and forging signatures, it is alleged.

Senior members of the Carlton Club in Stroud claim councillor Nick Housden, who represents the Stonehouse district, forged signatures and lied about the nature of application forms to four committee members in order to secure several loans from the Association of Conservative Clubs (ACC).

The club's managing director said it has left the business with "crushing" amounts of debt and almost forced it to close.

Mr Housden, who is standing as an independent candidate in the county council election on 1 May, said he "absolutely denies" the accusations and believes it is a "politically motivated" attack.

Mr Housden became chair of the Carlton Club in May 2023.

Documents seen by the BBC show the first application to the ACC, which supports Conservative affiliated social clubs across the UK, was made in March last year for £80,000.

Two subsequent applications for £42,000 and £14,000 were made in August and September of the same year, to be paid back over ten years at a rate of 6.75% interest.

However, the board members, who have asked not to be named, claim Mr Housden told them the ACC had given them £80,000 in grants to carry out improvements to the building, which the club was not expected to pay back.

Invoices and quotes show £62,303 was spent on repairing the club roof and patio area, but managing director, Jamie Stewart, who entered the business after Mr Housden left, said almost £90,000 may have gone on expenditure that was not authorised by the club or which may otherwise be unaccounted for.

He is concerned it may have been used to help fund a seemingly "lavish lifestyle" including payment for cars and eating in restaurants.

The BBC has seen bank statements featuring various payments board members say were unauthorised, including £5,000 to a motor company, £4,000 to DFS, and hundreds of pounds to menswear stores.

"We don't really know what the money was used for," Mr Stewart added.

"He seemed to eat at a lot of restaurants, he used to get fast food a tremendous amount of the time on the company card.

"[This is] explicitly something you're not allowed to do. This is a non-profit club, so all of the money, the profits, need to go back into the actual running of the club."

The three ACC loan applications feature the signatures of a mixture of four board members alongside Mr Housden.

Each have told the BBC they did not knowingly sign the applications.

Two claim they only ever signed one document which may have been for what they believed to be the ACC grant application.

Two others said they did not sign any financial forms, with one saying his nickname appears on two of the applications even though he only signs official documents with his legal name.

Mr Housden said he never forged or lied about loan documents.

He said he had the agreement of members to set up a limited company to run the club of which he was the sole director, so all decisions about loan agreements or how money was spent was down to him.

"Every penny that came in and out of the club was accounted for and is in the accounts," he added.

"There's no missing money. Everything that came in was spent on the things that we said it was spent on.

"There is no club money. All finances in and out were done through the limited company and I'm the only one who can control those."

The club claims it never agreed that Mr Housden could set up a company to run the business and it's rules state all financial decisions have to be made through the committee.

Mr Housden was kicked out of the Gloucestershire Conservative group last October after a spokesperson said it was made "aware of allegations made against" him. These allegations were never made public.

Mr Housden was officially asked to leave his role as chair of the Carlton Club in November once details of the loans came to light.

Mr Stewart said the 34-year-old left the business in a financially precarious state.

"We have been left in incredible, crushing amounts of debt." he added.

"We're starting to hit that recovery point, but it's a long road, it's tough.

"I think it's a miracle that the club survived."

The manager is now urging the police to thoroughly investigate the claims.

In a statement, Gloucestershire Constabulary said it is investigating... following a report made by an organisation in Stroud.

"A person has been voluntarily interviewed in connection with the case," a spokesperson added.

"Enquiries are ongoing."

The ACC has declined to comment.

A full list of candidates standing in Stonehouse and across Gloucestershire in the county council elections on 1 May can be found here.

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