Should a Parish Council pay a bill for repair work that it has not authorised?

Question

A few weeks ago, a well intentioned and highly skilled member of the public carried out extensive repairs and refurbishment work to a very attracive and unusual octaganal wooden bench that surrounds a tree on our village green. All the work was carried out  to a very high engineering standard and everybody is very inpressed with what has been done.  

The repair and refurbishment were necessary but, the person who carried out the work did it off their own bat without any authorisation from, or the knowledge of, the Parish Council. He has now submitted a bill for £1,600 which is probably a reasonable relection of the labour and materials involved.  

How does the Parish Council stand legally in being asked to pay for work that it never authorised or asked to be done?   

I think that councillors may well wish to pay his bill in whole or in part because of the initiative he has shown and because of the exceptional high standard of his work.  However, there are fears that a precedent may be set for other less skilled members of the public to carry out further unauthorised repair or maintenance work on Parish Council land which they they think is needed and then expect to be paid for it..  

How would the Parish Council stand legally if it agreed to pay for the work to the octagonal wooden bench but refused any similar claims for other unauthorised work carried out by other members of the public on Parish Council land?

Answer 1

Tricky situation!  

It appears that the parish council has no obligation to pay anything.  Although the "contractor" might then threaten to undo the work, which wouldn't really help anyone. So it seems, as you imply, that if the parish council can afford the bill and believes that it has received good value, then it should resolve to accept the bill and pay it.

I wouldn't think this would set a precedent, but it would certainly seem advisable for the parish council to also resolve to minute its policy that it will, in general, refuse payment for unauthorised work, and could even report unauthorised work to the police as possible criminal damage. A resolution of this kind would be recorded in the minutes, and could also emphasis that financial standing orders normally apply to all purchases.

How far you would go in publicising the concerns (as well as the approval of the specific work done) is a matter to be decided in relation to what opportunities exist locally and other local factors.