A CHIEF financial officer said last week there had not been a blunder with millions of pounds at Macclesfield Borough Council.

Cecilie Booth said money given to the council by developers would be accounted for.

"I just want to assure you that there has not been an accounting error," she said.

"We are holding £2,148,000 and the auditors have been in and are happy that is what we hold."

Borough officer Trevor Bithell has spent months compiling a list of commuted sums paid to the council by builders.

The Knutsford Guardian spoke to Mrs Booth after resident Laurie Burton claimed £4.2million had already been tracked down from just 63 payments.Officers are believed to have about 2,000 agreements to trawl through.

On Thursday Mrs Booth said the finance department had not released the figure quoted by Mr Burton.

"It has not come from us," she said. "The amount changes every day because we spend some and more comes in.

"It is an important source of funding and eases the burden on council taxpayers."

Officers meet on Monday to agree the final list of commuted sums that will be made public.

Last week Mr Bithell said the planning agreements, which involved payments by developers, were now complete.

But he said the figures would not be published until a scrutiny committee - set up to investigate the council's handling of the sums - agreed.

"We don't want to circumnavigate that process," he said.

"What we will not do is get out of synch with them."

The scrutiny committee met in Knutsford two weeks ago because of the concern from residents about the legal agreements.

Last week chairman Ainsley Arnold told the Guardian he wanted the information released immediately.

"When we get the information there is no reason at all why we shouldn't release it unless I am advised for other legal reasons not to," he said.

The scrutiny committee, which is made up of borough councillors, is expected to complete its inquiry by September.