DETAILS of cash paid by developers to Macclesfield Borough Council should be complete this month.

The officer, who has compiled the list of commuted sums, said yesterday that it was almost finished.

"We have a meeting at the end of the month when I hope all of this will be brought together," he said.

"We've got a rough list and I just want people to give it the nod now."

The borough's scrutiny committee met at Knutsford Civic Centre on Monday night to ask the public what questions they wanted answering about commuted sums.

The committee wanted to meet in Knutsford because residents in the town had concerns about the council's handling of the money.

Laurie Burton, who has regularly written to the planning department and the Knutsford Guardian about the commuted sums, said residents were depending on the committee.

"You are virtually the last hope for the people of Knutsford to find out where the money has gone," he said. "We've been asking for two years and not had the answers. You must come to the conclusion that enough is enough."

Developers sign section 106 agreements with the borough council when they get permission to build.

The money should be spent improving services near the new development.

But the borough council has not logged all the money it has received in one database so it is not yet clear how much has been collected, or spent. Knutsford borough councillor Wilson Hamman said he was concerned the public were sceptical about the payments.

"They can very often be seen as a council in collusion with a developer," he said.

Councillors are expected to see the list before it is publicised.

Yesterday the officer responsible said: "People think we are trying to cover something up, but it is just a case of it not having been kept in the same place before."