Ashby councillor Roger Bayliss has faced another call for his resignation following a refusal to apologise following the revelation that £667,000 had been lost from the Council's Housing Revenue Account due to error.

The discrepancy came to light earlier this month and North West Leicestershire District Council chief executive Bev Smith had apologised 'unreservedly' after details were listed in a confidential report.

The Labour Group on the District Council called for the resignation of Conservative Councillor Roger Bayliss as Housing, Property and Customer Services Portfolio Holder at the time.

Councillors were told at a meeting of the Audit and Governance Committee that the issue commenced in 2018/19 and was identified in 2019/20.

This loss takes the form of a series of grant payments over a seven year period.

At Tuesday's full council meeting, the chief executive repeated her apology.

But it was noted by opposition councillors that Cllr Bayliss, also an Ashby de la Zouch Town Councillor, did not personally apologise while admitting 'was a mistake, but an expensive mistake'.

Labour Group Leader Cllr Sean Sheahan said: "It's only right that someone should take responsibility for the loss of this large sum of money to the council and we suggested Cllr Bayliss should resign.

"He flatly refused, and since the Tories were not able to come up with anyone else to carry the can, we hold all of them equally responsible, and there's no getting away from that."

Lib Dem Councillor Michael Wyatt added: "At the budget meeting the Tories refused to take responsibility for the error that was made in not meeting the deadline in apply for over £600,000 in grant aid from the Government, which was earmarked for the housing department.

"Instead they forced the chief executive to apologise and take the rap.

"It was absolutely appalling that the chief executive of the council accepted all of the blame.

"Cllr Bayliss, the housing portfolio holder on the cabinet, dug in his heels and refused to take any responsibility, and would not even do the decent thing and apologise for the massive financial blunder.

"This council is now over £600,000 poorer due to Tory mismanagement. This is why we a need real change.The Tories can no longer be trusted with our finances.

"We will be continuing to push for Cllr Bayliss to resign, and apologise which so far he has failed to do."

Cllr Bayliss addressed the meeting, speaking for the first time since the issue was first raised.

He said: "Once the cause of the shortfall was clear, a through investigation was stared and it was concluded that there were failings in the control mechanisms within the housing team designed to ensure the claims were made.

"The issue was picked up, the chief executive has already actioned the recommendations which focus on the tightening of controls.

"As for the financial impact, it's not possible to reclaim the lost funds. We will still receive the rest of the grants valued at £1.8million.

"This was an administrative error, a simple mistake, an expensive mistake, but a mistake nonetheless."

Leader of the council, Cllr Richard Blunt, added: "Cllr Bayliss continues to be an outstanding housing portfolio holder, and nothing has changed that opinion from what I've heard here."