HEART OF Wales Property Services (HOWPS) remains at risk of being struck off the Companies House register.

The joint-venture between Powys County Council (PCC) and construction company Kier  received  a First Gazette Notice from Companies House today (Tuesday, February 19).

This means that the process of dissolving the company has started.

In response, both Kier plc and Powys County Council told the Local Democracy Services that HOWPS had filed their accounts on Monday, February 18.

This is nearly two months after the due date of December 23, 2018.

Despite having filed the accounts at the last minute, the notice will remain in place until the accounts are fully assessed and signed off by Companies House.

Only then will the process to dissolving HOWPS stop .

Then Companies House files on HOWPS will be updated and the notice could be taken off the file.

A spokesman for Companies House said: “Our records show that accounts for this company are currently outstanding.”

Companies House also says that it can take up to a week or longer for the documents to be processed and registered after they are sent to them.

A spokesman for Kier said: “Accounts for HOWPS were successfully filed with Companies House yesterday (February 18) and we continue to successfully deliver key services for the people of Powys.”

Deputy Leader  and cabinet member for Finance, Councillor Aled Davies (Conservative – Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant) who is also a HOWPS director, said; “The county council has received confirmation that Heart of Wales Property Services have filed their statutory accounts with Companies House.”

HOWPS is a joint venture between Powys County Council and construction group Kier and looks after 5,400 homes and 630 properties in the county.

The Joint Venture started in July 2017 after 109 workers were transferred to the company by TUPE.

Continued problems with Kier’s share prices have raised fears about the company.

Last week the lack of accounts submitted by HOWPS was brought up for discussion at a meeting of the Audit Committee.

Many county councillors believe that the joint venture is not working and want to to bring the service back under full PCC control.

The London Gazette, reputed to be the UK’s oldest continuously published newspaper, is where statutory notices such as dissolving companies have to be published.

It was first printed in November 1665.