QUESTIONS about the way in which Nottingham City Council is run have resurfaced.

Relationships between councillors and officers, and the culture that exists within the local authority, have been a cause for concern in recent years.

The Audit Commission has made repeated reference to these issues and last year, the watchdog said they were among the key challenges facing the authority.

If a healthy tension at senior levels spreads into political difficulties or strained relationships it could result in inefficiencies that hold back an authority, and the city it serves.

In Nottingham, the auditors have previously accused councillors of getting involved in day-to-day work, while failing to set the long-term vision for the city.

In addition, the departure of three chief executives in six years with pay-offs totalling approximately £500,000 would appear to reflect a history of poor relationships among officers and councillors.

The Evening Post has commented before that it is important to know precisely what all the issues are within the city council so residents can be assured that they are being effectively dealt with.

A report into the organisational culture at the city council would shed light on these problems. However, a project to produce such a report was spiked in its final stages and the authority has refused to release the draft, despite the fact it cost almost £30,000 of public money.

The document was put together at the end of 2006, but one reason given recently for not releasing information about it is that the material "is highly sensitive and goes to the core of the management of the authority".

Surely, the way forward is for the council to be transparent and release the spiked draft as well as the detailed actions being taken to address the criticisms.