A HUGE financial settlement against Kirklees Council will take money from education, social services and highways, a meeting was told.

Council Cabinet member Clr Gordon Beever lashed into trustees of King James's School, Almondbury, after their £800,000 victory.

He told a full council meeting that the action taken was "totally disgusting".

He went on: "It is a shameless attempt by a small group of people to extract money from this council.

"This bunch of people have taken a huge amount of money from education, social services, highways and other services run by the council."

The Examiner reported this month how an out-of-court settlement was reached following a writ by trustees of the King James's Foundation Trust.

Compensation was agreed over alleged financial mismanagement when Kirklees Council ran the trust.

Clr Beever, a Liberal Democrat, spoke out after other councillors complained about being left in the dark over the details.

He said he "greatly regretted" that legal measures were taken against the council.

Urgent steps were being taken to try to protect the council against other "opportunistic" claims which might be taken by other trusts, added Clr Beever.

He said a confidentiality agreement meant he was limited in what he could say.

But he revealed the settlement was a fraction of what was originally claimed.

Clr Beever said: "This initially goes back to 1920, but in substance it relates to the Trustee Investment Act of 1961.

"The vast basis of the claim is about the state of the stock markets and the amounts of dividends receivable."

It boiled down to having supposed to have guessed the state of the stock market 40 years hence, said Clr Beever.

The trust owns a large number of properties in Almondbury and other parts of Huddersfield.

It was run by the old Huddersfield Borough Council and then Kirklees Council, before being handed over to an independent board.

Labour councillor Molly Walton said: "It is an absolute outrage. This is £800,000 of public money."

Tory group leader Clr Robert Light said: "We need urgently to discuss the consequences of our relationship with other similar trusts."

An agreed statement between the council and trust this month said the settlement had been reached after independent mediation.

It did not state the precise payout, but admitted it was "substantial".