NEWPORT council is looking at appointing a member to a drainage board criticised in a scathing audit report.

Since May 2012, the authority has not had a representative on the controversial Caldicot and Wentlooge Levels Internal Drainage Board, despite being one of three councils that helps fund it.

It has emerged the authority decided not to appoint board members pending the outcome of the Welsh Audit Office review - the result of which was published last month.

According to the review, many of the members appointed from the three councils that helped fund the body - Cardiff, Monmouthshire and Newport - did not attend it and in recent years not all 19 seats for appointed local authority members were filled.

Elected members - elected from the landowners who pay rates to the board - were said to have "undue influence" over the body.

A spokeswoman for Newport council said councillors were attending board meetings of the body prior to May 2012.

"When issues first came to light they raised concerns and asked questions about the running of the board," she said.

"As a result, we did not appoint board members in May 2012 pending the outcome of the review and before deciding on the most appropriate representative to take up membership."

She said following the publication of the WAO review the council will now look to appoint board members, adding they will be fully committed to ensuring the board is run in a transparent manner. It is unclear when the appointment will be made.

Paul Flynn, MP for Newport East, said it was essential that local government takes its places on the board, otherwise the old problems would return.

"At the moment it’s in the hands of the land owners and the farmers. They have the majority there if the local authority people don’t turn up or aren't appointed," he said.

The Welsh Audit Office report said the drainage board previously lost sight of the fact it was a public body that existed not to serve its own ends but those of the people who live and work on the Gwent Levels.