A councillor who oversaw a deal to give control of Sutton’s theatres to a company that collapsed last month has refused to answer questions about the handover.

Jill Whitehead, chair of the environment and neighbourhoods committee, has faced calls to resign since Sutton Theatres Trust went into administration on August, plunging the future of two council-owned venues into doubt.

All future performances at The Secombe in Sutton town centre and The Cryer in Carshalton were cancelled after the trust - which is actually a company - ran out of money.

Emily Brothers, Labour candidate for the Sutton and Cheam Parliamentary seat at least year’s general election, said the collapse of the theatre group - which owed thousands to promoters went it went into administration - showed the council’s outsourcing process had been “flawed”.

Ms Brothers, who called for Cllr Whitehead to resign last month, said: “I’m frustrated by Lib Dem Sutton Council’s complacency. It conducted a financial assessment to test business viability, but that must have been flawed. It promised ongoing support and investment, but that turned out to be the usual vacuous spin.”

The Sutton Guardian has repeatedly sought to speak to Cllr Whitehead in the weeks since the collapse of Sutton Theatres.

Initially, the council - which typically insists media interviews with councillors are arranged through the press office - said Cllr Whitehead was unavailable to comment because she was on holiday.

But after she returned to work on Monday, a council spokesman said: “This is a business matter and not a council matter. It is not appropriate for the council to talk about the business matters of the Sutton Theatres Trust.”

Ms Brothers said this week: “Inaction is unacceptable. Whilst Cllr Whitehead has been taking her holidays, Sutton Theatres Trust has collapsed and four jobs lost as a consequence.

“This is a fiasco on her watch and plainly demonstrates that Councillor Whitehead isn’t up for the immediate task of rescuing local theatres, nor addressing the long term cultural offer for Sutton.”

She added: “I’m angry that Lib Dem Councillors simply handed over local theatres to get rid of a problem, making empty promises of partnership work. That wasn’t ever going to work out. It takes commitment, honesty and hard work to build community projects, not this dodging of responsibility and failure to act.”

Sutton Council handed the reins of the two theatres to the trust last year.

At the time, the council said the move would safeguard the future of the theatres, which were threatened with closure due to budget cuts.

But after going into administration, Sutton Theatres said audience numbers had remained “too low to continue operating”.

Administrators Herron Fisher have been appointed to look for buyers to take over Sutton Theatres and set a deadline of August 27 for bids.

A spokeswoman for the administrators said there was no update on the process this week.