A team of government appointed commissioners will oversee improvements and help ensure financial sustainability at Nottingham City Council as part of an intervention package.
Secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities Michael Gove has appointed Tony McArdle as lead commissioner and Margaret Lee as commissioner, with a commissioner for transformation to be appointed in due course.
The commissioners replace the existing Improvement and Assurance Board, appointed in January 2021 and chaired by Sir Tony Redmond, with immediate effect.
Nottingham City Council had previously made a formal representation to the government to request that commissioners are not appointed as the authority said the move would “reduce democratic accountability”.
Gove said the intervention was justified as evidence shows the authority is failing to comply with its best value duty. The intervention package is intended to secure Nottingham City Council’s future and sustainable compliance with its best value duty.
The commissioners have been appointed for two years and will exercise specific functions of the authority. These include providing advice and challenge to the authority to improve its financial stability and its ability to meet future commitments without additional borrowing, including advising upon credible budget planning.
The commissioners will also scrutinise all in-year amendments to annual budgets and have the power to propose amendments to budgets where they consider them to constitute a risk to the authority’s ability to fulfil its best value duty.
McArdle and Lee are no strangers to interventions and best value roles. McArdle is the former chief executive of both Lincolnshire County Council and Wellingborough Council. He has chaired the Croydon Improvement and Assurance Panel, been lead commissioner at Northamptonshire, and a best value inspector at Thurrock.
Lee previously worked at Essex County Council, where she held the posts of section 151 officer and executive director for corporate and customer services for 13 years. She has served as finance commissioner at Slough Borough Council, finance lead on the London Borough of Croydon Improvement and Assurance Panel, and finance lead for the Best Value Inspection at Thurrock Council.
The commissioners will report to the secretary of state on the progress of the intervention within the first six months, and thereafter at six-month intervals.
Nottingham City Council is required to agree and appraise an improvement plan in the first three months to the satisfaction of commissioners and report to the secretary of state on the delivery of the plan at six monthly intervals.
In response to the government appointments, David Mellen, leader of the council, said: “Our preferred option was to continue to work with the Improvement and Assurance Board. We feel that significant progress was being made across the council. However, we are committed to working constructively and collaboratively with the commissioners to tackle Nottingham’s current challenges.”
Mel Barrett, the council’s chief executive, added: “The council is committed to working in collaboration with the commissioners to continue our improvement journey at pace, reshaping the organisation to put the authority on a stable financial footing, while delivering essential services for Nottingham residents within the resources that we have.
“Our wider transformation work is already well under way and the expert input and challenge from the commissioners will be invaluable to our officers and councillors as they look to accelerate that process further.”
Nottingham City Council was issued with a section 114 notice in late November as it was unable to deliver a balanced budget.
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