Framework is drawn up for council improvement

THREE-YEAR ACTION PLAN PRODUCED IN WEEKS

A HASTILY drawn-up rescue plan for how Nottingham City Council aims to restore to an even keel is set to be approved.

When Government inspectors were sent in to the council at the end of last year, on the back of a report into the mismanagement of Robin Hood Energy, it was told to publish a three-year action plan by the end of January.

The inspector, Max Caller, stopped short of recommending Government officers step in to run the authority, finding he had confidence in the new leadership of the council to improve things.

But Mr Caller made a number of significant recommendations, including that the Government should place legal limits on new borrowing by the council, and that the authority should draw up a recovery plan which would be monitored by a Government-appointed board.

Over Christmas, this plan has been drawn up, and was approved by the council’s executive board this week, ahead of a vote by the full council today.

The Government-appointed improvement board has now been appointed, and will be chaired by the well-respected and experienced Sir Tony Redmond.

It will be reviewing the plan once it is formally agreed by the council and will then report to the Government.

It includes how the council intends to:

■ Reduce debt levels

■ Clarify how it manages its companies, as well as potentially bringing some in-house

■ Look again at manifesto pledges made at the last election in 2019, which included setting up two new companies

■ Reduce reliance on income from commercial activities

■ Sell up to £100 million-worth of property and buildings (see page 6)

Councillor David Mellen – the leader of the council, who represents the Dales ward for Labour – said the plan didn’t amount to an exact roadmap as to how to get out of difficulty, but more of a framework for the hard choices the council was going to have to make in the coming years.

He said: “I wouldn’t call it a blueprint. We’re in a very difficult situation.

“I’ve been involved in drawing up this plan over Christmas and in between Christmas and New Year and since.

“We only got confirmation from (Secretary of State for local government) Robert Jenrick that he was accepting Mr Caller’s recommendations a week before Christmas, so we’ve had to work on it in detail over a short period of time.

“We’ve done our best with that, and we will seek, in consultation with the improvement board, to move forward with it.

“But it hopefully leaves plenty of room for further detail being added as to exactly what we’re going to do.

“This isn’t a manual for improvement, it’s a guide for how we might achieve that, and some themes as to how we will work. There is much more detailed work to take place before we get through this. I’m not expecting this to be quick. “Sir Tony Redmond has been appointed for three years – that’s an awfully long time, I’m hoping we will achieve the improvement we need long before that, but we’re here for the long haul. The people of Nottingham deserve us to do this thoroughly, and while I am the leader I will make sure we give 100 percent towards doing that while also running everything else that the people of Nottingham expect.” At the end of the interview, Councillor Mellen was asked whether – when he took the job as leader in 2019 – he realised the scale of the job ahead of him.

He replied: “No.”

This isn’t a manual for improvement, it’s a guide for how we might achieve that

Councillor David Mellen