Mayor – I shoulder some of blame for council problems
AUDITORS’ FINDINGS SPARK CALLS FOR HIM TO RESIGN
MIDDLESBROUGH Mayor Andy Preston has accepted he shoulders “some responsibility” for a string of problems faced at a troubled council.
But he has said it’s important for “senior council staff” to join politicians in accepting responsibility, and putting “long-standing problems” right.
External auditor Ernst and Young has found Middlesbrough Council made an unlawful appointment, made wrongful payments to a publicity company, and that relationships in the council had deteriorated so badly that external help was needed.
The auditors did not call for government intervention – but did not rule out further action which could lead to independent commissioners taking over some council functions.
The damning findings sparked Labour calls for Mr Preston to stand down – while the mayor labelled the culture at the local authority toxic, with too many “selfish and lazy” councillors.
Now the independent mayor has said he’s committed to making improvements while accepting that relationships had been strained. Mr Preston added: “Improvement can only happen when everyone works together and accepts some responsibility for bringing about positive change.
“In their report, auditors don’t point the blame at anyone specifically, nor just at politicians. So it’s really important that senior council staff join politicians and myself in taking responsibility for the longstanding problems and putting them right.
“For my own part, I will of course accept some responsibility as we strive to sort out the issues. I do try to get things done as efficiently and quickly as possible, and sometimes become frustrated when my efforts to improve the town get bogged down and tied up in questionable red tape.”
The appointment of an adviser to the mayor, who was in place for more than a year, was deemed to be unlawful by the auditors. Between October 2019 and November 2020, the council paid £32,000 for an external adviser through a local publicity company to work directly with Mr Preston.
Payments to the publicity company for the mayor’s adviser were also considered unlawful. These were signed off directly by chief executive Tony Parkinson, according to the report.
The report also stated there was a “pervasive lack of trust” both among elected members, and between council officers and politicians. It added: “In our view, these are serious matters indicative of deeprooted cultural and relationship issues at the council which require urgent action.”
Opposition Labour councillors have triggered an extraordinary council meeting for the end of the month to have “full and frank” discussions on the raft of failings.
Strained relationships between officials and elected members have reared their head in the past.
In 2021, Mr Preston revealed an LGA mediator had been called in after struggles between himself and Mr Parkinson - with the mayor saying they were “not getting on” at one point. Meanwhile, an internal audit review of the Boho X project found the mayor overstepped his remit in a meeting with Chinese state-owned developer BCEGI without council staff.
Mr Preston had received permission from former council director Kevin Parkes - but the officer didn’t have the authority to give this. The mayor has said every meeting he attended was sanctioned at a senior level of the council.
Mr Parkinson offered a stark assessment of the problems at a recent audit committee - telling members how council staff had been coerced, bullied, and intimidated by politicians on occasions. On Friday, Mr Preston said outside bodies had raised issues about relationships in the council for “many years”.
The mayor also said he’d been working hard on a plan to improve the way the council worked - adding third party involvement may be needed to help get to the bottom of what had caused the “long-established and ongoing” problems.
Mr Preston said: “I would welcome that if necessary. But I believe that, together, senior staff and politicians can bring about significant and rapid improvement.”
Meanwhile, Labour said the situation at the council had deteriorated since Mr Preston took office in 2019 - with officials fearing the mayor’s “inability to grasp the seriousness of the issue” would block improvement efforts.
Group leader Cllr Matt Storey said: “This crisis is unprecedented, it happened under his leadership and it’s about time he took some responsibility for the mess his council is now in. The issues are still there and we fully expect the next audit report from Ernst and Young to show that issues continued into 2021/22 and possibly 2022/23.”
He added: “We still don’t have an annual governance statement signed off by the chief executive or finance director. His latest comments show is that he is still unable to accept the reality of the situation - and that is why he is not the right person to lead on any improvement at the council, and must resign so the council and the town can move forward.”