Council commissioners are ‘political prejudice’
AN MP claimed the appointment of Government Commissioners to run Sandwell Council was “political prejudice”, adding it was a burden on the residents of the borough.
Warley MP John Spellar spoke out after the Government sent in troubleshooters following governance failures, multiple financial scandals and political infighting in the borough.
The Labour-led authority will be the third council in England and Wales to be placed under special measures along with Liverpool and Slough.
This is despite a Peer Review Challenge report, commissioned by the Local Government Association, and designed for councils to identify improvement areas, which said bad behaviour at Sandwell was “only in pockets”.
Mr Spellar said: “This is blind political prejudice which completely ignores the positive report both from independent auditors Grant Thornton and the Local Government Association. It acknowledged that Sandwell is already well on the way back to being a successful council that delivers. I notice the minister didn’t dare reveal how much these commissioners will be paid, and the public should be told.
“This is just another level of costly bureaucracy which will have to be paid for by the council’s taxpayers of Sandwell. Local Tories who have supported this should be ashamed of themselves.”
Under the commissioners request, Sandwell Council will be made to create an improvement plan and report to the commissioners every six months. The council will also be expected to pay for the commissioner’s “reasonable expenses”, according to a statement. They will be in place until March 2024.
The commissioners will be led by Kim Bromley-Derry, the current interim chief executive at Sandwell, who has been leading the council since August 2021. It was unclear if he will continue to hold both roles.
Cllr Luke Giles (Lab, Wednesbury North) said: “The government decided to appoint as a commissioner, the man we’d already picked to lead the council through these difficult times.
“The major difference is that this latest move will cost Sandwell more than a million pounds, money we could have spent on essential services.”
But Cllr William Gill (Con, Great Bridge), said: “Politically motivated? Tell that to the SEND parents and children who were failed by the council, tell that to residents who are waiting months for repairs and tell that to residents who have 4.99% more tax because of your incompetent governance and mismanagement of the books.”