Residents and businesses to help ‘shape’ failing council

LOCALS in Birmingham are being urged to play their part in the transformation of the failing city council.

A new ‘Shaping Birmingham’s Futures Together Commission’ will be created this summer to help determine the ‘role and purpose’ of the council and ‘develop a power sharing agenda’. It is billed as one of “the largest public engagements in the city”.

The commission will be at the heart of the Labour-controlled council’s recovery and improvement plan, published this week.

A £20 million cash pot has been set aside to deliver change at the failing council, currently under the rule of Government-appointed external commissioners.

The fund will help pay for staff, resources and actions to deliver the first phase of a transformation of the troubled organisation.

The plan details how the council intends to get out of its dire financial situation, improve the way it operates and work to ‘deliver the services and outcomes the city and its citizens need’.

It has been drafted in response to Government directions ordering change at the beleaguered council and was signed off at an extraordinary meeting of the council’s cabinet.

The plan said change was needed after a series of judgements provided evidence of ‘significant and systemic failure’, some going back several years, and highlighted exceptional financial, governance and cultural challenges.

Asked if he had considered quitting following the recent departures of chief executive Deborah Cadman and his finance lead Cllr Brigid Jones, Council leader John Cotton said: “I was brought in to do this job, and have no intention of stepping away now. There is a lot of work to do now on our improvement journey, and this plan makes clear it is a long one. I am committed to this role and to helping bring lasting change.”