Three-day turnaround on comments and decisions

NOTTINGHAM City Council’s commissioners will have to review all decisions involving “significant levels of spend or changes to policy”.

A three-day turnaround for the commissioners to provide their comments has been agreed to prevent a delay to city council decisions. The Government appointed three commissioners to the city council on February 22. The council has now set out more detail about how the commissioners will be operating.

Papers being presented at a meeting on Thursday say: “Following their appointment, the commissioners require decisions involving significant levels of spend or changes to policy to be considered by them to enable them to influence or exercise their powers in relation to the decisions being taken as they see fit.”

Key decisions by the council leader, portfolio holder decisions and reports to a full meeting of the council are among the items that will be shared with commissioners “as a matter of course”.

It has also been agreed that decisions and reports will be shared with commissioners after they have been signed off by a corporate director, but before they have been authorised by councillors. This operation is set to be reviewed in two months.

Initially in place for two years, the commissioners appointed are Tony Mcardle as lead commissioner, Margaret Lee as commissioner for finance and Sharon Kemp as commissioner for transformation.

Speaking previously about his appointment, Mr Mcardle said: “The [Section 114 notice] is in place and the council finds itself having to find a lot of money, make a lot more money available, in a very short space of time. What we’re hoping to do is to work with the council to help that happen.”