Minister launches five-year intervention into borough council

The Government has appointed a four-person team of inspectors to Spelthorne Borough Council as part of its intervention at the local authority.

Local Government Minister Jim McMahon voiced his intention to send commissioners into the local authority in March this year after a best value inspection found the council in a "critical financial position, burdened by unsustainable debt levels, significant investment risks, and systemic governance weaknesses".

Lesley Seary has been appointed leader commissioner and will be supported by Peter Robinson, Deborah McLaughlin, and Mervyn Greer.

The appointment letters note that commissioners will provide regular progress reports after an initial period of six months and thereafter at six-month intervals – or any other time deemed necessary by the Secretary of State.

The inspectors were initially sent to the council in May 2024 over the council's £1bn debt, which is the second-highest borrowing per capita among district councils in England, surpassing major cities such as Liverpool and Sheffield and nearly doubling that of Bristol.

Spelthorne's core spending power for 2024/25 was meanwhile just £13.5 million, against a net revenue budget of £26.1 million.

Following the inspection, McMahon said he was satisfied that Spelthorne was failing to comply with its best value duty, "specifically the themes of Continuous Improvement, Leadership, Governance, Culture and Use of Resources, as described in the statutory guidance".

Detailing the decision to appoint commissioners in a ministerial statement on Thursday (8 May), McMahon said the intervention package will be in place until 31 May 2030.

He said he had also issued directions, which require the council to:

• Prepare and agree an Improvement and Recovery Plan within six months and publicly update Commissioners on progress after the first three months, six months and thereafter every six months.
• Ensure the council has sufficient skills, capabilities and capacity to implement the plan.
• With support of Commissioners, work with Surrey councils on issues in relation to local government reorganisation in Surrey.
• Initiate a full and open recruitment exercise within one month for a suitable permanent appointment to lead the improvement work in the authority and progress against these Directions.
• Fully co-operate with the Commissioners and undertake any exercise of functions that would avoid further failure, in Commissioners' opinion.

The commissioner team will be able to exercise the following functions:

• Those associated with the source of Spelthorne's failures – to strengthen the commercial decision-making, regeneration, property management and procurement functions of the authority;
• those associated with delivering financial sustainability by closing any short or long-term budget gaps and reducing the authority's exceptionally high level of external borrowing;
• those associated with any changes needed to the authority's operating model and transformation of council services to achieve value for money and financial sustainability, taking account of any decisions relating to proposals for unitary local Government in Surrey; and
• those that will ensure the council has the right skills and structures to make ongoing improvements across the entire organisation – including governance and scrutiny of strategic decisions, and the appointment, dismissal and performance management for senior and statutory officer positions.

Responding to the intervention, Cllr Joanne Sexton, leader of Spelthorne Borough Council, said: "We will tackle these challenges head-on. I am resolute in restoring Spelthorne's financial health and will continue to improve our services and work hand-in-hand with the Commissioners to deliver lasting improvements."

Adam Carey