Liverpool Council has "turned a corner" and will be further bolstered with the impending appointment of full-time senior members of staff according to the city’s mayor.
Earlier this week, government commissioners installed at the troubled city council said they are now "optimistic" about the progress being made at the local authority but insist there is a lot of work still to do.
A team of five Whitehall officials are currently overseeing the work of the council after last year's damning government inspection, which lifted the lid on a huge range of issues at the Cunard Building including poor decisions, wasted money and a toxic culture in some departments.
READ MORE: Man from Concert Square sex act video finally arrives at court
Lead commissioner Mike Cunningham said his team had previously been concerned about the scale of the turnaround facing the city and in the early stages of the intervention were “not convinced that the scale and urgency had properly landed.” He added: “We are much more confident about that now.”
In the next four months, Liverpool Council has to find ways to plug a £73m funding shortfall, with warnings of service cuts and job losses on the horizon. A document outlining where savings could be made was published by the local authority last month.
Mr Cunningham said his team had seen “a real recognition that difficult decisions need to be made, they need to be made sensibly in a prioritised way but at pace.” Responding to the commissioners’ assessment, Mayor Anderson said she agreed progress had been made at the Cunard.
She said: “I absolutely agree we've turned a corner, but you know they've never talked about staying longer. They've never felt the need to use the powers.
“Our capability and capacity has always been the issue and once we get permanent appointments in post that should address that. We’ve got to recruit a permanent chief executive and section 151 officer, but Theresa (Grant, interim chief executive) is working really well and by the time I move on, things will be in place.”
The Mayor also agreed with an assessment made by Mr Cunningham that relations between the Whitehall officials and city council representatives had improved after a challenging start. The commissioners are halfway through their stint in the city and are due to remain until June 2024.
On the publication of their second report, the officials requested further powers and the installation of Mr Hughes as finance commissioner. Mayor Anderson told the ECHO she felt the council had “turned a corner by the time that report was published” and said in August she believed there was no need for an additional member of government ordered staff, with the city’s staff were ideally placed to set things right.
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here
READ NEXT:
Dad took girl, 5, to hospital three times before she died of Strep A
Murdered dad could have been victim in plot to destroy evidence
Liverpool's lost 'rough' pubs from 'criminal sanctuaries' to a 'dark ages Moe's Tavern'
When to take children to A&E over Strep A fears
We blind taste tested Marks and Spencer and Aldi mince pies and there was a clear winner
