'Last Chance Saloon' for the Borough Council

9.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 25th Jul 2005

Northampton Borough Council is the worst local authority in England. This point was starkly made to Full Council during a recent presentation by the Audit Commission. It confirms messages delivered in private by the Local Government Minister, Phil Woolas MP. The Council is in the 'Last Chance Saloon'.

The Council (Con: 20, Lib Dem: 16, Lab: 10, Ind: 1) is led by a weak and ineffective minority Tory administration. Voters ended 12 years of disastrous Labour control in 2003. After the election Liberal Democrats proposed an all-party coalition - seeing this as the only way of providing the democratic legitimacy necessary to take the hard decisions that were required to improve the Council's performance. This was rejected and the Tories took power with Labour acquiescence.

Northampton's Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) published in March 2004 rated the council as 'Poor' - the lowest possible rating - citing poor political and managerial leadership as a major weakness. Since then the Chief Executive, three Directors and most senior managers have been replaced.

However, a CPA reassessment published in June this year shows the council has yet to make any significant improvement. To avoid the very real threat of a ministerial 'hit squad' running the Council, all three parties have agreed to an interim structure to manage the recovery of the Council. The Tory administration has been, effectively, sidelined by a member/officer 'Improvement Board' with 2 Councillors from each political group. The Liberal Democrat members of this Board will be Group Leader, Tony Woods, and a very experienced councillor, Brian Markham.

A single 'Overview and Scrutiny' committee will be chaired by Brendan Glynane, Liberal Democrat Deputy Group Leader. A new Audit Committee will be created, with Cllr David Perkins (Lib Dem) as deputy chair.

The Liberal Democrats have twice sought a shared administration since 2003. Tories and Labour both rejected our offers to work together. Now we need to move on and ensure that local people get the service they expect and deserve from this failing Council. With this in mind, we will be working hard to deliver the huge changes the Council needs to make.

The electorate will cast their judgement on the poor political leadership of Northampton Borough Council in 2007. We are planning for those elections and will soon select prospective candidates and step up our campaigning with the simple objective of taking overall control of the Council in 2007.

Tony Woods

Leader, Liberal Democrat Group

Northampton Borough Council