By Richard Johnstone | 28 October 2014
The London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham has appointed its own chief executive after a review found the shared post with the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea could reduce local accountability.
Following May’s general election, which saw Labour take control of the authority, a review of involvement in the tri-borough initiative was ordered by new leader Stephen Cowan. Under the current scheme, a host of services are shared between Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea and City of Westminster councils, while Nicholas Holgate acts as a joint chief for the first two authorities.
However, the review, led by former Labour Cabinet minister Lord Adonis, concluded that changes were needed to the arrangements to ensure the sovereignty of individual boroughs was respected.
Adonis recommended that each borough should appoint its own chief executive who is directly accountable to members and can ensure the best possible value for money in future joint working.
‘Massive cuts in funding pose a huge challenge to local government,’ he said. ‘Shared working among councils is important and it should continue in West London. However, the tri-borough arrangements needs to be improved to promote leaner management and stronger accountability.’
It should also be possible for other councils to share services with the three West London councils to promote further efficiency, Adonis added, provided this does not jeopardise the gains already achieved.
Cowan welcomed the report by the panel examining the arrangements, which also included Tony Travers, professor of government at the London School of Economics and Deborah Lincoln, senior vice-president at Warner Brothers.
He said the current sharing of services had brought benefits to Hammersmith & Fulham, although he highlighted the amount saved was roughly equivalent to those delivered by Hackney, Lambeth and Camden on their own.
‘Sharing services with more councils could save us money and exchange good practice,’ Cowan said.
‘We don’t want others to be put off because they think Hammersmith & Fulham belongs to a closed and exclusive “triborough” arrangement. I hope this report marks the start of a new generation of shared services that includes the three councils but reaches across London and delivers better savings, greater value and services that work for residents.’
He announced the recommendation to appoint an exclusive chief executive for H&F had been accepted, with current executive director of transport and technical services Nigel Pallace set to be confirmed in the post to replace Holgate.
