Hull adviser sets up change strategy

19 Feb 04
The local government troubleshooter appointed to improve Kingston upon Hull City Council has set up a series of committees to oversee changes at the authority.

20 February 2004

The local government troubleshooter appointed to improve Kingston upon Hull City Council has set up a series of committees to oversee changes at the authority.

Tony Allen, appointed as an adviser by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister following two damning Audit Commission governance reports on the authority, has established five 'programme boards'.

Each board will include an appointee from the ODPM, as well as senior council officers and councillors, but they will not be given decision-making powers.

The five areas in question are corporate governance, corporate change and performance management, resource management, housing and neighbourhood renewal and service improvements. A sixth panel could also be set up to monitor the wider performance of the council.

Reaction to the new system has been lukewarm, with some members and officers wary that the ODPM has increased its control over the authority despite claims that it has not fully 'intervened'.

Jan Didrichsen, Hull's acting chief executive, acknowledged that Allen's plan would 'change the dynamics of decision-making'.

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