DESPITE the best efforts of Thurrock Council leader Cllr Mark Coxshall, who has pledged to lead the turnaround of the authority from its current desperate financial situation, it seems probable that there will be significant changes at the head of the organisation or possibly the creation of a different type of authority.

That's a projected outcome following the first public pronouncements of members of the team on inspectors and commissioners brought in to probe the level and extent of Thurrock Council's mismanagement.

The huge debt burden that is crippling the council, and will certainly lead to it being proclaimed  effectively bankrupt, has been widely covered in the media, including TV interviews by Cllr Coxshall in which he has spoken of his plans to turn things around.

But a stark message from Gavin Jones, chief executive of Essex County Council and lead commissioner brought in by the government, suggests change may be afoot.

He says: "While Thurrock has a leadership team in place and they are working very well with us, it is pretty inevitable that we will have to have a conversation about capacity, because it is such an enormous change, and they have to operate at a pace.

"I am sure we will have those conversations both with the council and with the government to ensure the right capacity is in place."

The council's commitment to investing in the green energy sector, pouring vast amounts of good money after bad into a black hole, is seen as a major failing of policy that reflects not just on the officers who carried it out, but the councillors who championed it.

Nicole Wood, the senior financial officer at Essex County Council, who has been looking at the books, says the authority's investment strategy that was heavily hedged in solar energy was an 'unusual move'.

"What is unusual is that the investments are very concentrated in a few investments," she said.  "There is still more to be done to understand why decisions were made at the point that were made.

"I do not really want to speculate here, but it is a matter of record now that those values were overstated, that is why they have been impaired."

While the intervention was initially focused on Thurrock's commercial investments, commissioners identified other financial management issues that are affecting the authority, Ms Wood says.

"There are other issues out there, specifically income and structural deficits that were supported by reserves," she said.

"The material interest in their day-to-day budget is that the council has relied very heavily on investment income that is now not available to them.

"Although it is not unique to Thurrock, it has also relied upon reserves to balance the books, which in of itself is not wrong, but a combination of these features has transpired to create the deficit."

Mr Jones says the reviewing process was 'back-to-front', initially focusing on the finances before assessing governance.

Now the focus is switching to other aspects of the council's management.

He added a best value inspection will be published in January, which will provide an overview on how the council justified its investments, and will form the basis of any further interventions.

"We already know, of course, that there were some governance issues at Thurrock, that is why we are already working with the council on their recovery plan," Mr Jones said.

"The best value inspection will, I'm sure, identify a whole host of other areas where they need to get a grip and do some real recovery."

He said it is unlikely the council has the relevant capacity to manage a recovery plan.

"The change load on any organisation trying to recover from this is pretty huge," Jones said.

"While Thurrock has a leadership team in place and they are working very well with us, it is pretty inevitable that we will have to have a conversation about capacity, because it is such an enormous change, and they have to operate at a pace.

"I am sure we will have those conversations both with the council and with the government to ensure the right capacity is in place."

The commissioner added his team is in constant dialogue with ministers to ensure the process is transparent and there are no surprises.

"Understanding the risk exposure of any organisation is a vital part of good financial management.

"There is also a need for good governance and strong decision making, as well as accountability and transparency.

"If a local authority fails to appreciate the level of risk, ignores warnings and does not have in place effective mitigation, it has fallen short of the very fundamentals CIPFA would expect."