MORE detail has emerged from the government about the wide-ranging changes it wants to see in the governance of Thurrock.

As exclusively reported on Thurrock Nub News yesterday morning (Thursday, 16 March) local government minister Lee Rowley has appointed Dr Dave Smith as the borough's new managing director.

Mr Smith will be paid £1,100 a day for work carried out in his tenure, which is scheduled to last for two years.

The whole cost of the restructuring of the council and work of highly paid commissioners continues to soar and its estimated to be going to cost around £6 million over the next couple of years. It's about the sum of money that will be raised by the additional, recently approved 9.9% increase in council tax.

Effectively borough residents are funding the direct cost of putting the ruling Conservative administration's failings right.

Dr Smith takes office with a range of directives from the government which includes a probable change of senior officers at the calamitous council which is in debt to the tune of £1.5 billion.

One of the key tasks he has been set is the 'appointment, suspension and dismissal of statutory officers'. He has the delegated power to make appointments and dismissals and to define a new officer structure for senior positions at the council.

The fate of some officers may rest on the outcome of the still-to-be published 'Best Value Report' compiled by an investigating team of commissioners, which the government is currently sitting on.

Lyn Carpenter and Sean Clark.

Nub News has been told that is because it is scathing about the role of very senior officers at the council, two of who were suspended and subsequently submitted their resignations.

Nevertheless former CEO Lyn Carpenter and finance chief Sean Clark have been getting paid their rather handsome salaries of around £200,000 and £150,00 respectively while serving their time out at home.

They appear to be beyond the reach of Dr Smith's brand of punitive medicine but others still within the enclave may now be looking over their shoulder. There is, of course, still the possibility of a criminal investigation into what has happened at Thurrock - as yet the police and Serious Fraud Office have not been involved - but given the nature and scope of the way millions of pounds have been lost, that cannot yet be ruled out.

Mr Rowley has also highlighted the mechanics that led to the failure of the council's finances and he has been frank about where the blame lies initially and also that things have not materially improved – causing further concern despite the intervention and new leadership.

Conservative councillors though appear to have little contrition or shame. Among those planning to stand again on their record in office are leader Cllr Mark Coxshall, his deputy Cllr Deborah Arnold and former finance portfolio holder Cllr Shane Hebb who all served on the cabinet and were close to the very heart of failure on their watch. They are have already launched re-election campaigns for May's local elections and Cllr Coxshall told Nub News he was confident of success and that the local Conservative 'election machine' would steer local Tory candidates to victory.

He has talked of speaking to 'thousands' of people on the doorsteps across the borough and believes predictions that his party's eight candidates up for election on Thursday, 4 May will be trounced are out of touch with the public opinion he and colleagues are getting on the hustings.

Thurrock Council leader Cllr Mark Coxshall has found himself under much criticism for not showing contrition and for 'laughing off' Thurrock's problems.

The minister had previously noted 'significant concerns' regarding a lack of robust governance and leadership capacity at the Council.

Now he has had sight of the full report and the scale and depth of the problems appear even worse than anticipated, causing more immediate changes, a substantial directive that will change the structure of the council and the way it operates. The employment of Dr Smith to lead the change is seen as a catalyst for more action.

The content of the Best Value Report remains a secret, though the public are promised sight of it at some point. But not until 'particular individuals criticised are given an opportunity to read and respond to those relevant parts of the report before it is published'.

It clearly doesn't make good reading though.

And what is clear is that the minister expects that cuts to services in Thurrock will run deep.

He pulls no punches in saying: "The evidence shows that the authority, in addition to making extensive efficiency savings, will have to make a significant and rapid reduction in the scope of local services.

"Undertaking this transformation will be a hugely difficult task, which will need to be effectively managed at both the corporate and service level if the authority is to avoid serious operational failures."

Mr Rowley continued: "Having carefully considered the Best Value Inspection report, and the representations I have received about the intervention, I am satisfied that Thurrock Council is continuing to fail to comply with its duty.

"I am announcing a formal expansion to the intervention in Thurrock Council to implement the changes we proposed on 24 January 2023.

"To begin, we will appoint Dr Dave Smith to be a Managing Director Commissioner. He is a highly experienced former local authority Chief Executive who has held senior executive positions within Local Government for the past fifteen years, including Chief Executive of South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, and Chief Executive of Sunderland City Council.

He will work closely with the existing Commissioner, Essex County Council, to support Thurrock Council in its improvement journey. He will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Council and will provide strategic direction and leadership, until such time as a permanent appointment to the post of chief executive can be made.

More power is to be stripped away from those currently in charge.

In addition to the finance powers they already hold, the new directions will permit Commissioners to exercise further powers over:

• All functions associated with the governance, scrutiny and transparency of strategic decision making by the Authority to ensure compliance with the Best Value Duty. This will include oversight of an audit of the Council's governance.
• All functions associated with the Council's operating model and redesign of council services to achieve value for money and financial sustainability.
• The appointment, suspension and dismissal of statutory officers, including powers to determine the process for making these appointments and dismissals, and to define a new officer structure for senior positions at the Council.
• The development, oversight and operation of an effective performance management framework for senior positions.

The new Directions will also instruct the Council to take specific actions to support their improvement. These will incorporate the existing instructions to the Council issued back in September, but they will go further, and instruct Thurrock Council to undertake the following new actions to the satisfaction of Commissioners:

• To prepare, produce and implement an enhanced Improvement and Recovery Plan, which builds on their existing Improvement Plan. This will include new elements to cover:
• An action plan to reconfigure the authority's services commensurate with the authority's available financial resources.
• A plan to ensure that the authority has personnel with sufficient skills, capabilities and capacity to deliver the Improvement and recovery plan, within a robust officer structure.
• An action plan to strengthen the authority's governance function, to secure improvements in transparency and formal decision making. This should include measures to improve the authority's scrutiny function, including the taking and recording of formal decisions.
• Arrangements to secure the proper resourcing and functioning of the system of internal controls, including risk management and internal audit
• To undertake any action that Commissioners may reasonably require to avoid, so far as practicable, incidents of poor governance that would, in the Commissioners' reasonable opinion, give rise to the risk of the authority failing to comply with its Best Value Duty.
• To take steps to ensure that the role of Accountable Body to the Thames Freeport is exercised to the satisfaction of the Commissioners. This should also be reflected in the Improvement and Recovery Plan.

And Mr Rowley is strengthening the role of Essex County Council in taking leadership of Thurrock Council affairs.

There are tough and austere times ahead for Thurrock after minister Lee Rowley delivered new directives to the new team in charge of the borough council.

He appears to believe the current Conservative elected leadership of Cllr Coxshall and his cabinet is not strong enough to manage the task in hand, saying: "The Leader of Essex County Council will provide political support to all members of the authority to promote a whole council approach to improvement and recovery."

He added: "As part of this next phase of intervention, Essex County Council will continue to act as a Commissioner and I look forward to their report in June.

"As part of the January announcement, I indicated my intent to formalise the role of the Leader of Essex County Council in this intervention. I can confirm that I will today issue an updated Explanatory Memorandum, to accompany the new Directions.

"I am hopeful that the expansion to the intervention that I am announcing today will help the Council to address the concerns set out in the Commissioner's first report and the Best Value Inspection update letter, and to continue its work to improve the way in which the Council is run.

"There will be an opportunity for further reflection on Thurrock Council when I publish the Best Value Inspection report."

Cllr Coxshall has said he was "pleased" to welcome Dr Smith as a commissioner and said: "I look forward to working hand in hand with him as we drive forward our recovery to ensure Thurrock Council has a future in which it is sustainable and is the best it can be."