Southampton City Council would have faced direct government intervention if the authority had not taken specific actions 15 months ago, councillors have been told.
The chair of the city council’s improvement board said she had “no doubt” commissioners would have been brought in.
Civic leaders took the decision to create the board voluntarily in October 2023 when it was on the brink of financial collapse.
Improvement board chair Theresa Grant told members at a special governance committee meeting on Monday, January 13, that she had seen “considerable improvement” since becoming involved with the council.
“What I would like to be clear about is had the council not created this board when it did, I have absolutely no doubt you would have ended up in intervention and that’s not a place you want to be,” Ms Grant said.
“I’m not a big fan of intervention having worked and led two councils out of intervention.
“I can honestly say I’m a great believer in the democratic process and I believe intervention really does curtail that democratic process from operating because it takes decision making from the hands of the elected members.”
Commissioner interventions involve the secretary of state appointing private individuals with relevant experience to take over some of a council’s functions, removing powers from elected members.
Recent examples include at Birmingham City Council, where commissioners came in to oversee governance, finance and recruitment, and Slough Borough Council where the government took action to ensure the local authority was meeting its best value duty.
Southampton City Council avoided this action and any need to issue a section 114 notice, which is effective bankruptcy.
Council leader Lorna Fielker said the improvement board acted as a critical friend to provide “very robust” challenge.
Cllr Fielker said it also transferred experience and enabled members and officers to learn from others.
Ms Grant added: “Since the board commenced in October 2023 the organisation has gone through very dramatic changes at a precarious time.
“As well as the financial challenges, you have seen a new leader, a new chief executive and several new senior officers and this would be a challenge for most robust organisations but I can honestly say SCC was not the most robust organisation at the time when I joined.”
The improvement board chair praised Cllr Fielker for her “laser focus” on the budget and transformation.
She also said the support of members and the very hard work of officers had been vital in the progress that had been achieved.
The committee heard the board’s focus was shifting to housing and environmental services having already done a lot of work in the key areas of adult’s and children’s services, which made up 80 per cent of the budget.
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