Directly-elected mayor system found seriously dysfunctional, failing in Doncaster. A report published by 'Tribune magazine' web site

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QUOTE 0212 GMT 28 April 2010:

Doncaster taken under central control as Audit Commission condemns ‘dysfunctional’ council

Doncaster’s ‘dysfunctional’ council, run by English Democrat mayor Peter Davies, has been taken over by central government following a damning report

by Bernard Purcell
Friday, April 23rd, 2010
Troubled Doncaster Council was this week formally declared “failing and dysfunctional” by the Audit Commission. Communities Secretary John Denham immediately took it under central government control using powers under the 1999 Local Government Act to establish an emergency advisory board. He was granted special dispensation to act by the Cabinet Office even though, by convention, ministers do not take important or controversial decisions during general election campaigns. The Commission, whose job is to protect the public purse and ensure value, said Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council does not serve local people properly.

In 2003 it recommended urgent ministerial intervention for councils in Hull and Hackney, but this week’s recommendations are even more drastic. It said there was no prospect of any improvement in Doncaster council unless it was taken out of the hands of its warring mayor and councillors. The Audit Commission said the council’s in-fighting, bullying and political point-scoring meant local children are not properly protected.

The “pursuit of long-standing political antagonisms is given priority over much-needed improvements to services for the public”, the commission said. The council “will not improve without significant and sustained support from external bodies”, it added. It said the most vulnerable people in the community are ignored, schools are failing, crime rates increasing, and public spaces left filthy.

Councillors were described as “venomous, vicious and vindictive” and responsible for widespread “bullying and harassment” of council officers.

Mayor Peter Davies, 66, was elected last year on an “anti-EU, anti-political correctness” platform. He and his cabinet of three Conservative and three unaffiliated councillors were not up to the job, said the Commission.

The Commission condemned councillors for putting their “hatred of the mayor” before their responsibilities to local people and electors. The result has been poor schooling, poor housing, high crime and poor health and poor education. For instance, many local adults in the employment were too unhealthy and/or unskilled to find new jobs, said the Commission.

The majority Labour grouping, in turn, frustrated any attempt to get work done.

Mr Davies was elected last year after Doncaster’s first directly-elected mayor quit after falling out with the Labour group.

The council serves 291,000 people and has an annual budget of around £600 million. The inspection was ordered following the violent torture by two brothers, 11 and 12 years old, on two other children in Edlington, near Doncaster, South Yorkshire.

The Audit Commission team concluded that Doncaster Council children’s services department failed to meet minimum standards in nearly all areas for which it is responsible.

This failure was despite urgent Government intervention last year following the deaths of seven children known to the town’s children’s services department over a period of just three years.

An emergency advisory board will take urgent decisions and direct acting chief executive Jo Miller. Commissioners may be appointed by Mr Denham to take over some or all of the council’s functions.


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