Massive challenge ahead for crisis council's new top man

Government takes over at Doncaster

The Government has turned to Kirklees Council chief executive Rob Vincent to rebuild the authority after announcing yesterday it was taking control of its management.

When he starts in July Mr Vincent will be faced with a failing council –labelled the worst in Britain – that has lurched from one crisis to another during the past 15 years.

The scale of political instability and mismanagement was revealed following a fiercely critical Audit Commission inspection, called in the wake of the Edlington child torture case, which itself followed the deaths of seven vulnerable children known to the authority's children's services.

Mr Vincent, who leaves Kirklees after 20 years, said he appreciated the task ahead but believed radical improvements could be made.

"I am looking forward to committing myself to helping Doncaster re-find its stride and make the progress that all who know the town are looking for," he said. "I know that it is a place with a great history, some current strengths, and good prospects.

"It has had many problems over a number of years, and there will be difficulties in finding a confident way forward.

"But it is clear that many individuals, officers and politicians, remain highly committed and motivated to achieve the best for local people."

The measures announced by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles include installing a team of commissioners with powers to appoint, discipline or dismiss officers and a non-executive Intervention and Recovery Board to monitor progress.

The measures are thought to be the toughest ever imposed on a local authority and a spokeswoman for the Department of Communities and Local Government acknowledged that where they have intervened before – such as at Hull City Council in 2002 – it was never on such a scale.

The council now has time to discuss and agree the proposals before a final statutory order is introduced in two weeks.

The Audit Commission report blamed the council's long history of political instability dating back to the Donnygate scandal of the 1990s and also highlighted recent in-fighting between Mayor Peter Davies, elected councillors and paid officers.

Mr Davies has declined to answer questions on the Government's plans.

in a prepared statement he said: "We note the draft directions and welcome much of what they say.

"During the three week consultation period, we will continue to make representations to the Government for the benefit of Doncaster."

The Audit Commission highlighted numerous long-standing problems that the council did not have the capacity or capability to fix.

The main issues included failing local services and dysfunctional politics with councillors placing politics and ongoing personal antagonisms above the Doncaster people; the Mayor and Cabinet showing a lack of effective leadership; and officers failing to act as a corporate team.

The report also revealed the town's underperforming economy with Doncaster lagging well behind the national average on economic performance – an independent measure of UK local area competitiveness ranked Doncaster 355th out of 380 this year.

The commission concluded the council's ingrained culture of poor governance would not improve without "significant and sustained external support".

Head who steered authority to best in country award

Rob Vincent was appointed chief executive of Kirklees Council in September 2004 to steer the authority which was made 'Council of the Year' in 2008.

He joined 20 years ago to lead the council's education resource management and was appointed chief education officer in the mid-1990s.

Mr Vincent's professional background is in civil engineering and town planning and he was appointed as a non-executive member to the Board of Communities and Local Government in June 2008.

Kirklees Council leader Coun Mehboob Khan said he was an "outstanding chief executive" who had left the authority in an excellent position.

"Rob has done a terrific job here, so it is no surprise that when government were considering somebody to lead Doncaster's improvement journey, they decided to look here. He has seen the council through rapid improvement, and has never avoided any issues that needed to be tackled.

Mr Vincent takes up his new role from July 1. Although the post is on an interim basis, for 18 months, he has indicated he will not return to Kirklees afterwards.