Government ‘actively monitoring’ Doncaster Council over ‘serious concerns’ amid Reform UK, Tory tensions with officials

Chief executive, Damian Allen, reportedly contacted the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in November 2025, according to documents recently published on the council’s website.

It came after he and the council’s monitoring officer, Scott Fawcus, reportedly “identified a pattern of governance concerns relating to the conduct of council and committee proceedings”, in the months following the 2025 local elections, in which Reform UK stormed to a majority on the council and Labour retained Mayor of Doncaster position.

The report states: “This produced a governance environment in which the majority group in the council chamber and the executive are from different parties – a configuration that places particular demands on the constitutional framework and on the working relationship between members and officers.”

Both Mr Allen and Mr Fawcus are said to have determined the concerns represented a “developing pattern” and “would impact on the Council’s ability to discharge its functions effectively”.

The report, which will be discussed by the council’s audit committee on April 23, 2026, also explains that Mr Allen “engaged external legal advice on specific constitutional questions arising from the governance situation” and also alerted the Local Government Association for support, and MHCLG under the Best Value Standards and Intervention Framework.

Responding to the report, the MHCLG said it does not comment on its engagement with individual authorities.

It did provide information which stated: “Our local government stewardship team continually reviews the health of local authorities’ governance, financial management processes, including commercial operations and the sustainability of authorities’ medium-term financial outlooks, and delivery of corporate and key services.”

Doncaster Council did not provide any further comment beyond the published report.

The decision from the council to turn to the Government is a significant revelation, as a continuing breakdown in relationships and a lack of trust between senior officials and councillors was thrust into the open.

It follows explosive meetings of the council, in which Reform UK falsely accused senior officials of changing motions from Councillor Craig Ward, the party’s group leader, without permission.

Coun Ward had granted permission to the changes in a WhatsApp conversation with Mr Allen.

Additionally, these fracturing relationships are a driving cause behind the current crisis facing the reopening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport, as Reform UK stands to rescind its approval of a £57m loan to support the project.

The party said it does not believe it was provided with enough information to approve the loan, which it did in November 2025, and now wishes to revisit the decision.

Coun Jason Charity, Reform UK deputy leader and chair of the audit committee, also announced on April 2, 2026, that his party intends to refer Mr Allen to the council’s chief officers investigatory sub-committee (COISC).

It was not clearly outlined why the referral was needed or what exactly the chief executive had done to warrant it, however, the COISC will determine if there needs to be an investigation at all.

In a statement to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Coun Charity said: “The Annual Governance Statement now records, in the chief executive’s own words, that MHCLG regards the governance position as sufficiently serious to warrant active monitoring. That is not a Reform attack line. It is the Council’s own assessment, signed by the chief executive and the monitoring officer.”

Coun Ward added that Reform UK was now “in direct contact with MHCLG and with the Local Government Association’s sector support function” and said his group would “continue to support the early engagement process”.

Coun Cynthia Ransome, a long-standing Conservative councillor, called for “intervention” from the Government, saying officers in Doncaster “are not supporting councillors from all political groups”.

Her party has supported Reform UK’s attacks on officials in recent months, with a group spokesperson telling the LDRS on April 21, 2026: “The only way forward now is through government intervention because trust has gone. It’s completely gone with the officers.

“Intervention is needed and it was needed yesterday.”

The council documents being presented to the audit committee on April 23 stated the current monitoring from the MHCLG is not intervention and added: “Early engagement does not mean that formal intervention is inevitable.”

“It means that MHCLG regards the governance situation as sufficiently serious to warrant active monitoring and structured engagement,” the report added.

The report suggests that the current engagement and monitoring from the MHCLG is intended to reverse the growing relationships crisis facing the council.

It said: “The first engagement with political leaders took place on March 18, 2026, and subsequently followed up with a leaders and deputy meeting taking place on March 30, 2026.”

Mayor Ros Jones urged opposition councillors to “put party politics aside” in a statement to the LDRS.

She said: “Good governance is vitally important for all local authorities, back in 2010 Doncaster Council was classed as a basket case and placed in special measures.

“When I first became Mayor, I led the council out of intervention a year early. It was not easy or cheap and those scars run deep within the organisation, it was only in 2022 that we regained control of children’s social care services, with them later being rated as ‘GOOD’ by Ofsted in 2025.

“Last year I stated that if we are to have four years of messy political bun fighting and obstruction then ultimately it will be the people of Doncaster who suffer, and I do not want that to happen.”

An extraordinary meeting of council will convene in the chamber on Thursday, April 30, 2026, where a new vote on the £57m loan for Doncaster Sheffield Airport is expected to be considered.