Must do better: Government serves notice on Dudley Council, giving it 12 months to improve
The Government has served Dudley Council with an improvement notice, saying it is failing to meet the standards of serving the public.
Minister for Local Government and English Devolution, Jim McMahon, announced in a written ministerial statement the issuing of a non-statutory 'best value' notice to the authority.
Failure to comply could see commissioners brought in to make decisions, as has happened in Birmingham.
The best value notice is a formal notification that the department has concerns regarding the authority and requests that the authority engages with the department to provide assurance of improvement.
The authority’s progress against the notice will be reviewed after 12 months.
Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of the council, defended what he said was the authority's recent improvement but said the 'scrutiny is welcome'.
"I don’t believe any council has improved this fast and as effectively as Dudley has and I hope ministers see this and use Dudley as an example of how this can be done," he added.
Councillor Harley described the notice as a 'supportive measure' to encourage the authority to continue its improvements.
He also set down a 'cast iron' guarantee that the authority 'would continue its upward curve'.
