The Government has said there are question marks over the ‘viability' of Slough Council as a unitary as it announced plans for it and fellow struggling authorities Thurrock and Croydon.
As well as naming former council chief executive Dave Smith as the new ‘managing director commissioner' for Thurrock, local government minister Lee Rowley said ‘things must change' at Slough.
Mr Rowley said: 'For Slough to remain in its current form there needs to be a fundamental shift in the attitude and behaviour of the council and its leadership.
‘The role of commissioners will be of paramount importance and their focus in the coming months will be on a new operating model for the authority.'
In a written statement to MPs, the minister revealed expanded intervention for Thurrock and said Dr Smith, a former chief of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and Sunderland City Council, would be responsible for ‘day-to-day operations' at the council.
Commissioners will also be given further powers at the Essex authority, including over strategic decision-making and oversight of audit.
They will gain power over hiring and firing of statutory officers, as well as responsibility for the development and implementation of an ‘improvement and recovery plan'.
Mr Rowley said reports from commissioners ‘laid bare the scale and complexity of the financial challenges facing Thurrock' and ‘noted significant concerns regarding a lack of robust governance and leadership capacity at the council'.
At Slough, with Max Caller and Margaret Lee both tendering their resignations, the Government said it would announce a revised commissioner team.
Mr Rowley recognised the 'positive steps' taken by Croydon LBC but said the Government was ‘minded to implement an intervention package' because of the ‘historic problems and the extent of improvement necessary'.
Mayor Jason Perry was nonetheless praised for ‘working constructively' with commissioners and managers, and staff were said to be ‘grasping the scale of the problem and doing their best to fix it'.
Mr Rowley said Sandwell MBC's commissioners had ‘seen some progress' but there was ‘still a lot of work to be done – with a particular focus on the customer journey and culture'.
