Senior cabinet minister Robert Jenrick has met with senior council officers in Liverpool less than a week after ordering commissioners be sent in to the city.
Mr Jenrick, the Secretary of State for housing, communities and local government, posted pictures to Twitter today showing a meeting where he was present along with council chief executive Tony Reeves, finance chief Mel Creighton and a number of others.
The decision to send commissioners to Liverpool was announced by Mr Jenrick last Wednesday, the same day a damning investigation by Max Caller showed a range of failures in aspects of the council’s operations.
The commissioners, who are set to be with the council for up to three years, will be focused on the council’s regeneration, highways, planning and property management operations.
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In a series of tweets this afternoon, Mr Jenrick said he had held meetings with the council, as well as visiting the Port of Liverpool.
He said: “I was pleased to visit Liverpool today and thank the Chief Executive and officers of @lpoolcouncil for their hard work during the pandemic and discuss how we can work together to revitalise the city.
“And I visited the Port of Liverpool which was recently chosen for Freeport status. It was wonderful to be back in Liverpool and to show the government’s support for this great city.”
His visit came on the day the council published timescales for the improvements demanded by government to be made.
The first six months is set to see urgent changes to the highways department, the council’s file management system and governance arrangements in its constitution.
A series of wider changes will then take place over the coming years, supervised by independent commissioners appointed by central government.
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