Announced with a fanfare three months ago, Camden and Islington Council's ‘superchief’ plan is abandoned

Published: 9th December, 2010
by RICHARD OSLEY and TOM FOOT

TO those plotting the union, it was the perfect marriage of convenience for straitened times.

Yet before Camden and Islington even got to the altar to exchange vows over a deal which would have seen them sharing a chief executive, the romance has been abruptly called off.

The Town Hall confirmed on Thursday that a plan which caused so much excitement just three months ago – to share Camden’s chief executive Moira Gibb between the two authorities, saving both councils money – had been abandoned.

Opponents of the ruling  Labour group in Camden cite the sudden change of heart as proof that an administration just six months old is “wobbling” in the uncertain financial climate.

In September, Ms Gibb posed with her opposite number in the neighbouring borough, John Foster, in a team photograph which in­cluded senior councillors from both sides of the borough boundary. The idea on the table was that, when Mr Foster retires next year, Ms Gibb, considered one of the most formidable figures in local government, would slot into place as a “superexec” in control of both Town Halls.

This, however, to use the council’s language, will “no longer be explored”.

Labour finance chief Councillor Theo Blackwell, who was in favour of the partnership, said the potential link had been researched and it was estimated that it would have taken three years to see the benefits in council finances. The disruption, the council line has it, was not worth the advantages.

But the explanations have not dampened speculation that personal difficulties were at the root of the plan’s suspension. 

The idea to merge top officers into a joint management team would have inevitably led to severance packages and redundancies among highly-paid departmental managers. 

Thrust into the discussions were experienced officials and councillors who have only recently formed their new administrations. 

In both Camden and Islington, new Labour controlling  groups were elected in May.

Islington Lib Dem opposition leader Councillor Terry Stacy last week squarely blamed the collapse of the plan to merge management teams on a “personality clash” between Islington’s Labour leader Councillor Catherine West and Ms Gibb. But others have speculated that the threat to top jobs, including possibly even that of Ms Gibb, could have proved fatal to the merger hopes. 

Meanwhile, union leaders warned that high-earning senior managers had launched a rearguard action to save their own positions. 

Insiders said Cllr West and Ms Gibb did not see “eye to eye” on the difficult process of making staff redundant. 

The councils need to make cuts of up to £100million each over the three years from 2011 to 2014.

The original plan of pooling resources and sharing services will still go ahead, according to councillors in Camden.

Cllr Blackwell said: “We were having to lay off 1,000 staff in Camden – that’s the biggest frontline cuts in London. Should we be doing a complicated restructure at the same time? Were services going to suffer even more? We are going to carry on sharing services like HR [human resources], parking and regeneration.”

Cllr West said the two boroughs had already saved £900,000 by agreeing a joint school meals contract – ach­ieved through econ­omies of scale. 

Camden’s Liberal Democrat group leader Councillor Keith Moffitt, who writes in the New Journal’s Forum section today, said: “I’ve said all along that this was a crazy idea. We are not against sharing services to make savings – but we were not in favour of Moira Gibb going over to Islington when there is such a big job in Camden. 

“It feels like Camden Labour rushed into this with a photoshoot and now they are having to backtrack.”

Conservative group leader Councillor Andrew Mennear was always on-record about his doubts and claimed Camden should have been strengthening its links with better performing authorities than Islington.

“I hope this gives Camden the opportunity to look at other options and working relationships with other local authorities,” he said.