The Mayor of Liverpool has expressed her pride at the role she and her cabinet “have played in bringing the council to a much more stable position.”
In May, Joanne Anderson will leave her position as the elected Mayor of Liverpool following all out elections across the city. Mayor Anderson is likely to be the last holder of that position for some time after members of Liverpool Council chose to do away with the role in favour of a leader and cabinet governance model.
Mayor Anderson was present at the final meeting of the city’s mayoral and performance select committee at Liverpool Town Hall on Tuesday and text of a speech seen by the ECHO which she had intended to give outlined her reflections on her time in the role. It said: “It has been an absolute honour for me to lead our city during one of the most turbulent times in its history, driving though much-needed change and improvements.
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“I owe so much to my talented cabinet for their hard work and support. There has been some really tough decision-making during the past two years, and their role in this has been invaluable.
“I would like to thank them for all they have done.” The speech also made reference to cultural changes Mayor Anderson felt she, her cabinet and the Labour group had made during their time in post.
These included “a budget-setting process that has delivered a more robust, structured and inclusive budget for the next three years,” the council’s transformation programme “which has started to deliver improvements in services and the financial sustainability of the council” and improvements in “key services such as planning, highways, customer contact, litter, waste and enforcement.”
The speech was to be delivered hours before the impending arrival of a third commissioners report into performance at the troubled council. The findings have been delayed from their original publication date of December and had been expected in February.
Mayor Anderson wrote: “I am very proud of the role myself and the cabinet have played in bringing the council to a much more stable position. There are many things that still require improvement, but we are now in forward-motion and the third commissioners report that will be published shortly is positive.
“Our staff have been through a really difficult period and we are lucky to have some wonderfully talented, hardworking and committed people who really care about our city. It’s important to remember that day after day, we deliver for the people of Liverpool and I want to thank the staff for all that they do.”
Mayor Anderson said the council was on a “much better footing” and more permanent staff were recruited to key roles, giving the authority “some much-needed stability.” She paid tribute to outgoing interim chief executive Theresa Grant and Ian Duncan, interim chief finance officer, for their work and providing “such strong leadership in the past eight months” as well as thanking “all of those staff in the council who support our residents day in, day out.”
Liverpool will go to the polls to elect 85 new councillors, as well as a new leader, on May 4.
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