Birmingham council faces legal action over decision to close adult day centres | Birmingham

After the commissioners have been sent to supervise the Birmingham Council, legal action is taken after preventing a controversial decision to close the adult daytime centers.

63 -year -old Robert Mason and the 50 -year -old Jenny Gilbert, who joined the day centers for physical and learning impaired adults in the city, was imposed on a judicial review.

The legal challenge argues that three separate applications by the elected council members refuse to “call” the decision of the closure of four -day centers for more examination.

James Cross, acting on behalf of his uncle Mason, who joined a day -to -day center in Harborne for 45 years, said that the commissioner was invalidated and prevented the full examination of the closing.

“For us, the local democratic process was removed due to direct interventions, Cross Cross said. “Especially when a cabinet decision was made by 12 people from 101 parliamentary members, the investigation is necessary for local democracy.”

After the Council effectively went bankrupt in 2023, the government appointed six commission members to supervise its daily work by October 2028. Collectively, the Council has been paid about £ 2 million since its appointment.

They are managed by Max Caller, nicknamed “Max The Ax için for the difficult approach to force the cuts in local authorities with cash shortages.

In March, there was a scream where four of the adult daytime centers operated by the nine councils in the city were closed as part of Swingeing budget cuts, Birmingham Edgbaston Deputy Preet Kaur Gill said that the commission members rejected their call requests and said that they kalı closed the democratic examination ”.

Caller said that there was a “pre -decision review ve and the delay would cost £ 100,000 per month.

Cross said: ım I argued that it would be transformed into a community center for the Harborne day center, so that they could be used to generate income outside their daily center hours. They didn’t just want to know.

“There is no innovative thought, just simple, yes, we will cut it. But for financial short -term earnings, for long -term pain, because you are more kicking the situation.”

On July 21, a court hearing will determine whether the judicial examination can continue.

There are currently an increasing number of councils that are struggling with financial competing and the other six local authorities: Croydon, Tower Hamlets, Nottingham, Slough, Woking and Thurrock.

Jonathan Carr-West, General Manager of the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU), said that the commissioner model is the preferred mechanism of the last government and that it was carried out by this government ”.

“When people say that they have removed local democratic control, this is true, that’s what he does clearly, because in a way: in a way: we will send it to people who do not have to worry about being elected and make really hard decisions,” he said.

“In Birmingham, where they completely broke the cultural services they reduced their child services by 25%, local politicians would not be able to make these difficult choices. [Commissioners] In the long run, not responsible or investment is not made. “

He said that the commissioners have been active in a certain management paradigm and are not intended to be there to innovate ”. Analysis by Local Government Chronicle Last year, he found that almost 70% of the commission members sent to the fighting councils were male, and more than a quarter of the quarter has not worked in local governments for four years or longer.

Carr-West said that the use of commissioners is not a “scalable” solution to the problems faced by the councils. “It sounds like an approach that stores problems for the future rather than a sticky approach and probably a real transformation process,” he said.

“There is still one third in the country: ‘If nothing changes in our hazelnuts, we will explode over the next five years’.

“Well, you can send Max Caller to two or three councils, but you cannot send it to one third of the councils in the country. There is no system -wide approach to save the local government.”

In June, Local Government Minister Jim McMahon said that he was thinking of sending commission members to manage the Croydon Council for his “rapid deterioration”.

The movement reacted between the Mayor of the Executive Mayor Jason Perry and the members of the Assembly.

The commissioners in Birmingham have been contacted for a comment.