Local Government Best Value: Bedford and Spelthorne Borough Councils

This Government are committed to taking the action necessary to fix the foundations of local government. Today, I am updating the House on the steps we are taking to support two councils to recover and reform: Bedford borough council and Spelthorne borough council.

Today I have exercised powers under section 10 of the Local Government Act 1999 to carry out a best value inspection of Bedford borough council’s compliance with the best value duty. Given the economic importance of Bedford, I am committed to ensuring strong oversight to safeguard investment and support regional growth.

I have appointed Paul Najsarek as the inspector and, on his request, Margaret Lee and Parveen Akhtar as assistant inspectors.

Given our concerns relate to broad decision making, and whether the standards expected for effective and convenient local government are being upheld, the inspection will consider decision making in relation to those functions, encompassing leadership, governance, organisational culture, use of resources, partnerships and community engagement, and impact on service delivery. It will also consider the authority’s capacity to address the recommendations made by the Local Government Association corporate peer challenge team and progress review, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy review and the external auditor’s (KPMG) update report to Bedford borough council’s audit committee meeting on 27 November 2025.

I look forward to receiving the inspector’s report in June and will carefully consider this before determining the next steps for Bedford borough council. If it shows that the council is in breach of its best value duty, we will then consider whether to exercise powers under section 15 of the 1999 Local Government Act.

Today, I am publishing the commissioners at Spelthorne borough council’s first report, received in December 2025, which sets out early progress, including the adoption of an improvement and recovery plan, restructuring of debt and the implementation of a new minimum revenue provision policy. These steps are critical to improving the council’s financial sustainability ahead of Surrey’s planned local government reorganisation in April 2027.

While I welcome the progress to date, significant challenges remain. Delivering these improvements will be essential to ensuring stability and readiness for the changes ahead, and I look forward to the council and commissioners working together to take forward the strategy they have outlined to address these issues.

To support continued progress at the council, the Secretary of State has confirmed the reappointments of Lesley Seary as lead commissioner and Deborah McLaughlin, Peter Robinson and Mervyn Greer as commissioners, until the expiry of the directions on 31 May 2030 as a backstop. In practice, their appointments will cease when Spelthorne borough council is dissolved as part of the planned local government reorganisation in Surrey.