Government-appointed commissioners will oversee parts of Liverpool City Council following a critical report, the local government secretary has said.
Robert Jenrick told the House of Commons a "serious breakdown of governance" and "multiple apparent failures" meant he had to take action.
The authority has been under scrutiny since police began investigating building and development contracts.
The probe has seen five men, including then mayor Joe Anderson, arrested.
Mr Jenrick said the "best value" report, commissioned in December, showed "multiple apparent failures" and painted a "deeply concerning picture of mismanagement" in some functions at the Labour-run authority.
He told the House of Commons:
- Inspectors had found failings in planning and regeneration, including a "worrying lack of record-keeping" and documents "created retrospectively, discarded in skips or even destroyed
- There had been a lack of scrutiny in the highways department, with dysfunctional management, "no coherent business plan" and "dubious" contract deals
- There had been issues in property management that had led to "a continued failure to correctly value land and assets", meaning taxpayers had "frequently lost out"
"Given the gravity of the inspection findings, I must consider what would happen if the council fails to deliver the necessary changes at the necessary speed.
He said he was proposing to appoint commissioners to run some aspects at the city council for the next three years.
'Sweep the stable clean'
Shadow local government secretary Steve Reed said the Labour party accepted the report "in full" and would hold a review into "severe institutional weaknesses".
In a statement, a Liverpool City Council spokesman said the authority took the report's findings into its highways, regeneration and property management functions "extremely seriously" and was committed to addressing "all the concerns raised".
He added that the report made it clear that since the arrival of chief executive Tony Reeves in 2018, the council had "already taken steps to address the issues".
Councillor Tom Crone, the leader of the council's Green Party group ,said the city's Labour leaders should "resign as one", as there was a need to "sweep the stable clean".
"Any administration with even an ounce of shame would resign immediately and allow the city to start afresh," he added.
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2021-03-24 14:10:34Z
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