Never miss Bristol news again - sign up to receive our newsletter straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A damning picture of mismanagement by Bristol's council chiefs has been exposed in a shock independent report published today, which found:

*A collective failure of leadership within the council for which several people, including politicians, bear responsibility;

*An entire annual budget (for 2016/17) approved on the basis of a "false" assumption that previously-agreed cuts had been fully carried out and savings delivered.

*An unwillingness to accept bad news among the council's senior leadership team;

*Reports which "misled" councillors because they were so "consistently over-optimistic";

*The "routine practice" of which saw officers "bury information in big reports";

The bungling – and there is even a reference to bullying – led to a £29 million shortfall emerging soon after Marvin Rees was elected as Bristol Mayor last May.

The deficit sent shockwaves through City Hall and Mr Rees ordered an inquiry, to find out where the money had gone.

The report by Steve Bundred, who published the report into Bristol's year as Green Capital a few weeks ago, does not name names but refers to the titles of staff and politicians who were involved in the scandal.The results of that inquiry have now been laid bare in his report, which also found:

*A "tacit understanding" among the senior leadership team that contentious decisions should not be asked of politicians before the elections last May;

*A three to five-year delay before cultural changes within the council become "embedded"

The report explains the council's financial position in the early part of last year was not of its own making but due to Government cuts, changes in legislation and increasing operating costs to provide services.

Nicola Yates, the council's former City Director, set up the Change Programme, which aimed to save £64 million through changes in working practices and projects such as reducing the number of council officers and introducing new technology.

This programme was led for most of the time by Strategic Director Max Wide, who left the council last year for a post in the private sector.

The report says the programme failed to deliver its three-year target and was flawed in "important respects".

It adds that the programme had many positive features but the positives were outweighed by its weakness.

It points out that reports on the programme were "consistently over-optimistic" to such an extent that councillors were "undoubtedly misled".

During the early part of last year, there was a growing awareness the programme was not going to deliver and the pressures on the budget (2016/17) would be acute.

The bubble eventually burst after Marvin Rees was elected in May last year and the true scale of the financial black hole was realised – a deficit of £29m.

Ms Yates declined to comment - but staff previously employed by the council have claimed that the £29m savings have not been made because the current administration has not followed through on the programme.

The report makes clear that progress has been made to address the situation – not just to balance the budget this year but also to change the way in which the council is run.

Mr Bundred makes 12 recommendations, which range from "less tolerance of poor quality reports" to improving the quality of the council's finance department.

He also urges the council's new chief executive, Anna Klonowski, to improve the management culture within the council.

Mr Rees said: "I inherited a deeply troubling financial challenge and promised this independent report to help us understand the causes and how we could put things right.

"We are undoubtedly making fast and strong progress already.

"We know where there are issues and are already putting many of the fixes in place.

"This means the public, our partners and councillors can be confident in our budget plans for next year, something which the report confirms.

"We have new senior finance officers, an excellent interim chief executive and incoming permanent chief executive, so we are in a good position to improve performance, change the council's culture and be open about our challenges.

"The report suggest that in the past, the political leadership was too complacent in trusting that savings could be made without making really hard choices.

"Scrutiny was focused on our pressures rather than on the savings which needed making.

"This report proves that our current approach to making savings, whilst very difficult, is absolutely necessary and that we have improved political oversight of our work."

Stephen Hughes, the council's interim chief executive, said: "On behalf of the council, I am sorry for its collective failure to do well enough in the past.

"Whatever the reasons or intentions of those involved, many of whom have not been part of preparing this report and have not put their case to Mr Bundred, the fact remains that Bristol City Council as a whole did not achieve what it should have and did not show the leadership which people have a right to expect."