Nottingham Council House by Peter Tarleton, CC BY-SA 2.0

A second government envoy has been despatc hed to oversee improvements at Nottingham City Council. Credit: Peter Tarleton, CC BY-SA 2.0

Govt sends second ‘envoy’ to oversee Nottingham

16 July 2026 08:20 Mike Sheridan Comments (0)

Former Barnsley leader, Sir Stephen Houghton, has been appointed as the second ministerial envoy to provide advice to Nottingham City Council’s leadership, three years after it effectively went bankrupt.

Houghton will join Sharon Kemp, who was appointed as Lead Envoy focusing on continuous improvement and service delivery earlier this year.

In a letter to the authority’s leader Cllr Neghat Khan, local government minister Alison McGovern MP said that the political envoys would “provide oversight, support and guidance to help the council drive forward improvement”.

“I remain optimistic that, as council leader, you will continue to work constructively with the Ministerial Envoy team to deliver the necessary changes and embed a culture of continuous improvement for the benefit of the people of Nottingham,” she said.

Commissioners were sent in during 2024 with a remit to make improvements at the authority, which the government said was failing in its duty to get the best value from public money for residents.

Earlier this year full decision-making powers were restored, with Secretary of State, Steve Reed MP, ending commissioners’ two-year appointment in February, with a reduced 18-month package of support and the appointment of government envoys intended to provide an off-ramp as the council returns to normal operations.

Council Leader, Councillor Neghat Khan, added: “We very much welcome the appointment of Sir Stephen to work with the Council. He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge having led Barnsley, widely regarded as one of the best councils in the country.

“Nottingham has made great strides as a council over the last two years. We are now in a much stronger position financially and this has enabled us to invest millions of pounds of extra funding in front line services this year.

“I’ve said that I want Nottingham to be the most improved council in the country. With a robust Continuous Service Improvement Plan in place, backed by the expertise provided by our two Ministerial Envoys, I believe we are in a strong position to achieve that.”