TROUBLESHOOTER Tony Allen has said Swindon Council is making steady progress behind the scenes to clear up "the big mess" he found after Government inspectors branded it one of worst in the country.

Mr Allen, 62, a former council chief executive, was brought in to help the authority's chief executive, Simon Birch, haul the council out of the doldrums, but admitted remedial work had to start from within.

One of the main areas of criticism by the Audit Commission was the lack of corporate direction and leadership, with many parts of the council not working together. Mr Allen said much of that 'ugly' work had now been done. He said: "The process has been largely conducted behind the scenes. The next step is to show the Swindon public the benefit of what has been going on and in the next 12 months they will see changes and start to yield the benefits.

"It was just a big mess, sadly, and I'm sure it will be a great relief when the inspectors are off the council's back, but that could be a little way off yet because no exit strategy has been agreed."

The next round of calls from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will be in September and again in November - a year after the council was ranked among the 13 worst in the country. Mr Allen, a former chief executive of Hammersmith and Fulham Council in West London and the now defunct Berkshire County Council, was approached by Swindon Council in December last year to help implement its 88-point improvement plan after the Audit Commission's damning Comprehensive Perform-ance Assessment. Mr Allen will continue one day each week at the Civic Offices.