Cabinet members at Redcar and Cleveland Council will discuss the findings, recommendations and an action plan for improvement from a recent Corporate Peer Challenge when they meet on Tuesday, February 15.
The council voluntarily invited the Local Government Association (LGA) to undertake the challenge as part of the council's commitment to continuous improvement and the LGA's offer to support local authorities to improve.
The review was carried out by an experienced team of elected members and senior officers from other councils, who spent four days on site in November last year assessing the council across a number of areas. In doing so they talked to over 150 people including residents, businesses, partners as well as staff and politicians.
The peer challenge provides strong assurance that the council is working well across the areas considered, however it also provides a number of helpful suggestions for improvement. Some of the positive highlights in the report included:
- residents, members, staff and partners having a clear affinity with the area and a strong desire to see developments and improvements;
- elected members being committed, engaged and embedded in their local communities;
- the council having a visible and valued leader who is respected for providing strong and active leadership – this is complemented by a dedicated and committed team of senior managers and staff;
- the council enjoys good relationships with its partners;
- the council is widely recognised as having dealt with the concurrent cyber-attack and the covid pandemic in a professional way.
To take forward the recommendations for improvement the council has produced an action plan which sets out how, it is already, or will begin to address the suggestions for improvement, which include:
- develop a strong statement that sets out the overall aims of the council, including the plans for regeneration and jobs growth, and widely communicate this;
- deliver and track progress against these plans to ensure they deliver real impact;
- maximise links with partners and regional organisations by aligning priorities where it makes sense to do so;
- develop a 'one' council culture and maximise member and officer capacity through educational and skills development;
- increase the use of scenario planning when developing the medium-term financial strategy to provide greater resilience against uncertain future funding arrangements;
- further embed an approach for capital projects so they deliver on council priorities.
Leader of the Council, Cllr Mary Lanigan explained:
“It's so important to seek independent external challenge as it helps us to clarify what we are doing well, what we need to develop and what we should focus our attention on. This is why we invited the LGA to carry out this review.
“It is reassuring that they found so many positive attributes, particularly with the challenges we face. We have solid foundations and the passion of our residents, members, staff and partners have to see improvements in the area is especially pleasing to me as well as how as an organisation we have responded to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have acted swiftly and developed an action plan for further improvement arising from the findings of the report which will be discussed at cabinet on the 15 February. I am committed to prioritising our action so we address these improvements within the council and work with our stakeholders and partners in creating a clear, joined up plan for Redcar and Cleveland to help us achieve our ambitions.
“The action plan will ensure we are well equipped for the future and provide our residents, partners and stakeholders with a clearer sense of direction."
The final report will be discussed at cabinet on Tuesday, February 15, and can be found at www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk search under cabinet and committee papers.