Tewkesbury Borough freed from special measures
A COUNCIL plunged into special measures four years ago is celebrating having the restriction lifted.
Staff at Tewkesbury Borough Council are free to work alone again, now the authority is no longer in voluntary engagement.
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CELEBRATING: Council staff with (front, l-r) chief executive Mike Dawson, council leader Robert Vines and deputy council leader Phil Taylor
The status, equivalent to a school being in special measures, has seen the Government Office for the South West monitoring and advising the council.
They have advised senior management on how to improve, attended some council meetings and intervened on certain occasions to prevent the authority making what they considered would have been a wrong decision.
The news that the council is free to go its own way again was delivered to council leader Robert Vines by Local Government Minister Rosie Winterton.
Chief executive Mike Dawson said it led to a round of applause at a staff meeting at the council's Tewkesbury headquarters.
He said morale was good among the 319 people who work for the authority.
"This is the news we've been waiting for and I am really pleased that our improvements have been recognised in this way," he said.
"We want our customers to be served by an excellent authority, which is an achievable goal.
"It is now very important that we drive this council forward, ensuring that our residents continue to stay at the heart of our priorities."
The measure was imposed following a damning Audit Commission report in 2006 about the state the council was in.
Councillor Vines and the council's deputy leader, Councillor Phil Taylor, stressed there was more work to be done but that major improvements in the last four years had enabled the council to come out of voluntary engagement.
Top of the list has been improved political leadership and better co-operation between councillors and officers. This was something sorely lacking in 2006.
Improvements introduced in the last 12 months include establishing a five-year financial strategy and revamping the council's management structure.
Mr Vines said: "I am absolutely delighted that we have left voluntary engagement. We deserve this. Staff and councillors have all played a huge part in helping us improve over the past few years and I would like to thank everyone for their commitment and dedication."
Mr Taylor said: "This is a reaffirmation that we're fit for purpose. We have come a long way and it's very important that we continue to look forward to the goals ahead."
6 Comments
by Watchful, Lincoln green, tewkesbury
Friday, March 12 2010, 12:09PM
“TBC will never put its house in order until there is strong effective management.
For example staff go in late and leave early and then they manage to accumulate flex so that they can even more time off.
There is no control on the coming and goings of staff which impacts on customer service and the effectiveness of the council.
If you phone up, staff are not available, if you complain to by letter they do not respond if you follow that up with an official complaint to senior officers that is also ignored.
Councils are there to provide services they can only do that effectively if they have staff who provide good quality customer service.
Come on new CEO please sort this lot out.”
by Tewkesbury resident, Tewkesbury
Friday, March 12 2010, 8:50AM
“The fact is that the Borough councillors got in to this mess be repeastedly setting unrealistic budgets fine for a bit of quick political grandstanding but over a number of years the services became run down and inadequate. I agree the increase this year is nothing much, but the whole sorry mess of special measures could have been avoided if the councillors had acted responsibly and followed advice from their own officers and the audit commission sooner. Let's hope the massive catch up needed doesn't stall as soon as they're allowed to slip back into their old ways again.”
by The Truth About Council Tax, Apperley
Friday, March 12 2010, 8:39AM
“The average Band D property will be paying less than £100 a year to Tewkesbury Borough Council in Council tax during 2010/2011.
This equates to less than £2 per week.
As one of the previous commentators on this thread has pointed out, this is up by around 8p a week on last years Council Tax Bill.
Not exactly "huge" is it?
For less than £2 a week you get your waste collected, environmental health services provided to help keep you safe and healthy, housing services, planning services, licensing services, tourism, culture and leisure services, community safety services and more.
If you could procure even your waste collection for less than £2 a week you would be doing well.
For once why not give the Council credit for making progress. They admit that they have further to go, but this is obviously an important step forward.”
by tewkesbury resident, Tewkesbury
Thursday, March 11 2010, 6:44PM
“Hello optimistic of Highnam, or should I say bora da. Is this a genuine plaudit or are you taking a leaf from Jeremy Hilton's book you naughty man.”
by good news, highnam - optomistic!
Thursday, March 11 2010, 5:04PM
“This is good news for Tewkesbury Borough. It's time we all put in a bit of support for our Council - it's not going to get very far if we all have Frank's attitude.
I would hardly say an increase of 8p a week in council tax is huge.
We need to get behind our council now - if it fails then we can start moaning but lets give it a chance.”
by Frank, Tewkesbury
Thursday, March 11 2010, 4:28PM
“Fit for purpose! You've got to be joking? These are the clowns who've just announced another huge rise in council tax, following the huge rise last year. Does the 5 year plan state that the council will continue to fleece the hard pressed tax payer for this year, next year and for the following three years with above inflation council tax increases?
Or will they act as they should be doing and start getting their costs down? Three hundred and nineteen people! They could get rid of 30% of that lot without anybody noticing!”