Teignbridge District Council praised in Peer Challenge report
Teignbridge District Council has been praised by peers for its strong leadership, ‘excellent’ officer/member relationships and entrepreneurial ‘can do’ approach that brings about opportunities for the district.
Teignbridge commissioned a Peer Challenge review to investigate what it does well and where it can make improvements.
The Peer Challenge is offered by the Local Government Association to member councils. This is where an experienced team of Peer Reviewers, made up of politicians and other senior council officers from a nationally approved pool, are invited into councils and review aspects of the authority’s performance. The activities are planned over an intense four-day period.
While the challenge is an optional process, it is something Teignbridge was keen to take part in to ensure we are delivering our services in the most efficient and effective manner for the people and businesses of Teignbridge.
The six-strong team visited Teignbridge from 7-10 March 2016 and spoke to more than 50 people including employees, partners, community groups, elected members and residents. The team spent more than 300 hours determining the findings – the equivalent of one person spending eight weeks in Teignbridge.
They looked at a series of guiding questions testing whether Teignbridge has clear priorities, a viable long-term financial plan, effective leadership, governance and decision-making arrangements, plus the capacity and resources to deliver its 10-year Council Strategy.
Their findings have now been published.
The report says: “Teignbridge is a council that has strong political and managerial leadership. There are excellent member-officer relationships, which exist with members of all parties on the Council.
“Members across the different groups can work together constructively in the interests of residents and the Council while respecting their political differences.
“The Council has dedicated and talented officers, who are well regarded by members and by the various partners which the Council works with. More generally the Council is well regarded by its partners.
“The Council demonstrates leadership of place in action, with an entrepreneurial ‘can do’ approach to take advantage of opportunities for the District as they arise. It has ambitious and bold plans to grow the local economy, to provide opportunities for local people and to secure the authority’s financial independence.”
Recommendations on how Teignbridge can move forward with the challenges it faces were also made and will be used in future action planning. These include:
• Strengthening the newly-adopted Council Strategy to give it greater impact and develop an investment strategy to underpin its delivery
• Make more use of elected member task groups to enable a wide range of councillors to participate in policy development through the scrutiny process
• Continue to pay attention to attracting, retaining, recognising key staff to maintain and develop high performing teams
The team felt that Teignbridge had a strong sense of place and had a clear grasp of the main challenges facing the area.
Council success stories included its role in bringing the South Devon University Technical College to Newton Abbot, the creation of Pavilions Teignmouth, the adopted Local Plan and the recent acquisition of Market Walk Shopping Centre in Newton Abbot.
“The Council has ambitious and bold plans to grow the local economy to help secure financial independence, and increase its income from a range of income streams along with more job opportunities for local people”, the report says.
Teignbridge has a sound track record in successfully tackling financial challenges to date and appears to have taken reasonable account of cost pressures in preparing its budget and financial plans through to 2018-19, peers say.
The team praised Teignbridge’s ‘dedicated and very talented staff’, saying: “They are highly regarded by members and senior officers from other authorities in the area commented on the quality of officers at Teignbridge.”
Nicola Bulbeck, Chief Executive of Teignbridge District Council, said:
“We welcome the findings and recommendations in the Peer Challenge report and would like to thank the team for their time with us here in Teignbridge.
“It’s great to receive such a positive report which, rightly, recognises our talented and hard-working staff, the positive cross-party relationships of our councillors and the services we provide to our residents. There are many outstanding examples of where Teignbridge has delivered big projects and better outcomes for the communities we serve.
“Key recommendations give us the tools and power to build on all this great work further. We are already taking action on the points made, particularly around empowering councillors to participate in policy development through the scrutiny process, strengthening relationships with partners and spreading the word about our Council Strategy.
“All this will help cement Teignbridge’s entrepreneurial reputation as can-do and will-do. Progress on the report recommendations will be reported back to council later in the year.”
You can read the report online at www.teignbridge.gov.uk/budgetandspending
