Action already under way to progress Peer review recommendations
19 July 2024
West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) will be developing a compelling long-term plan for improving the area and working more strategically with partners in the months ahead as it progresses the recommendations of a recent independent review.
Work is already under way by the Council on addressing the findings of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) Corporate Peer Challenge in March, which looked in detail at how effective the authority is at providing services and delivering upon the vision to make West Northants a Great Place to Live, Visit, Work and Thrive.
A feedback report from the review said that the Council had made a strong positive start as a new unitary authority with ‘much achieved at pace’ during its first three years, and now needed to look ‘outwards and explore with partners what it wants for West Northamptonshire.’
Having also described external partner organisations’ relationships with the Council as ‘the best they have ever been’, the review said the Council now needed to build on this by working with them more closely and strategically on shaping the future of the area.
Within the report the Peers put forward eight recommendations from the review and the Council recently developed and published an action plan on how it plans to progress them, with work now under way. The action plan and timescales for progress can be viewed on the Council’s website.
Alongside engaging more strategically with partners and producing a long-term vision, other recommendations included developing how the Council plans for its medium to longer term budget pressures, further development of overview and scrutiny and improving customer transactions and the Council’s website.
The LGA review was undertaken during a four-day visit in March by a team of senior officers and members from other councils across the country who held more than 40 sessions to gather information and views of over 110 people including staff, councillors and external partners from the business, health, community and education sectors.
The Peers will now return to the Council later this year with a follow-up visit to measure WNC’s progress against the recommendations it has been set.
“The peer review was an excellent opportunity for us to invite in independent assessors as "critical friends" who could look into detail at how we work and let us know where we’re doing well and where we can improve.Councillor Adam Brown, Leader of West Northamptonshire Council
“They rightfully highlighted key challenges that we need to confront in the months and years ahead, such as improving some of our strategic relationships and developing "a compelling long-term vision for the area" – and I'm delighted to say work is already underway on these issues, as we seek to build on the foundations we've laid over the past three years as a new unitary council.
“Three years in and after creating key joint strategies working with partners and residents, we will be bringing them together to create a new 5-year business plan that sets out how we will achieve the vision our stakeholders agreed when we started, to “make West Northants a great place to live, work, visit and thrive” and the actions we will be taking with our partners to deliver this vision. We will set out an area-wide strategic approach to housing and economic growth alongside partnership ambitions for improving services for children to help them get the best start in life and ensuring older residents age and live well.”
The LGA Corporate Peer Challenge took place from 4-7 March at WNC’s office in One Angel Square, Northampton. The peer team considered the core themes looked at by all corporate peer challenges, namely: local priorities and outcomes, organisational and place leadership, governance and culture, financial planning and management and capacity for improvement.