Harlow Council Rated "Good"
Harlow Council is celebrating racing up the local government
league table by achieving a “Good” rating from a Government
watchdog.
Just three years ago the authority was awarded
“Poor”, the lowest possible of five rankings but has now shed the
tag after a re-assessment in July.
The rating system, called Comprehensive
Performance Assessment, is a check carried out by the Audit
Commission into how the Council is performing, how it provides its
services, how it manages it finances and how it runs its business.
Every council in England is assessed at regular intervals and
awarded one of the rankings.
“We are absolutely delighted with the result”
said Joint Council Leader Cllr Tony Durcan. “ Since 2004 we have
been working at an incredible rate to turn it around. We knew we
had made rapid progress and expected to rise to at least a “fair”
rating but to achieve “Good” is fantastic and, we think, well
deserved.”
His delight with the result was echoed by
fellow Joint Council Leader Cllr Chris Millington. He said: “It is
fantastic to achieve so much. I believe only two other councils
have ever managed such a leap. We know that there is still work to
do and we need to increase satisfaction levels with our services
even further. In the meantime, we would like to thank fellow
councillors and staff for their hard work and our many partners and
residents within the community that have helped us to achieve this
great result.”
The Audit Commission praised improvements in
key areas such as housing provision, customer services, planning,
anti social behaviour initiatives, regeneration and economic
development.
In particular it repeatedly praised how the
Council had worked in partnership with other organisations, such as
the County Council and Kier Harlow, to achieve the best for the
town and generate funds. The inspectors commented: “The Council and
its partners have a good understanding of the needs of the town and
clear long term ambition. It (the Council) works effectively to
create extra capacity by bringing investment and changing the way
it delivers services.”
The inspectors also highlighted the effective
way the councillors and officers now work together and how the
Council manages to gain agreement across political boundaries for
many important policies.
Copies of the report
See the Audit Commission's wesbite for more CPA information
www.audit-commission.gov.uk