4/4/2008

Local News in Fleet

Hart still failing to impress

Hart District Council remains one of the worst performing authorities in the country, a damning report has concluded.

The authority lacks adequate arrangements for achieving value for money and is falling behind other councils on improving services for the disabled.

Sickness absence among staff is high and rising, the cost of waste collection has risen significantly and burglary and car crime has increased.

The findings come in Hart’s latest annual audit and inspection letter from the Audit Commission.

It points out that in 2006-07 Hart remained among the ten councils in the country assessed as less than adequate for the way it manages its use of resources.

The letter states: “There remains much to do if the council is to meet its aspirations of being closer to excellence in all that it does.”

The report includes a review of how well the council has progressed over the last year. It points out that performance is improving in a number of important services.

The council is exceeding national targets on recycling and the service is more reliable, benefit claims are being dealt with quickly and the homelessness service continues to improve. It is also strengthening its financial and performance management, although from a low base.

However, the report says that a number of issues still need to be tackled.

It points out that the extent of Hart’s improvement in 2006-07 is less than at other district councils and there are areas of weaker performance that are deteriorating.

For example, the time taken to respond to complaints made to the Local Government Ombudsman, the speed of dealing with minor planning applications and the cost of waste collection.

The council will miss its own target on new affordable homes this year and has not had a clear approach to tackling planning issues associated with the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area, land that restricts nearby development because it is the habitat for threatened bird species.

The council remains at Level 1 of the local government equality standard compared with 71% of councils that have already achieved Level 2.

This means the authority is falling behind other councils on enabling and improving access to services for disadvantaged groups in the community.

Hart has not increased the percentage of buildings accessible to disabled people and missed its own target of achieving 55% in 2006-07. It means that over half of council buildings are currently not accessible to disabled people.

The council is still unable to demonstrate whether it is delivering value for money and lacks adequate arrangements for managing and improving this.

Sickness absence is high and rising, which could indicate low staff morale. Action is now being taken to tackle this issue.

The report states that Hart’s overall improvement performance in 2006-07 was below average, with 49% of perfor-mance indicators improving and 40% deteriorating. More than half of performance indicators are below average and 75% of these are deteriorating.

This includes the speed of dealing with minor planning applications, the time taken to deal with complaints, sickness absence and the cost of waste collection, which is above average and has increased significantly from £33 to £50 per household.

The report also says that improvements to the planning service are weak.

The speed of dealing with minor planning applications was in the worst 25% of councils in 2006-07 and fell below the government target. The time taken to deal with other planning applications was below average and has also deteriorated.

In addition, the percentage of refused planning applications allowed on appeal to the Planning Inspectorate has also risen.

The report states that improvements on reducing crime are also mixed.

Recorded crime in Hart continues to be lower than in other council districts in Hampshire. Hart has the lowest rate of Hampshire districts for sexual offences, violent crimes and robbery It is average for burglary and below average for care crime.

However, between 2005-06 and 2006-07 the number of recorded crimes rose by 175 to 2,900. Violence against the person, sexual offences and robbery reduced but burglary and car crime increased.

David Neighbour, the Liberal Democrat leader of the council, said the report was a frank and fair assessment.

However, he warned: “A Level 1 score is unacceptable. We have turned the corner, but there is still some way to go.”

Conservative group leader Ken Crookes said: “Overall, the report is very disappointing, particularly the lack of improvement in providing value for money and the rising cost of waste collection is just one example of that. Rising levels of absenteeism are particularly affecting the waste collection service because it has to bring in temporary contract staff to cover.

“We really need to get a grip on the value-for-money issue.

“It’s not something that can be fixed overnight but we’ve got to move together to get it under control.”

First printed in: Fleet News and Mail