A major new report from a team of senior local government figures from outside the borough has concluded that Ealing Council is ‘well led’ and ‘moving in the right direction.’
The Local Government Association (LGA) recently sent a delegation of experienced leaders of councils and senior council officers to conduct a comprehensive review of Ealing’s finance, performance and governance.
The team spent 4 days on the ground providing ‘robust, strategic and credible’ challenge to the council’s senior management as part of a Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC), providing a ‘critical friend’ assessment.
In its final report the team notes that:
- Ealing Council is well-led and demonstrates ‘effective and collaborative political and managerial leadership,’ noting that both the leader of the council, Councillor Peter Mason and chief executive, Tony Clements, are ‘widely respected.’
- The council has ‘achieved much under the current political and managerial leadership’ and is moving forward in the right direction with a ‘strong and purposeful vision for change.’
- Ealing Council is focused on improving outcomes for its residents across the 7 towns and the peer review team observed clear evidence of a ‘transformative drive within the council’ to establish the foundations to achieve this vision.
In particular, it’s been a ‘significant achievement’ to move children’s services in Ealing from ‘Requires Improvement’ before May 2024, to ‘Good’ today.
The council has 9 ‘resident-focussed priorities’ and 3 cross-cutting objectives around climate, equalities, and jobs. The peer team noted there is a ‘robust’ performance management framework in place to help deliver the plan.
In addition, the council’s new Connected Communities vision – putting residents lived experiences at the heart of decision-making - has the potential to ‘radically transform outcomes’ for the residents of Ealing and the way the council operates.
Leader of Ealing Council, Councillor Peter Mason, said: “When I became leader we set out to become the kind of open, transparent and inclusive council I knew the residents of Ealing wanted us to be. I’m incredibly proud that the improvements we have secured have been recognised by the LGA in their thorough and independent review.
“We continue to be relentlessly focussed on getting the basics right, holding ourselves to the standards that our residents expect from us, and being ruthlessly efficient in getting the best value for taxpayers’ money. We know we still have more to do, as we always will.”
He added: “This is the heart of our new approach to building stronger communities, full of pride, identity and purpose. Ensuring everyone gets to benefit from the growing prosperity in our seven towns. Delivering on our promise to give people power and control over the future of their neighbourhoods.”
Read the full report here.