Bromsgrove District Council: Supporting chief executives in NOC change of control councils

• Bromsgrove District Council is a non-metropolitan district in north-east Worcestershire with a population of 99,000 at 2021 census
• The council was created in 1974.
• Since 2008, the Council has developed shared services with its neighbour, Redditch Borough Council, including a shared chief executive, and senior management team.
• For much of its history the council has been Conservative controlled but moved into No Overall Control (NOC) at the May 2023 elections.
• The council is run by a joint administration between the Conservatives and Independents.

Bromsgrove District Council is a Worcestershire district in the West Midlands. It was established in the 1974 reorganisation. Since its creation it has largely been held by the Conservatives, with Conservative control from 1974 until 2023 broken only by a Labour administration for four years from 1995-1999. In May 2023 the council moved to NOC with control being held by a joint administration of Conservatives and Independents. There is a Conservative Council Leader and a Deputy who is an Independent Member.  Bromsgrove’s chief executive announced his retirement prior to the May elections. The then deputy, Sue Hanley, took over the chief executive role initially in an interim capacity from the Summer of 2023 and thereafter appointed by both councils until a replacement is recruited. Her reflections on the lessons of working with the joint administration are included below.

Since boundary changes took place in 2015, the council comprises 31 councillors representing 30 wards. All out elections take place every four years. The next elections are 2027.

*Note: One current vacancy – by-election

The council operates a ‘cabinet and leader’ governance system. There is a cabinet of seven including the Leader. The Leader is a Conservative councillor and the deputy is from the Independents.   The cabinet comprises four Conservatives and three Independents. It meets every month to six weeks. There is an Overview and Scrutiny Board comprising eleven councillors with an opposition chair and Conservative vice chair. There is also a Planning committee, a Licensing committee and sub committees and an Audit, Standards and Governance committee. As with many councils who have moved to NOC in recent years, there was interest from part of the administration in moving to a committee system. After the election a working group was set up to consider this option further. Ultimately, the administration determined to retain the cabinet system, however, introduced Cabinet Advisory Groups within a wider comprehensive governance review to bring more inclusivity and involvement of all Members.

Unexpected election results

The 2023 election results at Bromsgrove came ‘out of the blue’ and were initially a shock to the senior managers. After all, the Conservatives had controlled the council for forty-five years out of the forty-nine years since its inception in 1974. There had been much more of a history of political change in Redditch (which shares its management team with Bromsgrove). The officer team had been used to almost continual Conservative control with a rather adversarial political culture between the parties in the District in recent years. The chief executive reflected that there was a real need to develop different ways of working – and closer working between senior officers and members. She took a number of steps to help shift the culture.

Close working with the administration

Senior officers and the administration met frequently to build up relationships and to develop a more inclusive, collaborative culture; ‘collaboration had to be the way forward’. The chief executive prioritised building up a trusting and confidential relationship with the Leader and Deputy. Sue emphasises the importance of private, confidential conversations. Building trust involves creating spaces to build intentional relationships. The chief executive meets the Leader and Deputy on a regular basis (and she does this separately for each council). There are meetings held with group leaders and the ‘golden triangle’ of chief executive, monitoring officer and section 151 officer. The chief executive meets with the Independents as a group. In the early months of the administration there were a plethora of meetings – including meetings of the governance working group - and it was a very busy time for senior officers and leading members.

Strong and trusting relationship between the Council Leader and Deputy Leader

The Council Leader and Deputy Leader have worked very closely together - modelling the benefits of a collaborative relationship for the rest of the cabinet and for the administration political groups. The chief executive commented that ‘they work together so well with a shared and respected understanding’. This is a tremendous advantage for the administration.

A clear understanding of the member – officer relationship

The chief executive has a clear view on the role of senior officers and senior members and ensures she is consistent in communicating this; ‘I work for all councillors but as a strategic leadership team we support the administration’. And the chief executive is clear that the strategy is member-led but that organisational issues are the domain of the chief executive. She applies this consistently. There can be member push back on agile working, HR policies and workforce planning and it is important to hold the line; ‘you employ me to manage the organisation’.

The Golden Triangle

Shifting the culture to being more collaborative and working more closely with members, has taken team work across senior officers. In particular, the ‘golden triangle’ of the chief executive, monitoring officer and section 151 officer have worked closely together to co-ordinate their member support. The monitoring officer and section 151 officer jointly took the lead on the governance working groups, and the section 151 officer took the lead on the budget. In both cases, the officers met separately with members. The chief executive stayed out of these meetings – and was a useful backstop if necessary.

Supporting members better

The chief executive has also worked to counter concerns from the previous opposition groups that support was focused on the majority party. She has worked to provide a more inclusive approach. For example, there was inconsistency in how member inquiries were dealt with. She has taken steps to improve consistency and responsiveness. There have been more member briefings. This has also helped to enhance the political awareness of officers beyond the leadership team, crucial for working successfully in NOC; ‘political awareness has to go much further down in a NOC than a long standing majority control council’.

LGA support

The LGA has also provided support to the new administration which the chief executive stated was immensely helpful and has helped the cabinet in being more confident in providing a political strategic lead. The LGA delivered a cabinet development programme which provided space to consider how administration cabinets can work effectively and for Bromsgrove cabinet to develop further their shared purpose and identify honestly their ‘red lines’. They also met as a ‘top team’, undertaking a half day away day discussing effective member-officer working and working collectively on the future direction of the council. The top team have understood the value of investing time in working informally together to discuss their shared strategic issues.

Productive NOC working

The administration has developed effective collaborative working. For example, the budget setting process went very well; moving smoothly through full council. The council plan has now been adopted unanimously by full council which is tremendous progress.

Experienced chief executive

While Sue has taken over the chief executive role post the May 2023 elections, she is a very experienced senior officer. She had twelve years’ experience as deputy chief executive and she has worked in the political domain for all her career. Although Bromsgrove has been predominantly majority controlled, Redditch has changed control much more often and also saw a period of NOC. This wide experience has been helpful, ensuring she ‘understands the dynamics and pitfalls which can be quite a testing environment. Political awareness and acumen with very clear boundaries between members and officers has been critical.

Sue Hanley, Chief Executive
Email: [email protected]