Corporate Peer Challenge: Broadland and South Norfolk District Councils

It is a positive time to live, work and visit Broadland and South Norfolk. Situated in the heart of Norfolk covering 1460 square kilometres and home to 123,400 households, Broadland District Council (BDC) and South Norfolk District Council (SNC) are demonstrating what can be achieved through the power of collaboration.

Following a feasibility study in 2018 the two councils set upon the journey of creating one officer team to support the delivery of services across both BDC and SNC. Under the guidance of a new managing director and senior team, a full staff restructure across the two councils was achieved within 12 months, even a global pandemic didn’t derail the plans. It was evident the “One Team” is now fully embedded with many staff unaware of what came before. 

There is clearly huge ambition for place across Broadland and South Norfolk. The “One Team” approach offers significant added value to regional, sub regional and district strategic working to further economic growth. For example, working with the Greater Norwich Growth Board (GNGB) to secure investments, Greater Norwich Development Partnership (GNDP) to deliver a Greater Norwich local Plan (GNLP) and a Greater Norwich Economic Strategy (GNES) attracting funding through the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (NALEP) and developing relationships with businesses, developers, investors and anchor institutions, the councils are unlocking housing and employment growth and levering in funding. 

BDC and SNC are place leaders, delivering outcomes that shape rather than follow the market, the Food Enterprise Park (FEP), Broadland Food Innovation Centre (BFIC), and Ella May Barnes laboratories and workspace at Norwich Research Park showcase just some of the innovation. This is in a context where many interventions deliver a successful commercial return for the council, which given the extensive evidence of commercial failure rates for innovation and enterprise is a significant achievement across multiple sectors.

The Help Hub is another best practice example of strategic working to improve collaborative operational service delivery across organisations for the benefit of residents which the councils should celebrate more. Bringing together a network of partners and services including the police, health, housing, benefits, voluntary sector, primary care networks and more to provide a bespoke “one stop shop” of support and advice to individuals or families in their times of need. Peers recommend the councils celebrate the innovation and best practice being delivered to avoid underselling the achievements being made and the staff and members involved in delivering them.

The councils are working at pace to deliver an ambitious transformation programme following a full staff restructure across the two councils. The programme and project management approach has been evolving and now sets out the plan under themed portfolios. The structure beneath this is still to be finalised along with resources and capacity. Staff across the one team have been trained in project management and work within services to deliver projects. Peers recommend BDC and SNC now strengthen the corporate oversight of project and programme management and empower managers to embed the approach corporately and ensure that adequate resources and capacity are in place to deliver. At the same time the councils need to further embed the new performance management framework and make better use of business intelligence to drive improvement and provide consistency across the services.  

One of the biggest portfolio themes “Beyond the Horizon” involves projects to facilitate the two councils moving into a single building at the Broadland Business Park. Although there is a clear desire from the Managing Director and leaders of both BDC and SNC to move out of the current accommodation by the end of 2022, the peer team is concerned that the communication and planning for the move lacks clarity, is still evolving and requires clear political direction. 

The move will have greater impacts on some members and officers than others, with implications for IT staff who need to decommission buildings, ensure the new building is fit for purpose and deliver a programme of work to oversee the design, interior build and fit out of the new building. Peers have flagged how challenging the ambitious timetable may be to deliver and heard of many obstacles still to be overcome. The peer team recommend that both councils take a short pause to ensure that specialist officers working on the project are listened to, their views are taken on board and aligned to a realistic timescale with key milestones and deliverables. They then need to consistently communicate to all staff and members to dispel any myths and create certainty.

The need for more consistent communications was a theme picked up by peers during their visit. Appreciating it was a very busy time with lots of messages being landed and a peer team happy to listen, it was important what was heard, was triangulated. Staff and members are excited about the changes ahead but there does appear to be “noise in the system” with regard to the messages being relayed and there is a risk that changes are happening so fast that not everyone is keeping up. 

Confusion over flexible/hybrid working arrangements - peers heard multiple different views on what had been communicated, what different teams were enforcing and what the future requirements would be having moved to the one office. Dates for the move, whether it was a double move or not, when systems were being aligned and what the new transformation programme looked like were all issues raised. Officers told peers there was no shortage of communications, but it didn’t always feel like the right information. Peers recommend the councils remember the power of consistent and timely communication with quality over quantity.

Both councils are financially sound with reasonable reserves and manageable budget gaps. Investments in wholly owned companies are delivering healthy levels of commercial income and there are robust budget setting and budget monitoring procedures. However, given the increasingly challenging and uncertain economic situation - rising inflation, rising interest rates, fuel and energy costs, cost of living pressures on households, increasing pressure on pay, nutrient neutrality, recruitment and retention - the 2023/24 budget process will be more challenging than any in recent years. 

Peers recommend the councils stress test the underlying assumptions (interest rates, inflation, collection rates, pay uplifts, interest repayments from councils’ owned companies etc) and model different scenarios to inform the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) and the associated Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP). The planned MFTS and MTFP refresh around July/September at the start of the detailed budget process will also inform that detailed budget process and enable a one year and medium-term approach to be undertaken, for example helping to ensure an understanding of the cumulative longer-term impacts of decisions such as approach to setting council tax rates.

Streamlining the governance arrangements within each council and across the joint partnership to bring them more in line with each other and enable greater efficiency, challenge and timely decision making were recommended. There are many examples where reports are going through multiple meetings of cabinet, overview and scrutiny, panels, committees and council before either being approved or having to complete the loop of meetings again. This process is draining capacity and affecting resilience in both organisations and risks impacting on your ambitions and priorities if decisions are not made at the pace required. Consider replacing panels (BDC) and policy committees (SNC) with an enhanced scrutiny function to help improve officer capacity, resilience and accountability whilst enabling councillors to maximise their ability to effectively contribute to decision making and scrutiny.

With regard to the joint partnership, it is performing well against its objectives and delivering the expected savings. Moving forward peers recommend the councils establish a clear, outcomes-based, vision for the partnership which takes it to the next level, beyond the feasibility study. Building on the excellent progress made to date and using the move to a single building as a catalyst to create the next chapter. The creation of an overarching joint committee, to match the already formed but not used joint scrutiny committee would provide the space and governance needed for members to have discussions that relate to both councils and consider the art of the possible.  

An outcomes-based joint vision is critical to the success of both councils’ economic aspirations. Despite the evidence of a strong track record of delivery, there is a concern that future opportunities for growth will be limited in scale if the joint working across the Greater Norfolk’s officer teams is not supported by equal political collaboration in the form of effective governance for shared priorities across organisations. Achieving long term economic goals such as the Cambridge to Norwich Tech Corridor will be more viable if the leaders of BDC and SNC could be seen standing together at strategic partnership fora. For the future of the partnership, peers encourage members to set aside differences and work together for the benefit of residents, businesses and partners.

Both councils would benefit from creating a culture where challenge is encouraged, trust and mutual respect is absolute and poor behaviour is called out. Peers received reports of poor behaviour between members and officers, members and members and officers and officers. They heard of examples where junior staff were being shielded from member meetings to avoid uncomfortable or upsetting situations, officers blaming other officers and members challenging and discrediting professional officer advice. This is unacceptable and is impacting on morale and resilience. Peers recommend clarifying roles and responsibilities to support this. Both BDC and SNC have so much to be proud of and celebrate – make officers feel valued, attract and retain the brightest and best and let your ambitious, innovative and bold reputation speak for itself.

 

There are a number of observations and suggestions within the main section of the report. The following are the peer team’s key recommendations to the councils:

2.1. Recommendation 1

Better celebrate your innovation and best practice initiatives – you are underselling your achievements and role as place leaders.

2.2. Recommendation 2

Urgently clarify member and officer roles and responsibilities across both councils and create a culture of trust, mutual respect, confront poor behaviour and encourage challenge.

2.3. Recommendation 3

Establish a clear outcome based joint vision for the partnership – political relationships are undermining the aspiration. Members from both councils need to be on board, standing together to promote the benefits you are achieving.

2.4. Recommendation 4

Review the office accommodation move project - listen to the specialists, agree a realistic timeline and milestones and then communicate.

2.5. Recommendation 5

Streamline processes and procedures around governance to improve officer capacity, resilience and accountability and take the partnership forward.

2.6. Recommendation 6

Strengthen corporate oversight of project and programme management, performance management and transformation portfolios – empower managers.

2.7. Recommendation 7

Review, refresh, refine and stress test the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MFTS) at the start of the budget process.

2.8. Recommendation 8

Remember the power of consistent and timely communication.

 

3.1. The peer team

Peer challenges are delivered by experienced elected member and officer peers. The make-up of the peer team reflected the focus of the peer challenge and peers were selected on the basis of their relevant expertise. The peers were:

• Lead Peer – Yvonne Rees, Chief Executive – Cherwell District Council
• Member Peer – Ian Hudspeth (Conservative), Former Leader – Oxfordshire County Council 
• Officer Peer – Terry Collier, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer, Spelthorne Borough Council 
• Officer Peer – Dan Gascoyne, Deputy Chief Executive – Colchester Borough Council 
• Officer Peer – David Shepherd, Strategic Director for Growth and Regeneration – Kirklees Council 
• LGA Peer Challenge Manager - Kirsty Human  
• LGA Project Support Officer – Daniella Howell

3.2. Scope and focus

The peer team considered the following five themes which form the core components of all Corporate Peer Challenges. These areas are critical to councils’ performance and improvement.

1. Local priorities and outcomes - Are the council’s priorities clear and informed by the local context? Are the councils delivering effectively on their priorities? 

2. Organisational and place leadership - Do the councils provide effective local leadership? Are there good relationships with partner organisations and local communities?

3. Governance and culture - Are there clear and robust governance arrangements? Is there a culture of challenge and scrutiny?

4. Financial planning and management - Do the councils have a grip on their current financial position? Do the councils have a strategy and a plan to address financial challenges?

5. Capacity for improvement - Are the organisations able to support delivery of local priorities? Do the councils have the capacity to improve?

In addition to these questions, BDC and SNC asked the peer team to provide feedback on: 

6. The joint partnership - Are Broadland and South Norfolk Council’s heading in the right direction? Is the partnership delivering against priorities? What opportunities are there to go further?

3.3. The peer challenge process

Peer challenges are improvement focused; it is important to stress that this was not an inspection. The process is not designed to provide an in-depth or technical assessment of plans and proposals. The peer team used their experience and knowledge of local government to reflect on the information presented to them by people they met, things they saw and material that they read. 

The peer team prepared by reviewing a range of documents and information in order to ensure they were familiar with the councils and the challenges they are facing. The team then spent five days onsite in Broadland and South Norfolk councils, during which they:

• gathered information and views from more than 65 meetings, and a tour of both districts in addition to further research and reading.
• spoke to around 225 people including a range of council staff together with councillors and external stakeholders.

This report provides a summary of the peer team’s findings. In presenting feedback, they have done so as fellow local government officers and councillors.

In February 2020 the two councils formally agreed a joint strategic plan “Our Plan” setting out their vision and ambitions jointly and autonomously. This was a key ambition of the partnership feasibility study and engaged members from both councils in developing strategic priorities for the next four-year period. Officers and members recognise and understand the vision and priorities, how their work helps to deliver them and how they support the partnership.

In April 2022, a two-year delivery plan commenced, outlining the specific projects and activities that will be delivered to achieve the ambitions set out within “Our Plan”. Despite the impacts of the pandemic, through conversations and oversight of performance reports, it was clear to peers that the councils have managed to deliver on a number of priorities. A redesign of the community hub model was achieved, involving more partners and further empowering communities. Building work continued on the Broadland Food Innovation Centre (BFIC), Broadland Country Park was opened to the public, St Giles Park development at Cringleford was awarded an accelerated construction grant and leisure facilities in South Norfolk reopened in line with COVID measures to support communities through the recovery phase. These and many more are achievements to be proud of and celebrated.

Although there are regular reporting mechanisms, the new planning and performance management framework needs to be further embedded. There are plans to make better use of business intelligence (BI) and enhance mechanisms to access BI. This capability needs to use data intelligence and evidence-based reporting to drive improvement and make linkages across multiple service areas, systems and synergies between the two councils. priorities and ambitions to ensure the councils are investing in the right areas. Peers encourage you to include partners in this approach.

As the approach to transformation, project, programme and portfolio management is agreed and finalised, it will be necessary to align these with the two-year delivery plan in order to avoid duplication, to clearly identify interdependencies and to effectively manage resources. Given the pace of change and delivery, ensuring the Medium-Term Financial Strategies (MTFS’s) and Medium-Term Financial Plans (MTFPs) are aligned with the vision and priorities is also business critical.

Further developing and embedding the use of Equality Impact Assessments (EqIAs) to improve and mitigate issues arising out of new projects and programmes in also an important area for consideration. The implications for staff with the office relocation is one example where they can add significant value.

Both BDC and SNC are delivering well against national performance measures. Council tax collection rates are the amongst the very highest compared to other councils in the Cifpa comparison group and both councils are low spending on housing, planning and environmental services.

The “One team” came together to deliver throughout COVID19 with minimal service disruption. There was a positive approach to redeployment, with officers switching roles to litter picking, stewarding, supporting the Help Hub, collecting waste and working with partner organisations including the NHS, public health and the county council. Relationships and connections at the hyperlocal level during this time have been harnessed and continue to support residents primarily though the help hub.

There is active engagement with circa 200 town and parish councils through the Town and Parish Forum which meets for two hours every month. There are opportunities for agenda items to be proposed by members and this is encouraged. The forum is broadly supported but engagement with the smaller parishes can be problematic, as two hours can be a large part of their contracts for part time clerks. The peer team would however encourage town and parish councils to prioritise attendance at these meetings. District councillors and officers also regularly attend individual town and parish meetings to listen and discuss specific areas of interest.

The councils’ new Pride in Place programme will see the government’s levelling up objectives delivered through locally driven and co-produced services. BDC and SNC have committed their support to this by appointing a Pride in Place delivery manager to work with parishes, towns, residents and voluntary groups to shape and deliver local solutions to local problems. The scope of work includes but is not restricted to, community infrastructure, community leadership and prevention and the local environment. Peers witnessed the parish and town councils support of this and are confident it will deliver substantial benefits to communities when rolled out.

Peers heard of plans to establish a customer panel across the two councils to “enable our customers to share their views on how we can best provide and improve our services. It will also help us shape future services”. Whilst challenging, it will be important to attract a diverse pool of people to the panel to strengthen the understanding of community needs, consult on new/revised policies, gather informed views on the budget (which will be particularly important given the greater financial challenges ahead) and reach underrepresented groups.

Both councils have adopted Environmental Strategies outlining the regulatory, planning and service specific activities and actions that can help to achieve carbon neutrality. Recognising the importance of this work, additional capacity has been created to strengthen the ambitions, support further collaborative working with the Norfolk Climate Change Partnership and set out the roadmap for decarbonisation. There are innovative projects happening across the councils including the introduction of green bonds, tree planting, move to Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) fuel, community energy projects and renewable energy projects including the use of green hydrogen. Bringing together all this good practice into a single strategy detailing the opportunities and aspirations with smart targets will bring the councils in line with others across Norfolk and ensure you are not underselling yourselves.

There is clearly huge ambition for place across Broadland and South Norfolk. The “One Team” offers significant added value to regional, sub regional and district strategic working to further economic growth. Examples of policy development (Greater Norwich local Plan - GNLP), strategy production (Greater Norwich Economic Strategy - GNES) and aligned delivery arrangements (New Anglia LEP business support) are evident, resulting in substantial financial benefits (Collaboration on the GNLP resulted in a shared £40 million+) and unlocking housing and employment growth. Projects including the Food Enterprise Park (FEP), Broadland Food Innovation Centre (BFIC), vertical farm and Ella May Barnes demonstrate innovation and mature partner relationships. Peers strongly recommend the councils celebrate this innovation and best practice.

BDC and SNC can be considered place leaders in the economic sphere on the evidence of their achievements reviewed by the peer team. The GNES for growth is well placed to deliver additionality to what the market would deliver on its own. The councils deliver outcomes that shape rather than follow the market. This is in a context where many interventions deliver a successful commercial return. Given the extensive evidence of commercial failure rates for innovation and enterprise this is a significant achievement across multiple sectors.

Despite the evidence of a strong track record of delivery, there is a concern that future opportunities for growth will be limited in scale if the joint working across Norfolk’s officer teams is not supported by equal political collaboration in the form of effective governance for shared priorities across organisations. The Greater Norwich Partnership and New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership are at a critical juncture. Both organisations need to provide leadership for economic strategy, infrastructure planning and business growth. The current absence of agreed and effective longer term governance arrangements is an area for attention across the LEP area for all partners, as prolonged uncertainty will likely result in reduced confidence from partners and investors as well as diverted resources from BDC and SNC to provide work around solutions. Achieving long term economic goals such as the Cambridge to Norwich Tech Corridor will be more viable if the leaders of BDC and SNC are seen standing stand together at strategic partnership fora.

Peers heard “If a strategy has been approved by SNDC it is less likely to be approved by BDC.” This political disconnect is impacting on both councils’ reputation.

There have been examples which resulted in two separate planning applications to the different Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) where there could have been one lead authority. Having a lead LPA could reduce the investment risk to businesses. The business community were frustrated by elected members in both councils, as they were perceived as the reason for duplication of planning risk. In other areas, LPAs agree which authority will administer a planning application that spans both jurisdictions - SNDC and BDC should adopt this model going forward.

The officer team at BDC and SNC are well respected across a range of partners (including health, police, housing providers, business and voluntary services) who recognise the professional capability and positive determination of teams working to deliver economic growth outcomes across both councils - helping others realise their ambition to deliver benefits for residents and businesses.

• Planning services are credited for their leadership of the vexing issue of nutrient neutrality, helping investment partners retain their confidence and focus collective efforts on developing and delivering solutions, demonstrating high levels of self-determination and resilience. “They are the only councils in the region who have pro-actively responded to the nutrient neutrality issue.”
• Housing associations trust they will receive timely and accurate services for planning applications and building control services.
• The Chamber of Commerce recognises the councils as leaders for business engagement and support services to businesses
• Business partners felt supported and listened to by the councils during the pandemic, with proactive responses to the challenges faced.
• Regulatory services have maintained the respect and confidence of businesses across the districts through the transition period to “One Team.”
• There was a feeling more progress could be made to deliver joint outcomes if there were more trust between the councils and the community and voluntary sector.

The nutrient neutrality issue is a significant risk that undermines the local plan if not appropriately addressed. Work is in hand, but this needs to be flagged as a significant risk to development, business rate and council tax income, and risk to future council company pipeline and income streams and future economic growth in the absence of a long-term solution.

The Help Hub is a best practice example of strategic working to improve operational service delivery across organisations for the benefit of residents which the councils should celebrate more. Providing a network of resources that work together to support an individual or family. Further improvements are anticipated by partners when the move to the New Horizons building is completed – it will be more efficient for the Police. Health partners were very complimentary about the work with primary care networks. Regulatory services work with a range of front-line partners to deliver the community safety hub and link with the help hub, sharing intelligence and resources to provide seamless and responsive services across a range of issues. Innovative approaches to managing Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) were evidenced, particularly regarding young people and efforts to reduce the risk of harm resulting from their behaviour. There is a view from partners that developing the Help Hub into other areas, for example, Norwich and broadening partners to include mental health would be worth exploring.

Collaboration is positively encouraged with a view to shaping services and the delivery of outcomes, as well as increasing capacity to complement the council officer resource. The Food Enterprise Park is a good example of innovation enabled by the Greater Norwich Partnership and delivered by BDC and SNC. The University of East Anglia is engaged in business growth from a strategic as well delivery perspective – providing thought leadership to the BFIC.

The Broadland Food Innovation Centre demonstrates how four levers of growth are being employed in one pioneering project.

• Delivered in collaboration by partners sharing the same vision, for smart taxation (designated Enterprise Zone).
• Building the workforce of the future with local training providers, colleges and University of East Anglia.
• Delivering huge public investment to kickstart a revolution in food production (vertical farming).
• Potentially locating a cluster of new market sector food production to outcompete the world.

Peers heard “Managed relationships, sharing information and pursuing a common goal underpins the successful partnership working.”

Whilst many services have received support for investment in staff resource to help meet existing demand pressures this is too often of a temporary nature. Given the long-term nature of the capacity requirements and the income generated, a more definite commitment would be of benefit, particularly where business cases support this investment. Ambition at pace can have negative consequences so peers urge the Corporate Management Leadership Team (CMLT) to carve out time for the top team to pause, reflect and strategically plan – building resilience and appreciation too.

Peers heard general feedback of a need to communicate better on service delivery across the directorates. The councils are underselling achievements. Requests for innovation in communications, such as “a day in the life of … ”  at the staff briefings for example, to better understand the work of colleagues and teams across the council. This was a view expressed externally too. The website and external communications provide platforms for both BDC and SNC to showcase all the excellent best practice peers saw and were told about – stand proud and promote yourselves regionally and nationally.

Peers recommend the governance arrangements within each council and the joint partnership need streamlining and using best practice from other councils in shared partnerships bringing more in line with each other to enable greater transparency, challenge and timely decision making. There were many examples where reports were going through multiple meetings of cabinet, overview and scrutiny, panels, committees and council before either being approved or having to complete the loop of meetings again. This process is draining capacity and affecting resilience in both organisations and risks impacting on your ambitions and priorities if decisions are not made at the pace required.

Scrutiny at BDC is being diluted by the many cabinet groups and is unable to effect change due to it meeting the week before cabinet. Peers strongly suggest the councils consider replacing panels (BDC) and policy committees (SNC) with an enhanced scrutiny function to help improve officer capacity, resilience and accountability. This will also strengthen the role of back benchers and ensure there is a balanced approach to pre-and post-decision scrutiny and a focus on policy development.

With regard to the joint partnership, there is no one forum for discussion to take place.  Peers heard of a joint BDC and SNC scrutiny committee, which had never met. In contrast there was a joint accommodation working group set up to oversee the issues, options and benefits of a shared office. This model should be elevated to create an overarching joint committee, creating space to develop, progress and monitor the joint partnerships vision and ambitions. This would also enable the joint scrutiny committee to meet and discuss issues impacting on both councils rather than the setting up of separate member working groups for example the BDC collaboration working group.  

It was encouraging to hear that the constitutions of both councils are being reviewed and updated following best practice. Ensure everyone is working to the right version and consider a review of delegated powers to again support the speed of decision making. Further consideration of aligning portfolios across BDC and SNC would also support streamlined processes and create capacity whilst maintaining sovereignty.

The councils would benefit from creating a culture where challenge is more readily encouraged, trust and mutual respect is absolute and poor behaviour is called out. Peers witnessed and heard of poor behaviour between members and officers, members and members and officers and officers. They heard of examples where junior staff were being shielded from member meetings to avoid uncomfortable and sometimes upsetting scenes, officers blaming other officers and members challenging and discrediting professional officer advice. This is unacceptable and is impacting on morale and resilience. It is critical to address this, to make officers feel valued, attract and retain the best staff and maintain your reputation.  

Neither council has inhouse legal expertise (this includes the roles of Monitoring Officer and Deputy). Legal support is outsourced with a different organisation for each Authority.  Peers recognise that this practice is replicated in other authorities but suggest the provision of some inhouse qualified resource would strengthen the monitoring officer function. It would also help to set the tone for expected behaviour, preventing a negative culture from setting in and becoming normalised.

Both councils have set up wholly owned companies (Big Sky Group and Broadland Growth Limited) to deliver growth and housing projects. The governance arrangements are strong, with experienced directors and staff appointed to direct and oversee operations. Transparency could be further improved by communicating performance, business plans and annual reports to a broader membership group.  The Councils are moving in this direction, but it needs to be fully embedded and transparent.

The CMLT and members recognised a few years ago an issue with too many outstanding audit recommendations. This was addressed through making Assistant Directors accountable for them which led to a reduction in volumes and improvements to the process.

The external auditors recognised the Audit Committee at SNC was more effective in its oversight of financial reporting, internal controls and risk, with a good approach to support and challenge. There is an opportunity for the Audit Committee at BDC to develop and learn from that at SNC. Both councils’ Audit Committees will need to progress the recruitment and appointment of lay members in line with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) requirement. 

Peers recommend the corporate ownership of all the project, programme and portfolio management is strengthened, consistent messaging is communicated and clear performance management and reporting mechanisms are applied and owned across the organisation. This will support good governance of the approach, ensure everyone knows their roles and responsibilities and managers are empowered.

Risk management processes have evolved with corporate risk policies approved in 2020 and risk registers put in place. Operational risks to the delivery plan are managed within directorates. Strategic risks are managed through the strategic risk register with regular reporting arrangements to CMLT and members. It is impossible to predict the future but do ensue the strategic risk register is a live document and incorporates the big risks identified within your transformation programme, for example those associated with your office accommodation move, including the sale of current offices and third-party logistics.

Officers are very committed and dedicated to deliver the best services for residents, communities and businesses. At all levels, staff have insights as to how processes and integration can be improved further and use their initiative to drive improvement. The one team approach is embedded, accelerated by the cross-cutting impacts of responding to COVID-19 – it will be further consolidated by the move to one office location. However, there was a sense some staff felt undervalued, particularly in light of pay and rewards which as a result of HMRC regulations had left lower paid staff unable to meet minimum requirements for some employee benefits, for example the car lease scheme.

During the two-year pay negotiations there was a breakdown in relationship with the trade union. Given the pace and scale of change for staff, the impending move to one office and the impacts this will have across the workforce, not forgetting flexible/hybrid working arrangements, peers urge the councils to rebuild this.  

A clarification of roles and responsibilities particularly at the director and assistant director level would strengthen the empowerment of middle managers. Peers considered the current membership of CMLT to be too large, with too much operational discussion and less time for strategic leadership planning. Consideration should be given to creating a structure which enables assistant directors to meet as a collective to discuss operational and cross cutting issues, which can be reported into the managing director and directors for strategic decision making. This would empower assistant directors, create a solid peer to peer learning environment and break down the perception “not in the room, not in the loop.”

Staff reported there was a lot of communication in the organisation but not necessarily providing the right information or messages. Multiple emails a day, optional what’s app messages from the managing director, updates on the intranet, monthly staff briefings, one to ones and team meetings were all referenced. As was mixed messaging around flexible working and the office move. Fewer but more targeted communications would be welcomed and knowing more about their colleagues is important. Suggestions such as a day in the life of… and other members of CMLT fronting the monthly briefings were made. Staff also didn’t want shielding from the bad news and wanted more honesty about when things weren’t going to plan, for example, perceptions around staff retention and the negotiations over the waste contract. A greater ownership of communications across all managers with CMLT reinforcing support to the communications team is required to avoid the noise in the system created through inconsistency of message.

Both councils are in a healthy financial position with reasonable levels of reserves (BNC 53 per cent of net revenue budget and SNC 49 per cent of net revenue budget) although a significant proportion (42 percent for BNC and 55 per cent for SNC) is already committed to funding future capital programmes. However, given the external financial challenges and risks, the councils may wish to keep their general fund reserves under review to ensure they maintain robust general contingency funds.

Budget gaps are manageable (BNC £0.9m by 2026/7 and SNC £1.1m by 2026/7.) Both councils largest funding source as a percentage of its resource base is council tax, which means they are reliant on council tax base growth (increased housing numbers) and setting maximum council tax increases if budget gaps are to be avoided. Peers confirmed there is a pro-active approach to economic growth, increasing council tax and business rates tax bases but advise considering very carefully the medium/longer term impacts on tax bases of council tax freezes across the two councils.

The nutrient neutrality issue is a significant risk to growth/economic development, housing development and increases to the council tax/business rate tax base which needs evaluation in terms of its short-medium and long-term impacts on both councils’ financial position. The issue could impact on the projected timeline assumptions around company loan repayments to SNC

There are substantial capital programmes in place (BDC investing £21.8m up to 2026/7 and SNC investing £85.6m up to 2026/7.) Capital planning has been volatile with both councils consistently reporting an underspend/slippage on capital and profiling of spend could be improved. Whilst it is important that the capital strategy sets out the council’s ambitions, this needs to be tempered with a more realistic view on delivery. There are future capital programme impacts which will need to be evaluated including the need for a carbon management plan and specifically for SNC, options for addressing Diss leisure centre which is coming towards the end of its useful economic life and the depot.

SNC has invested significant financial sums (approximately £36m) in Big Sky Group, a wholly owned vehicle for housing development. The council is not providing for principal repayments for loans to the company. There is ongoing debate over this issue and DLUHC has consulted on this matter in the past year. There is therefore a risk that a change in the guidance could produce future liabilities. BDC has invested in Broadland Growth Limited, a joint venture company delivering sustainable and affordable housing developments and is performing reasonably well commercially although there is no current pipeline of projects.  Big Sky has a high rate of developer return and is performing very well commercially, generating reasonable (although in the MFTP shown as reducing over the MFTP period) income contributions for South Norfolk with useful margins on company interest payment flows, although those margins are reducing (as Public Works Loans Board rates rise) and will need to be carefully managed.

There has been a fairly smooth transition to one finance team and the implementation of a common IT platform will support the move to increased business intelligence. There are robust budget setting and budget monitoring procedures, with the Finance Officers supported by the two Finance Portfolio Holders have done a considerable amount of work to tighten up monitoring, and both councils have managed well during the Covid-19 pandemic, although SNC had reduced income on leisure facilities (and responded sensibly in putting in place a three-year projected recovery plan). Strategic financial planning is mature and supported by robust analysis. Just ensure there is future sufficient capacity to cope with meeting the statement of accounts and auditors’ deadlines.

The Section 151 officer is highly respected by both councillors and colleagues and financially able portfolio holders and leaders are aware of the financial issues facing the councils. Officers working with portfolio holders have continued to drive a downward pressure on revenue budgets, whilst delivering an ambitious delivery programme. In-year head room has been generated through the transformation programme and not taking anticipated savings until they are realised, thus creating in year-head room for further transformation projects intended to reduce future revenue requirements.  

BDC and SNC have developed a mature and beneficial use of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) to forward fund schemes in towns and parishes and more recently GNP projects. The majority of CIL collected from Broadland, South Norfolk and Norwich City Councils is pooled into the Greater Norwich Infrastructure Investment Fund (IIF). This fund is used to support a list of infrastructure projects, known as the Growth Programme, which have been approved annually by the Greater Norwich Growth Board. Town and parish councils receive 15% of CIL funds raised from development within their town or parish (depending upon the number of dwellings in the parish). With a further 10% given to those councils with an adopted neighbourhood plan in place at the time of the relevant planning permission being granted.

Given the increasingly challenging and uncertain economic situation - rising inflation, rising interest rates, fuel and energy costs, cost of living pressures on households, increasing pressure on pay, recruitment and retention - the 2023/24 budget process will be more challenging. There will also be significant construction related inflation pressures on the capital programme.

Peers recommend the councils stress test the underlying assumptions (interest rates, inflation, collection rates, interest repayments from companies etc) and model different scenarios across the MTFS’s and associated MFTP’s. Undertaking an MFTS and MFTP review and refresh around July/September at the start of the detailed budget process - will inform that budget process and enable both a one year and medium-term approach to be undertaken.

An internal consultancy resource was created through the One Team restructure by having a “no redundancies policy” as the two council teams came together as one. This has created additional capacity which although redirected during the pandemic, is slowly being used to support services with transformational change.

The National Graduate Development Programme (NGDP) and approach to apprenticeships across both councils is outstanding and well established. It provides excellent development opportunities and significant organisational capacity. Staff feel well supported within teams and through their single point of contact. There is personal help for job opportunities and they enjoy coming together as a cohort to learn from each other.

There is a high degree of trust and autonomy placed on quite junior staff and peers just questioned whether in some cases the challenges might be a little overwhelming and may need reviewing, particularly where work enters the political arena where it was noted junior officers are currently shielded from poor member behaviour.

There is a well-functioning staff consultation forum with a broad membership taken from across both councils. It meets monthly as a sounding board to discuss policy development, events, change projects and more. It creates a two-way communication channel through the organisations and feels listened too. It could benefit from a forward plan, to ensure there is time for representatives to consult with their teams and there was a feeling some issues have been tabled too late in the process for them to have much influence, for example the office move. Peers felt there could be a greater role for this forum going forward and suggest it is reviewed to see where improvements could be made.

The councils have been working hard to deliver a joint transformation programme. The Spark transformation programme was relaunched in the autumn of 2021 and focussed on projects and programmes within the confines of organisational structures. Allocating resources across programmes was difficult to assess so a resources coordination group was established to better plan the alignment of resources and delivery. A new Portfolio approach has since superseded and is in the process of being agreed and rolled out. Peers recommend this refreshed approach needs to be rapidly finalised and owned corporately before being communicated across the one team to reduce confusion.

The corporate peer challenge took place at a time of significant change for the councils. Communications around the office move were beginning to take place but it was clear to peers there is still a lot of uncertainty around the timescales for fitting out the new building, putting in place ICT infrastructure, selling the old buildings and how best to move into the new one. Peers recommend a short pause to ensure that specialist officers working on the project are listened to, their views taken on board and aligned to a realistic timescale with key milestones and deliverables, then consistently communicated to all staff and members to dispel any myths and create certainty.

There was a similar message around the expectations for hybrid working. Peers heard multiple different views on what had been communicated, what different teams were enforcing and what the future requirements would be having moved to the one office. Peers heard an approach to reviewing job roles was in progress and was supporting the development of a flexible working policy. Peers recommend that a clearer approach is taken - engaging with staff about what the situation is, providing greater consistency of messaging and trying to be as flexible as possible given the difficulties in the current climate of recruiting and retaining staff – it is an employee market.

Extensive plans are in place for systems alignment which will support transformation when delivered. There is still a capacity issue though and ICT and corporate services requirements need to be better understood, valued and factored into all projects and programmes at an earlier stage in the process to ensure delivery within timescales. Although time consuming to implement, a more widespread IT business partner approach could support collaborative development of solutions to meet business need and allocation of resources accordingly.

The pace of change is impressive but at the same time taking a toll on staff. It is beginning to impact on staff resilience as they rush from one project to the next whilst also delivering the business as usual. Peers heard the phrase, “we are laying the tracks whilst the train is moving.” Even during the pandemic, BDC and SNC continued to deliver in parallel with the emergency response - take time to celebrate all that you have achieved. Recognise the stresses in the one team, take on board the results of the recent staff survey when analysed and put in place an action plan whilst continuing to encourage the take up of wellbeing support to those in need.  

BDC and SNC have shown they are committed to tackling the climate agenda by adding capacity in the form of a clean growth and sustainability manger. The next step in the journey is to unite the environmental strategy with a strategy for achieving decarbonisation and net zero and setting out how the councils will make positive changes and support communities to do likewise. This work requires a corporate approach and will need embedding across all service areas with the support of CMLT and leaders.

The 2018 feasibility study outlined a number of benefits to collaborative working:

• A stronger voice for both councils regionally and nationally.
• Increased growth and delivery at pace of infrastructure to ensure benefits to residents, communities and businesses.
• Greater financial stability for the two authorities, helping to balance the councils’ budgets and closing the growing funding gap.
• Opportunities to provide services and initiatives jointly, that would not otherwise be able to provide.
• Increased investment and access to new funding opportunities to benefit residents and businesses in the area.
• A joint complementary offer to businesses and key business sectors across both districts.
• Greater choice for residents in terms of housing supply in order to meet their housing needs.
• Ability to retain and attract the most talented staff.

Significant progress is being and has been made in all areas including being on track to achieve (subject to successful completion of Beyond the Horizon) £8.6m cumulative savings across both councils over five years and aligning many processes, systems, policies and procedures. Achieving a full staff restructure across the two councils within 18 months of the feasibility study, during a pandemic was nothing short of miraculous and work you should be very proud of. There was a clear recognition from all staff that the ‘One Team’ model has now been successfully delivered and embedded. Reinforcing this message is now unnecessary – many staff don’t know what existed two years ago.   

The Councils’ collaboration is based on a clear understanding of two separate councils with a single one team of officers supporting them. Whilst it is clear that the one team for the officers is embedded, further work is required to deal with the relationship between the councils and in particular, some members of each council who are less supportive of the collaboration. The collaboration and partnership ethos does not extend to councillors and fractures between members at BDC and SNDC were clear for peers to see. Many members expressed their positivity at moving into one building and the opportunities this could generate. Whilst others expressed dissatisfaction with the joint partnership. There was resistance to aligning too much from some and frustration from others that more wasn’t being done to realise further benefits of the partnership. There was hope from officers and members that moving into one building could improve relationships and provide more informal opportunities for members from both councils to get to know each other regardless of political differences. For the future of the partnership, peers encourage members to set aside differences and work together for the benefit of residents, businesses and partners.

Officers have developed excellent relationships with key system partners to enable collaboration and delivery of key priorities to benefit residents across both councils. The economic and growth ambition is well documented as is the work with health, police, businesses, VCS, housing and development partners and more. Peers heard that they support partners, drive change, lead the way and take others with them across the joint partnership. You are known as place and system leaders across Norfolk.

Moving forward peers recommend the councils establish a clear, outcomes-based, vision for the partnership which takes it to the next level, beyond the feasibility study. Building on the excellent progress made to date and using the move to one building as a catalyst to create the next chapter. Ensure everyone knows the direction you are travelling in and how and when you plan to get there.

Ensuring the IT roadmap is communicated and implemented is crucial to enable the One Team to function efficiently. It is leading to an internal customer reputational issue. Peers heard frustration from staff and members who are unable to work as efficiently as they would like due to non-alignment of systems across the two councils. They also heard of capacity and competing demand issues within the IT service which need addressing, prioritising and factored into realistic timeframes which can then be communicated with services.  

Such issues are partly due to the ambition BDC and SNC have for the partnership, which is admirable, but this needs to be tempered by ensuring there is the capacity to deliver and that timely communications make clear the roles everyone has to play. There is a real risk the councils could lose credibility and at the current pace of change, fail to bring staff, members and partners on the journey.

There are opportunities for the BDC and SNC partnership to go further and with other partners. Peers heard from health partners that expanding the help hub to include mental health services would be welcomed, as would growing the model into other districts within Norfolk. Building on and increasing shared services with neighbouring councils was also discussed with peers. There are also further opportunities to review and expand services between BDC and SNC. Wellbeing, leisure and waste services consistently came up in conversations with peers and whilst we know work has been done to explore some of these, it may take a fundamental review of political ideology on service delivery to fully understand the costs and benefits to the partnership and residents.  

Externally peers heard that political relationships may inhibit the councils’ ambitions for strategic influence and limit the benefits from further collaborative working. Partners and stakeholders want to see a united front from leaders and members across BDC and SNC. Peers recommend reviewing and streamlining your governance arrangements to ensure there is space to come together to talk about shared ambitions and define the direction of travel to give confidence to many that you are a solid partnership with whom to do business. You should be proud of what you have achieved, stand together, celebrate the successes and put residents needs at the heart of your decisions on future collaborations.

It is recognised that senior political and managerial leadership will want to consider, discuss and reflect on these findings.

Both the peer team and LGA are keen to build on the relationships formed through the peer challenge. The CPC process includes a six-month progress review meeting. This will be a short, facilitated session which creates space for the council’s senior leadership to update peers on its progress against the action plan and discuss next steps. 

In the meantime, Rachel Litherland, Principal Adviser for the East of England, is the main contact between your authority and the Local Government Association. Rachel is available to discuss any further support the council requires. [email protected], tel. 07795 076834