West Berkshire Council leader’s ‘pride’ in achievements

West Berkshire’s council leader has rounded up a year in office since the Liberal Democrats won the election last year by thanking his staff, and highlighting all the improvements the council has made in what he describes as a challenging year for council finances.

“We currently spend 64 pence in every pound on these vital services, to support our most vulnerable residents,” he told last Thursday night’s annual council meeting. “We do not and will not choose to cut those services to fill more potholes.”

He said faced with such financial challenges, the administration has had to get very involved in improving and transforming the way the council works – “doing things smarter and better and with much more pace and energy”.

“As examples, we have improved our recruitment rate by 29 per cent in the last six months, by simplifying the application process and reducing the number of people dropping out of the process by 40 per cent,” he added

He said effort had been put in to the hardest to fill roles, in planning, ecology and taxation and that agency staff had been reduced, saving the council £6m.

“We also won the Large Employer Award from West Berkshire Training Consortium for the provision of 130 apprenticeships throughout the council,” he said.

“We have revitalised the senior management team, recruiting a new CEO, and new executive directors of adult social care and children’s services, supported by eight newly-appointed service directors.

“That is 10 senior appointments out of 14 posts at service director level and above – and all those appointments are helping make this council stronger, more ambitious and better.”

So, what will the public have seen as a result of this activity?

“Firstly, better support for our vulnerable residents,” he added. “We have opened a new family unit at Walnut House in Thatcham where families with difficulties can meet in a nice environment.

“We have repurposed Walnut Close to provide a temporary accommodation unit. In January, before this unit opened, we had 36 children in B&B accommodation. As of the end of this week we will have none.

“We are supporting residents with their health and have rolled out the Community Wellness Outreach Service across West Berkshire, giving vulnerable people check-ups, picking up physical health risks and offering health advice and treatment and we have launched a new £90K ‘Let’s Get Mindful’ fund for projects supporting people with their mental health challenges as well.”

He also cited investment in Falkland Primary School’s classroom rebuild, the opening of the Keevil Unit outdoor space for children with disabilities, new classrooms for The Castle School and The Willink School and said 99 per cent of children in West Berkshire have been offered one of their primary school preferences, with 94 per cent being given their first choice of school.

Foster children were also on his list of council wins, saying it had launched a new foster carers recruitment campaign, resulting in eight new carers in place, and another seven being onboarded with a further 27 kinship families recruited.

He said 189 children in foster care are now with West Berkshire Foster Carers, “making a very real difference to many children’s long-term outcomes”.

The Public Protection Partnership made it on to his honour roll call too.

“It has recovered, or prevented the loss of around £400k for residents that have been scammed, investigated nearly £1.5m worth of fraud and unfair trading cases and seized counterfeit goods with a retail value of many hundreds of thousands of pounds and the West Berks Community Alcohol Partnership was awarded the Spotlight Award for exceptional youth education on the dangers of alcohol in conjunction with Newbury College,” he said.

And in an energetic flourish, he went on to announce: “We have brought football back to Faraday Road; opened the re-furbished lido; spent nearly £5m on Northcroft Leisure Centre; opened the Hungerford modular dance studio; refurbished the Kennet sports centre and are currently installing a 3G pitch at Cotswold Leisure Centre.

“And finally, on a lighter note, we have contributed (twice!) to bringing Paddington Bear to Newbury – the home of his creator, Michael Bond.

“Our ambitions are vast, and our determination is boundless – we have a lot more to do – watch this space!”