‘Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council serves the town well and is today an impressive organisation’

Rotherham Council’s overview and scrutiny board was told yesterday (September 13) that a report by the Local Government Association (LGA)’s CPC concluded that “Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council serves the town well and is today an impressive organisation”.

The report was conducted between June 5 and June 8 this year by a peer team to find out the authority’s local priorities and outcomes; organisational and place leadership; governance and culture; financial planning and management and capacity for improvement.

The team gathered the data by observing over 40 meetings, in addition to further research and reading of over 70 pieces of evidence.

They spoke to over 100 people including a range of council staff together with members and external stakeholders and went on a tour of the town centre and part of the wider borough.

The team left a couple of recommendations for RMBC – including the development of a positive narrative of place which will help to promote and market the borough and capitalise on Rotherham’s assets.

One of the other recommendations was to build on the Neighbourhood working model, develop a clearer and shared understanding of integrated locality working across the public sector.

In the report, the authors concluded: “It (RMBC) is ambitious and has well-established and robust foundations, along with several notable and commendable practices that other councils can learn from.

“There is a good collective understanding of place, accompanied by a clear vision and ambitious goals. These are widely acknowledged and supported by everybody from Members and staff to partners and other stakeholders. People speak highly about the vision and aspirations of the council and are committed to delivering it.

“There is strong and visible political and managerial leadership in the council at borough and sub regional level.”

Coun Chris Read, the leader of the council, described the CPC as a “sense check”.

At the meeting, he said: “They (the peers) spoke to, in our case, about a hundred people, partners, members of staff; a whole selection of people to get a sense of where the council is.”

Coun Read added he was “really pleased with the results” as, he said, they acknowledged that the council was through “a very difficult situation for a long period of time” but now is in a “good place”.

However, Coun Joshua Bacon (vice-chair of the committee, Conservatives) asked Coun Read whether the report didn’t say RMBC served the borough well – only the town – because “your administration is so focused on the town centre”?

In a response, Coun Read decribed Coun Bacon’s words as “a cheap shot” and said the report could’ve said borough.

He said: “They mean the whole place in communities that we serve.”

Coun Bacon added the council spent “way too much” in the town centre.

In a second question, Coun Bacon asked Coun Read about the differences the town centre and areas like Todwick, Dinnington and Aston get in investment.

“Pennies to pounds”, Coun Bacon said.

Coun Read said residents of the said areas “will understand that the town centre has a significant role in the borough”.

He added “lifting” the town centre would lift the whole borough.