Warrington - Celebrating our successes

A unitary authority since 1998, Warrington is one of the country’s most high performing and dynamic local authorities. Our success is based around core values aimed at improving people’s quality of life, wealth sharing, cultural diversity, partnership and best practice. 

The Council’s progressive influence penetrates all aspects of Warrington life. Dedicated to the pursuit of excellence and Best Value, we follow a member and policy-led approach in the delivery of high quality services, despite our core services running on a very low government funding resource base. 

The Improvement and Development Agency described us as a ‘very good local authority with the potential to be truly excellent’ and, in the latest Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) review, Warrington was only one mark away from ‘excellent’. An OfSTED review of our LEA in 2000 was as good as the best in the country at that time and a Joint Review of Social Services showed that it was ‘serving most people well with promising prospects for improvement’. It is a two-star service with strength in depth, strong partnership links and the scope and capacity to continue to improve. 

The Council is used to continuous change. We became a Unitary Authority in 1998 assuming responsibility for the full range of local authority services, employing 8,500 staff. At present, the political composition of the 57 strong Council is 24 Labour member, 27 Liberal Democrats, 5 Conservatives and 1 Independent. There has been a single majority for some years, which has ensured a clear agenda and consistency of focus. 

Organisational change has continued with the streamlining of the committee system in 1999 and a reduction in the number of service departments from eight to six. Executive arrangements have recently been introduced and the District Auditor has reported that they are working well. They have been designed to increase community involvement in local affairs. An experimental Scrutiny Committee operated in the two years before and pioneered some new working methods which have been taken forward under the new arrangements. 

During 2000, the Council looked carefully at the kind of organisation it wanted to be, using a working group of employees drawn from all levels. It produced a statement of the culture and values to which it aspired.  

This has four key strands: 

• Valuing employees;
• Valuing customers;
• Valuing good performance;
• Valuing the society in which we work.    

In 2000, the Council was awarded Investors in People (IiP) accreditation on a corporate basis and only very recently (2003) was successful in gaining IiP re-accreditation. 

The District Auditor in the 2001/02 Management Letter states: 

"In another demanding year, the Council has made progress on major issues including: 

• Developing a new constitution and political structures:
• Further restructuring of service departments;
• Continuing the development of service and financial planning arrangements.     

Overall, the picture given of Warrington’s performance is a Council with: 

• Comparatively high net satisfaction ratings from the public;
• Clear pledges and priorities;
• Strong and prudent financial management against a background of increasing client demand and low FSS;
• An outward looking attitude with good partnerships and a strong regional influence for its size;
• High class and improving education services, appreciated by schools and parents;
• Good quality and improving social services with higher user satisfaction levels;
• Good quality environmental safety and protection services;
• Variable quality but overall improving housing services with high tenant satisfaction levels;
• A successfully negotiated and challenging Public Service Agreement.    

Warrington Borough Council is continuing to develop its positive reputation, scooping high praise, top awards and securing successful bids over the past year or so. They include: - 

Successful bids 

• Successful Round 3 Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) bid with a conditional allocation of £18.3 million
• Grants and funding totalling more than £660,000 for sports and leisure facilities, plus £339,000 for a new Skatepark in Warrington’s Victoria Park
• Almost £1million secured for land remediation and reclamation of wetlands
• £425,000 secured for Rixton Clay Pits Education Centre
• Successful and smooth implementation of ‘Supporting People’ initiative, with an estimated £8.5 million grant from the Government
• Bid under Public Private Partnership to demolish 261 properties and redevelop the site with 105 homes for rent and 87 homes for sale
• Re-launch of kerbside paper recycling scheme (initially on a pilot scheme – set to go borough-wide)
• Successful bid to NWDA to secure £900,000 for new ‘Maximising Opportunity in Warrington’ project aimed at improving employment opportunities
• Major bid (under LTP) for new bus interchange    

Successful awards 

• the promotion and improvement of Town Centre Warrington has secured awards including: -    

• Trading Standards achieved ‘Quality Mark’ award for Consumer Advice from the Legal Services Commission
• Housing Authority – HIP Assessment – ‘above average’
• Housing Strategy for Learning Disabilities rated as ‘a very good strategy’ 
• Asset Management Plan gets ‘good’ assessment    

• Nominated ‘Centre of Excellence’ for Local Transport Plan consultation
• Registration Service awarded Chartermark
• British Safety Council Award for Neighbourhood Services
• Chartermarks for Building Cleaning and Grounds Maintenance services in Neighbourhood Services – taking the total number of Chartermarks in the department to six
• The Council’s consultation arrangements have been introduced and according to the Audit Commission ‘are working well’
• The CPA states that Warrington Borough Council has ‘a very clear priority for social inclusion’ and has ‘established a number of key community partnerships that support a clear focus on this priority’.
• OfSTED – ‘Warrington is good local education authority and it is effective in nearly all its functions and has few weaknesses’
• CPA Corporate Assessment – ‘Warrington is a prosperous town and the Council, with limited resources, has made a major contribution to this prosperity. It has developed an ambitious agenda, taken a strong lead in education, social services and economic development.’
• Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Business Plan rated as ‘good’ by the Government Office North West    

Some of the major projects currently underway in Warrington: - 

• £1billion Omega business development site
• £500million new urban village, called ‘Chapelford’, the largest project of its type in the UK
• £100million Golden Square town centre development
• Pyramid, a new town centre-based centre for the arts, is launched
• New £8million bus interchange
• Victoria park skatepark