Councillors agree to halt transformation work ahead of local government reorganisation in Staffordshire
Work to increase the sharing of services between two Staffordshire councils is being halted as both authorities face their own demise in the coming years.
Stafford Council and Cannock Chase District Council have been working for almost three years towards sharing all but a small number of services under a single management team.
But the two councils are now facing the axe as part of local government reorganisation across England. Staffordshire’s current two tier council system, which sees the county council responsible for some services and district and borough councils delivering others, is set to be replaced by single authorities.
Existing councils across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent are submitting plans for future unitary authority areas this month, ahead of a Government-set deadline of November 28. On November 11 Stafford Borough councillors backed their preferred option.
Stafford Council’s preferred option would be for a new council to cover the areas of Stafford, Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire, Lichfield, South Staffordshire and Tamworth.
This would complement a second unitary council for the north of Staffordshire, covering Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle-under-Lyme, and Staffordshire Moorlands.
The decision backed at the November 11 meeting was approved by cabinet members on Tuesday (November 18).
At the same meeting, they heard about the impact of local government reorganisation on the authority’s own service transformation plans.
Councillor Ralph Cooke, cabinet member for resources, said: “The Government announced its plans for local government reorganisation (LGR) shortly after we approved our transformation and digital strategies, which were designed to deliver significant change through our shared services agenda. As a consequence, work on transformation was paused to allow time to assess the implications.
“The leadership team have now considered the affect LGR is going to have on our plans and it is considered that work on shared services and transformation should stop at the current level, with the exception of a few small areas where it is considered it would be beneficial to continue.
"Transformation is a long-term project, requiring significant time and investment, and we are unlikely to have sufficient payback or benefit from this within the time remaining until the creation of the new unitary council.
“Furthermore the council does not have the capacity to support both shared services transformation and prepare for LGR. However, we will continue to look for opportunities to continue improvement in service delivery, with a focus on our customers.
“This will include work on improving our IT systems. This is being focused on essential replacements only, based on an assessment of risk, need and preparation for LGR.”
Fellow cabinet members agreed not to proceed further with the shared services transformation programme and to remove the savings from the budget for future years.
The budget set aside for transformation will instead be redirected towards preparing for local government reorganisation and an additional fixed term post for the communications team will be created to support LGR as well as wider council communication needs.
Councillor Ian Fordham said: “I think the recommendations are both desirable and necessary given LGR.
"I’m sure that residents would welcome the fact that despite the halt to shared services transformation, there continues to be a focus on continued improvement with particular emphasis on customer service.”
Councillor Tony Pearce said: “The potential creation of a Stafford Town Council is the only crumb of comfort to come out of all this.
"We will at last have a body representing the people of Stafford Town and I think that is going to be absolutely necessary with the creation of this new authority.”
Following the decisions, council leader Aidan Godfrey paid tribute to the work of the authority’s staff in preparing for local government reorganisation.
He said: “It can’t be easy working on something that is ultimately going to lead to the demise of this council.
“We’ve just voted for what could be considered the end of Stafford Borough Council.
"For more than 50 years, it has provided services to the public of this area to a very high standard.
"It has been close to the public and, in fact, most of our employees live in the borough and so they feel close to the services they provide.
“I look forward to the Government’s response to our submissions, which should be round about summer time. Stafford Borough Council continues to do a wonderful job and the work carries on despite LGR.
“It is, in my opinion, a sad evening, but one the Government has insisted we do.”
