Council and democracy

Croydon continues to shine as a three star council

Following an exhaustive inspection earlier in the year, the watchdog's corporate assessment team has concluded that Croydon Council is providing good and improving services. It was judged to be performing well in all five categories of the assessment - ambition, prioritisation, capacity, performance management and achievement.

The verdict means that despite having to cope with severely limited resources, Croydon continues to be rated among London's better performing councils. And for its use of resources, the council has reached the same four star category as established local government stars, Wandsworth and Westminster.

In their expert judgement, the Commission said that the council's ambitions for the borough to be a safe place with a high quality environment and thriving district centres reflected the wishes of local people. 

Said the Commission's Claire Bryce-Smith: "The council is delivering physical improvements, economic regeneration, community safety, improving health and helping people of all ages to live a better quality of life independently. Nevertheless, the council and its partners recognise they have to work to improve resident satisfaction, health, education, and build a stronger local economy."

Said council leader Mike Fisher: "Overall, the Commission's verdict is a pretty fair endorsement of our practical, value-for-money approach and I am pleased that the inspectors recognise we are 'improving well'.

"Everything the council does affects the quality of life for all those who live and work in the borough. That's a responsibility we take very seriously. So it was good to see our effort recognised by the Audit Commission whose inspectors were able to delve into considerable detail during their time with us and were at liberty to question everything we do. As a relatively new administration, this result gives us something to build on. We're already tackling our weaknesses while simultaneously doing more to reinforce our commended strengths. Our job now is to convert the improvements they have found into higher public satisfaction levels."

However, Councillor Fisher also flagged up a warning that the teams of inspectors who regularly trawl over the council's work need to understand that the scope for improvement will be limited if the Government continues to impose inflexible and unfunded demands that reduce Croydon's discretion to focus on the priorities of local people. He added: "The council is achieving good results with an unfair level of resources. We want a fair deal for Croydon so that we can improve services further and keep council tax levels down."