Bassetlaw: Council is ‘really good with potential to be even better’, says LGA report

The report, which took more than 200 hours to complete, found Bassetlaw Council to be a ‘happy council with higher than expected staff morale’.

The report also highlighted the council’s commitment, ‘sound financial base’, focus on addressing disadvantage through economic vibrancy and ‘strong managerial leadership.’

Satvinder Rana, programme manager at the LGA, spoke on behalf of the peer team who carried out the in-depth inspection of the council over a five day period and spent over 200 hours determining their findings.

Said Mrs Rana: “Bassetlaw Council has many strengths and we found it to be a good council and with the potential to be even better.”

“The council have a very strong understanding of the challenges for the area and its needs.”

However, the report also found ‘issues’ the council will need to address further in future.

These include taking steps to ‘engage better with communities’, ‘being more systematic in taking initiatives forward’ and ‘fostering a more positive cross party working culture’.

“But we found some good evidence of strong partnership working within the area, and key stakeholders spoke very highly of the council and its ambitions for the future.”

Coun Simon Greaves, leader of Bassetlaw Council, said: “This is a real endorsement of the work of councillors and staff over the last few years. Despite significant cuts to our funding, Bassetlaw is delivering for local residents, and we want to do as much as we can for our communities in the future.”

“Of course we recognise from the report that there is room for improvement. And now, using recommendations from the report, we can begin striving to be the best council we can possibly be.”

Neil Taylor, chief executive of the Council, said: “To be assessed as a really good council is a great accolade and the Local Government Association review team said this was uncommon given the complexities and challenges of running a modern council successfully.”