Thanet Council gets feedback from LGA Peer Review

Thanet District Council has now received the final report after it commissioned a Local Government Association (LGA) Peer Review in March 2014.

Peer Review is a voluntary process offered by the LGA which seeks to benefit councils through constructive feedback from peers in other local authorities. Nearly a third of councils in the UK have undergone this process since 2011.

The council invited the LGA’s Peer Review team, made up of Councillors and senior officers from other councils, for an on-site visit between 11 – 13 March.

The Review focused on:

• understanding the local context and priority setting
• financial planning
• political and managerial leadership
• governance and decision making
• organisational capacity

For Thanet, there was also a request that the team also looked at the Council’s approach to Economic Development and its customer services strategy as these are priority areas for the council.

The purpose of a Peer Review is to help the council improve and to ensure there is capacity to continue to deliver local priorities in the current financial climate.

Chief Executive of Thanet District Council, Sue McGonigal said: ‘The Peer Review was an important opportunity to gain a valuable external perspective on the council as a whole. The team visited on-site and interviewed a wide range of different stakeholders, Councillors and staff to gain a 360 degree view of the organisation.

‘We’re grateful for all those who took part as this process has helped us identify the council’s strengths, highlight areas for improvement and the constructive feedback in this report will help inform our future plans.

‘We’re putting together an action plan to take forward the LGA’s recommendations and are confident that this process will help us to make positive changes as part of our commitment to continuous improvement and to make the council a better organisation overall.’

The peer review report is available to view on the council’s website.