Friday 4 March 2011

In denial

Why do the opposition groups struggle to come to terms with the fact that the council has made such giant strides over the last few years in service delivery and organisational performance? The facts speak for themselves! In all areas of the council we have seen improvements in the quality of services provided. Substantial parts of the organisation now perform at top quartile levels with continuing rises in both customer and staff satisfaction levels. A range of our teams have enjoyed national recognition to include those in Revenues and Benefits, Street Cleaning and cleanliness, museums and libraries, cycling, and housing. Our youth offending team is one of the best performing in the country and our family intervention project and work on autism have both received national recognition. The Care Quality Commissions assessment of our adult social care department demonstrates the transformation of this service over the last 4 years. These are only a few examples of cross organisational success which have been recognised by our short listing for the most improved council last year and our recent short listing for council of the year.
In addition we will have delivered capital projects with a value in excess of £100M to include the much complimented new swimming and diving pool at Garon Park, a modern and safe pay on exit town centre multi storey car park, and the four creating a better Southend schemes which notwithstanding the onerous time limits imposed by the previous government remain on time and on budget. Opposition councillors are good are "heartfelt" statements about council employees whose jobs are at risk but don't they understand that their constant nasty and inaccurate jibes about council performance are more damaging to staff morale than the cuts we are having to find. Come on - step up to your responsibilities as corporate employers and start giving our employees and the services they provide the credit they deserve.

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