District is best in the South West - that's official!

4:00pm Friday 11th December 2009

By Steve Sowden

SOUTH Somerset District Council has emerged as the best performing district council in the entire South West region following inspection results published this week.

It was the only district council to score three out of four in each one of the five scored categories set by the Audit Commission.

The inspection was the first of the new tougher CAA regime and only five of the 42 councils in the South West achieved this. Of the five, three were county councils, one was a unitary and the only district was South Somerset.

The report described South Somerset District Council as ‘doing the right things to help the district be economically secure’ and as being ‘more successful than any other South West council’ for securing affordable housing development.

It also described the area as safe and clean with one of the highest recycling rates in the country, giving South Somerset an overall three out of four scoring. The report also praised both political and managerial leadership at the council as ‘good’.

Council leader, Cllr Tim Carroll, said, “It will be a very tough time ahead for councils but what is most important that we continue to focus on the services that people need and value whilst continuing to make the savings that we must make.

“Residents are our real judges - we need to ensure that every one of our residents has a standard of service that they are pleased with.”

The council’s chief executive, Phil Dolan, added: “I am absolutely delighted for our staff and councillors. To be recognised as the very best at what you do is a tremendous achievement.

“However I echo Tim’s comments, residents are the real judges and they want to see their council doing even more to reduce its costs and improve its services to them. We intend to carry on doing this.”

The results come as part of the new compulsory ‘Comprehensive Area Assessment’, designed to independently review how well all authorities are tackling local priorities. It is the first time since 2004 that all councils at every level have been assessed.

In the past year in South Somerset, street cleaning performance has improved five-fold, anti-social behaviour has fallen by 9%, flytipping collection moved to the top level of performance and 172 affordable homes were delivered despite the recession, contributing to 35% of the Somerset total.

Homelessness was reduced from over 130 people in August last year to 31 this August, adult participation in sport improved by over 2% of the district’s population and support was given to businesses, all whilst a major savings programme swung into action.

The South Somerset report is available at www.southsomerset.gov.uk and the countywide “Oneplace” report is at www.direct.gov.uk/oneplace - both of which can be accessed via the links on our website.