Are you being served?

Nine months after the unitary Durham County Council came into being, The Northern Echo continues its year-long series taking an in-depth look at whether the council is passing that test. Local Government Correspondent Mark Tallentire reports.

THE old Durham County Council was often said to lack leadership.

Critics saw a county torn between two city regions: Tyne and Wear to the north and the Tees Valley to the south. There was much talk of Durham not “punching its weight”.

In February 2008, the Audit Commission said the council was not doing enough to deliver its ambition of a strong economy and highlighted “significant weaknesses” in political leadership.

Independent councillor John Shuttleworth said the authority was being run “like a fish and chip shop”.

Given the history – and the fact that Local Government Minister John Healey identified it as one of three priorities – leadership was always going to be high on the agenda for the unitary council as it launched on April 1.

So what has changed?

Well, no one could argue it’s the same old faces.

There is a new leader – Simon Henig, a new deputy leader, Alan Napier, a new chief executive, George Garlick, a new assistant chief executive, Lorraine O’Donnell and many councillors fresh to County Hall and new corporate directors and heads of service.

Last month, the Audit Commission concluded the council had “effective political and managerial leadership”.

Critics remain; but this is politics and we’re in a General Election year, so what evidence is there of real leadership being displayed?

In papers prepared for the Acid Test, the council says it has “consistently demonstrated strong leadership through successfully delivering many new schemes and initiatives and making key improvements in services, many of which demonstrate vision and ambition”.

The authority says the “seamless” transition from the old two-tier setup, savings of nearly £1m in top management costs, the introduction of public question time before cabinet meetings, Durham’s bid for the first City of Culture title, the extensions to green waste recycling, and free swimming for under-19s or 60 plus, are only a few examples of its improvement.

And as evidence of progress and leadership on its key goals of regeneration and economic development, the council highlights its £3.5m scheme to support new jobs at the former Black and Decker site, in Spennymoor, a £40m leisure and academy scheme for Consett, the continued growth of the North East Technology Park (Netpark), in Sedgefield, securing more than £9m for new affordable homes and progress towards the creation of an energy village in Eastgate.

Council leader Simon Henig said: “We’ve achieved the smooth transition, we’re putting the plans in place and planning for the future.

“My view is Durham has not punched its weight. It’s been very important for us to make it clear that we are a major player. We’re the largest local authority in the region. We need to make our voice heard not just regionally, but nationally. I believe we’re starting to do that.

“This is about Durham, about the regional and about the national. We’ve made very good progress on all.”

So, what do the critics say?

Councillor Nigel Martin, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition, says the council lacks forward planning and fails to listen to the people. “True leadership is having the confidence to say: we’ve got these things we want to do, but we’ll go out and listen to people and, if we’re wrong, we’ll accept that,” he said.

Carol Woods, another Lib Dem councillor, says the council’s leadership has “a total lack of ambition” and points to the controversy over plans for an academy school in Consett, and the possible closure of councilrun care homes as evidence of discontent.

“We have a council that’s too big to care,” she said.

“The biggest disappointment with this council is it has a £1.2bn budget, but no clear strategy.”

Councillor Shuttleworth is also unimpressed. He criticised the salaries paid to top officials while the morale of the majority, left uncertain by the reorganisation, he says has fallen to an “an all-time low”.

He says officials do not understand the county and politicians are letting themselves be too easily led by them. “The old county council was a good council which lacked leadership. Now we’ve got good leadership, but they’re leaving too much to corporate management,” he said.

Councillor Albert Nugent, the former council leader, said: “The new regime, I think, don’t listen to the councillors. They’re not bothered about the people out there.”

Coun Henig is quick to reject the criticisms.

He says the council is consulting and listening to people, having undertaken a major public opinion survey before deciding its priorities and is committed to trying to have the same level of consultation on all major projects.

He insists there are clear priorities, with documents such as New Council, New Focus giving the authority a long-term approach for the first time, and the influential County Durham Partnership having been re-launched.

Coun Henig says it is important to get the “right people” to fill top jobs and this means paying a certain wage – but Durham is not paying “anything out of the ordinary”.

He argues there are very ambitious plans for the council and high-calibre staff have started returning from neighbouring authorities.

But he said: “It’s important that everybody works together on the same priorities and that’s what we’re doing.”

Upheaval was “inevitable” during the council’s reorganisation, he says, but “less disruption and fewer redundancies” was achieved.

“The key thing to me is the services delivered to the public – that they would be unaffected. We have achieved that,” he said. “Oppositions are there to oppose, particularly before a General Election.”