We produce an annual report as we consider, like many organisations, both in the public, private and voluntary sectors, that an annual report is an important channel of communication to a range of stakeholders. However, we are very conscious that many of the public see mass-produced Council reports as a waste of taxpayers' money. We have, therefore, produced this report primarily to be a document that is accessed through the web site and also one that links through to other information that is already published.
The Council
Eden District Council serves a small population of just over 50,000, spread over a very large area (216,000 hectares) in eastern Cumbria. It is the most sparsely populated district area in all of England and Wales.
All of the Council's blue collar services (refuse collection, street sweeping etc) and leisure management are provided by private sector partners under long term contracts.
The Council's staff is, as a result, very small and the Council had a permanent staffing establishment of 166 full time equivalents during the year.
There are 38 elected councillors (Members). Following ‘all-out’ elections in May 2007, the Council is ‘hung’, meaning that no one political group has overall control. The Independent Group is currently the largest group with 18 members, whilst the next largest group is the Conservative Group with 13 members.
There are two regulatory committees dealing with licensing and development control matters. During the year all other decisions were made by the Council's four policy committees, or full Council itself. The Council changed its political structure from1 June 2008, when it adopted a Leader and Cabinet model.
The previous Chief Executive retired in April 2007 and was replaced by Kevin Douglas.
Our Priorities in the Year
The Council’s three priorities were as follows:
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waste management - the Council aims, with a range of partners, to ensure that the management of municipal waste maximises the economic environmental and social benefits for the people living in Eden. The Council's recycling rate for 2007-8 was 45%, well above the County-wide target of 37%, and the highest of all Cumbrian districts. However, a key issue for the Council is the level of household waste that arises. This currently stands at 475kg per person, per year, which is substantially higher than the national average, though it is a decrease of 31kg compared to the previous year. This appears to be an issue across Cumbria. The Council is working with the other districts and the County Council to identify the reasons for this high level of waste
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affordable housing - the Council aims to secure affordable housing for local people. In recent years, affordable housing has become a major national issue, especially in rural areas. The Council has a planning policy that 50% of all new homes approved by the Council should be affordable. During the year, 30% of approvals were for affordable housing. The Council has attracted some £5 million of funding through the Housing Corporation to provide some 48 new homes (over 2006-8). However, the Council is constrained by the lack of funding that it directly controls for affordable housing. In addition, the small number of new build approvals the Council is allowed to make, coupled with ever-increasing house prices, means that the Council faces a challenging task. The Council was supported by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA)to identify innovative approaches to this issue. The results of this work are now being put into action, for example, through the new planning policies on affordable housing
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higher wage employment - the Council aims, by 2016, to create a diverse and sustainable economy. One key aspect of this has been the Council’s development of Eden Business Park: offers for the final plots are currently being considered. This will hopefully both protect and increase higher wage jobs within the district. However, weekly earning levels in the district, at £356, still remain below County (£388) and regional (£427) levels. One of the key constraining factors in the Council successfully addressing this priority is the restricted availability of future industrial land. The Council will be looking at the feasibility of extending Eden Business Park.
Developing Our Priorities
With a new Council and a new Chief Executive, it was decided that it was appropriate to refresh the Council’s priorities. Following extensive consultation with Members, staff, the public and other stakeholders, four priorities were agreed in February 2008 for the next three years. The priorities are;
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affordable housing
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quality environment
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economic vitality
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quality council
The priorities are supported by fourteen detailed strategic actions.
A key element of setting our new priorities was to ensure that we had enough money to achieve them. We are undertaking our Balancing the Budget exercise to ensure our limited resources are focused on our priorities.
Managing Your Money
The Council uses taxpayers’ money to provide services which the public need. It is important that the Council is an effective steward of these monies. In February 2008, the Council agreed an action plan which will reduce its ongoing expenditure by £250,000 per annum, so that it operates with a balanced budget on an ongoing basis. At the same time, the Council agreed an approach to prioritising its expenditure, so this is redirected to best support the agreed Council priorities.
Our Achievements in the Year
2007-8 has seen considerable achievements for the Council:
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Audit Commission assessment - the Council was subject to external assessment from the Audit Commission of how it used its resources and how suitable its governance arrangements were. For the third successive year, the Council was the only local authority in Cumbria to receive a 'performing well' assessment
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Eden Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) - the LSP continued to grow and achieved a number of key pieces of work which complemented the work of the Council, for example, producing guidance for migrant workers
Areas for Improvement
Despite being a very small Council, Eden undertakes a large range of functions, some of them statutory and some of them discretionary. Whilst the Council believes that it has performed well during the year, there are a number of areas where it has not performed as well as it would have wished and acknowledges that these are areas to improve on. Some of the main areas that the Council is seeking to improve are as follows:
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overall satisfaction with the Council - in the 2006-7 national (biennial) survey, overall satisfaction with the Council had fallen from 55% to 51%. Whilst this is in line with national trends, the Council is seeking ways to address this. It is hoped that the move to the Leader and Cabinet structure will help to improve satisfaction by making decision makers more accountable
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affordable housing approvals – these are currently running below the Council’s target of 50%. The work the Council did under the IDEA’s Rural Excellence programme on housing affordability should help to move this agenda forward. In addition, the new structures have created one portfolio which will focus exclusively on housing. When the Council consulted the public on its priorities, this was the public’s top priority
As part of our process to set new priorities, we have introduced an important process which we call the Improvement and Transformation Programme. Over the next few years we will examine a number of important areas, such as how we use our assets, to see if we can be more efficient.
Accounts 2007-2008
The Council's Statement of Accounts can be accessed here in summary. The full Statement of Accounts can be accessed below.
Other Useful Information
The Council's Performance Indicator Outturn sets out the Council's detailed performance in 2007-2008. This provides a lot more detail than included in this annual report.
Feedback
The Council welcomes feedback on this annual report. Whilst any general comments will be gladly received, readers' views would be particularly welcome on whether it is worth having an annual report, and, if so, is it appropriate to produce it in this summarised web-only format?
Please send comments to the following e-mail address: dof@eden.gov.uk
We hope you find this report informative and useful.
