East Staffordshire Borough Council has announced another successful period of performance both in terms of financial success and targets delivered.
At the meeting of the East Staffordshire Borough Council Cabinet held on the 11th February, officers presented the performance and financial outturn results for the third quarter (1st October to 31st December 2012) of the current financial year. This demonstrated that the Council is on track to successfully deliver over 89% of all its Corporate Plan targets, while forecasting an underspend of £0.7m for the full financial year against a net budget of £13.316m.
Burton Town Hall (Photo credit: InBurton)
The Performance Report considers progress against actions set out in the Corporate Plan. At the end of the second quarter, performance has continued to improve with 89.72% of the milestones being recorded as ‘Green’ – i.e. one that has either already been completed or is expected to achieve the annual target based on current performance.
In terms of financial performance the Council is pleased to forecast a continued under-spend for the current financial year of around £700,000. This is a very pleasing position given that substantial savings were once again built into the budget for 2012/13. This was in response to both internal and external pressures, in particular a central government funding reduction of £0.9m (or 11%)
These high levels of performance are reinforced by the Council’s continued recognition nationally, having recently being shortlisted for two categories in the Local Government Association Awards 2013.
Councillor Richard Grosvenor, Leader of the Council commented: ““The Council is being well run financially and if you compared our financial position with other Councils you will find they are not in as good health as ESBC.
“It speaks volumes that when other Councils are increasing their Council Tax we are able to recommend a reduction in Council Tax.”
Chief Executive Andy O’Brien added: “What is particularly pleasing is how well we have performed compared to other Councils in our benchmarking group.
“Whilst other authorities have ceased comparing themselves through benchmarking groups because their performance has faltered ESBC has proven itself to be in a very strong position in terms of both performance and finance.”
