Council misses more than half of performance targets

[dutchman]

Coventry City Council has met less than half of the targets it has set itself as it strives to establish Coventry as a ‘top ten city’.



The city council’s end of year performance report shows the authority has only achieved 27 of the 59 goals it uses to measure performance.

Those targets cover a wide range of areas ranging from visitors to the city centre, council tax and business rates collected, to life expectancy, teenage pregnancy and crime rates.

Of the 59 areas, the council says it is making progress in 32, while three stayed the same and it was not possible to measure performance in four other areas. That means the council performed worse than last year in 19 areas.

The report will be discussed by the council’s cabinet next week after Labour council leader Ann Lucas unveiled a new council plan to make further improvements against a background of central government funding cuts.

Coun Lucas said: “The look back at the last 12 months shows we, as a city and a council, are going in the right direction and celebrates some of the fantastic things that have happened.

“As you walk around our city and talk to people you can see things are getting better and we want that to continue. At the moment it’s a bit of a tale of two cities – with some areas showing massive improvement and others still giving us concern.

“But together we are creating a city to be proud of and one that is a great place to live, work and study. This latest council plan shows how we will continue that work.”

Areas where the council fell short last year included employment rates, annual pay, fly tipping, teenage pregnancy levels, domestic violence reports, homelessness, sickness absence, council tax and business rates collection.

The council met its targets for the number of businesses in the city, unemployment rates, the council tax base level, condition of major roads, crime rates, foster care and carbon emissions.

Coun Lucas added: “We will make Coventry a top 10 city, but some things are going to have to change and the cuts being enforced on us by government will mean we can no longer run some services – next year’s government grant will be £135million, compared to £214million in 2010.”

[rebbonk]

And things are only going to get worse, no matter what loopy Lucas tells us

[dutchman]

Council meets 'top ten city' targets after redrawing measures it sets itself

Coventry City Council claims it is now meeting two thirds of the targets it has set in a bid to become a ‘top ten city’ - having missed more than half less than six months ago.

The dramatic shift comes after the council re-jigged the performance measures it sets itself in July.

The authority had consistently missed more than half of the targets set since the ten-year plan was first unveiled in January 2014.

The council says being a ‘top ten city’ means being a “city dedicated to improving the lives of local people and attracting big name businesses to create jobs and raise the profile of Coventry around the UK and the world.”

A total of 64 headline measures are now used by the council to measure its performance, although only 57 have been published in its half-year progress report.

The figures show 18 of the 57 targets have been missed, while 39 have been achieved - meaning almost a third of the reported targets have not been met.

However, the council report suggests the authority is improving in 33 areas, while 14 stayed the same or got worse. There were 17 areas that the report said couldn’t be measured.

Measures used to determine performance include things such as crime levels, business rates and council tax collected, employment, education and health measures.

The report is due to be reviewed by the authority’s cabinet on January 5 before going to full council on January 13. It comes against a backdrop of severe cuts implemented by the council.

One area in the performance report where the council fell short included the base level of business rates which was almost £2m short of its £299m target.

Others included low recycling rates, underachieving primary and secondary schools, high smoking rates, too many children in care and high teenage pregnancy numbers.

Some areas where the council met or exceeded expectations included the number of businesses in the city, an increase in city centre visitors, employments rates, average pay, crime rates and homelessness.

[rebbonk]

There is an old engineering saying...

"If you can't fix what's wrong, fix the measures!" I've seen it played out in many companies over the years, I doubt the council is any different.

[dutchman]

I love the way the council is claiming credit for a national fall in the crime rate.