Shropshire Council urged to celebrate its work
More needs to be done to celebrate Shropshire’s achievements, according to the county's council leader.
Councillor Peter Nutting urged members and officers to celebrate together – and to tell the public about the good work the unitary authority is doing.
Celebrating successes was one of the 11 recommendations that came out of a Corporate Peer Challenge.
The exercise saw councillors and officers from other authorities invited to review Shropshire Council’s performance earlier in the year.
Councillor Nutting said: “They are saying we are doing pretty well.
“They have pointed out negatives, like some of the savings are high risk, and we appreciate the challenges, but we have aspirations in what we want to do sometimes.
“But the last one is what is important to this council – we need to celebrate our successes, which is something we have not good at doing.
“We have a good council. What have had our challenges but we do pretty well and we don’t celebrate our success and don’t tell the public about what we are doing well.
“We are not selling ourselves.”
But Labour leader Alan Mosley pointed out “major criticisms” within the recommendations, including the need for an implementation plan to ensure savings are achieved and a lack of communication.
He continued: “This council has already saved £198 million, that means cuts from expenditure and, whatever fine gloss you put on it, we can all see it.
“Then there is still £106m that needs to be saved over the next five years.
“It goes to show that in the current plan there is a massive amount of risk in what is proposed.”
Councillor Hannah Fraser, of the Liberal Democrats, added the necessity for a “whole council approach” in order to make Shropshire “a great place to live and work”.
But she also criticised a number of areas that she said must be addressed, including poor broadband, issues with the road network and improving pedestrian safety.
Deputy leader Steve Charmley told councillors: “We are going for it but we need to leave the past behind us.
“We do need to move on and look forward instead of harking back to the bad old days.”
Report by Emily Lloyd, Local Democracy Reporter
