Pendle Council leader Coun. Joe Cooney and Chief Executive Stephen Barnes have met MP Brandon Lewis, along with a handful of other local authorities and the Department for Communities and Local Government, to share their experiences on making efficiency savings.
They were invited to share their best practice with Mr Lewis and asked for their input and opinion to help him shape the Government’s Transformation Challenge Award 2014-17 – a grant programme for local authorities to be launched in March.
Pendle Council has been recognised as one of the top 10 in the country for making efficiency savings.
They have done this through:
l Outsourcing back office services.
l Disposing of all housing stock.
l Creating a Leisure Trust to manage all leisure facilities and attract private finance.
l Creating PEARL – a unique Joint Venture Partnership with Barnfield Construction to provide a delivery vehicle for economic growth.
l Offering a range of shared services with other authorities.
l Reducing management and administration costs through successive reviews.
Coun. Cooney said: “It was an absolute privilege to be invited to share our best practice and provide our thoughts and opinions on such an important Government initiative.
“This shows our views are valued and our hard work to achieve efficiencies has been recognised.”