Oneplace survey “does not reflect real life in North Norfolk”

North Norfolk District Council has unsuccessfully challenged the Audit Commission’s assessment of the council’s performance and prospects, after being rated only ‘adequate’ in this year’s Comprehensive Area Assessment despite a string of high-profile successes in areas that are most important to local people.

The CAA results – which are published today (Wednesday, 9 December) under the new ‘Oneplace’ banner – appear to show the council performing adequately with a score of 2 on the Audit Commission’s scale of 1 (poor) to 4 (excellent). The Audit Commission’s report recognises that NNDC ‘performs well’ for its use of resources (scoring 3 out of 4).

Yet the report says: We decided that the overall score should be that North Norfolk District Council performs adequately because, while it generally provides good services, it is failing in the important priority of making sure that there are enough homes, especially affordable ones for local people.

Councillor Virginia Gay, Leader of North Norfolk District Council, said: “It seems we have been marked down for one reason — and that’s the lack of housing. Yet the report notes that, in the current recession, developers are struggling to build new homes. It also recognises the fact that there are hundreds of homes sitting empty on two former RAF bases — sites that we don’t own or control.”

Councillor Gay continued: “We are criticised because the owners of empty properties are reluctant to rent them out as affordable homes — but again, these are properties that we don’t own. We’re even knocked for taking ‘too long’ to move people into permanent homes, but the Audit Commission hasn’t noticed that we don’t put anyone into bed-and-breakfasts while they are waiting unless it’s a real emergency.

“The report seems very pessimistic about the housing situation in North Norfolk. But we learned last week that we have been given £575,000 — twice the amount we expected — by the Department for Communities and Local Government through the Housing and Planning Delivery Grant, as a reward for the way in which we’re seeking to deliver new housing. This just doesn’t add up.”

The Oneplace report gives Norfolk a ‘green flag’ in recognition of ‘exceptional performance’ by the county’s public services in getting residents involved in local decision-making. There are no ‘red flags’ in Norfolk this year, which would highlight areas of significant concern that need swift action to put them right.

The Audit Commission recognises the ‘strong leadership role’ North Norfolk District Council has played in working with partners (including the Government) to find new ways of managing an eroding coastline, yet it says, in its ‘area assessment’ of Norfolk as a whole: People in coastal Norfolk would benefit from all Norfolk partners coming together with government agencies to work on solutions to this problem.

Councillor Gay said: “For North Norfolk and the county not to have earned a green flag for our groundbreaking work on coastal management — which was hailed by some as the most important step ever taken in the management of our coast, when we learned last week that Norfolk and Waveney councils will have £5 million to spend on new projects — seems strange and unfair.

“But as we were praised for so many things in our assessment, and there were so few negatives, the whole thing seems strange and unfair to me. I feel it does not reflect real life in North Norfolk,” she added.

North Norfolk District Council appealed against its ‘adequate’ rating, and its assessment was reviewed by an Audit Commission review panel, but the council’s challenge was dismissed and the rating remains.

NNDC Chief Executive Philip Burton said: “The Audit Commission was apparently fixated on the housing issues, and also on our levels of sickness absence which, they said, made meeting our objectives more difficult, particularly in the housing service. But our sickness absence figures have dropped sharply in recent months thanks to a variety of measures we’ve introduced. The Audit Commission has taken the view that improvements in sickness absence will be reflected in our next assessment — yet we were originally told the CAA was supposed to show the current position.

“I’m deeply disappointed that the good work that matters so much to people has counted for so little in the Audit Commission’s eyes. We are the cleanest district in the country. We are among the best recyclers. We protect the character of the district well through the planning system. We’ve supported businesses and their employees who have been hard-hit by the recession. We’ve improved our benefits service beyond recognition, which is also crucial to the less-well-off in these hard times. North Norfolk got £3 million of the £5 million locally (and out of only £11 million nationally) for pathfinder coastal management projects. We know this council is better than the Audit Commission thinks.”

Notes for editor

• To contact Councillor Virginia Gay, call 01692 402572
• For Philip Burton, Chief Executive, call 01263 516017
• The public can see an overview of the performance of their local public services, including the Audit Commission’s assessments, at www.direct.gov.uk/oneplace

ENDS