AN INDEPENDENT review of West Berkshire Council has highlighted “growing concerns” about the increasing pressure on staff.

Results of the review, conducted last November, were published on February 17.

The Local Government Association sent eight officers and councillors from across the country to look at the council over four days in November. The team spoke to more than 150 people including staff, councillors, and external partners.

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The reviewers said: “Capacity is very constrained and clearly demands continue, in relation to services and the need to deliver further savings.” Reviewers found “several examples” of staff “taking on increased responsibilities when colleagues left”.

They also highlighted “growing concerns regarding staff well-being and both personal and organisational resilience, with people speaking of increasing numbers of ‘single points of failure’ in the authority. This suggests that something has to give.”

“Austerity has inevitably impacted and naturally generated a focus within the organisation on the bottom line. Perhaps it is time to see a shift to a mind-set where resource comes to be positioned more as an enabler than as a constraint.”

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Elsewhere, the new political make-up of the council — the Tory majority was cut last May from all but four seats to just over half — has “proved challenging”, and disrupting “usually constructive relationships”.

Also, the reviewers called for the council to listen to residents more consistently and directly, “on a wider range of issues”. The council no longer carries out a survey of residents, and the residents’ panel “is not adequately representative of the population”.

The review did highlight several positive aspects, like a good record of delivering budget savings, and the new managerial leadership team having a positive impact.

Councillor Lynne Doherty (Con, Speen), leader of the council, said: “I’m delighted with the feedback from the panel and their conclusion that we are good, solid council. The report reflects the view that we are delivering good services, have good leadership and sound relationships with our partner agencies.

“It has identified some areas for us to focus on if we are to stretch ourselves further, and we can only do this because we are already getting the basics right. This is something we will concentrate on over coming months.”

Bureaucracy was another topic the reviewers looked at. Too many boards mean reports are often duplicated. “People feel constrained by what they saw as disproportionate levels of control and a low risk threshold within the council.” 

Some councillors could use more training, the reviewers said, as some are reluctant to ask for help. “Or perhaps, they don’t even know they can, or how to do so, and that people simply don’t know what they don’t know.”