Positive peer review on highways service

Last week we welcomed a team of external elected members and officers to Wiltshire from the Local Government Association to carry out a peer review of the highways service. I am a great supporter of peer reviews as they help us learn and continuously improve the services we provide for all in the county. Peer reviews are arranged by the Local Government Association and are designed to highlight strengths and identify areas for improvement and learning.

The peer review team of seven met with a wide range of partners and staff at all levels to discuss how the service is currently run and how it performs. They looked at performance information, data and evidence from right across the service to form their opinion about our delivery and prospects for the future.

The key headlines for me from the review were their findings of strong leadership, effective local decision-making and an efficient, lean service. I was concerned that we may be too lean in places and this was born out from the review. The review was very positive with the peer challenge team concluding that the council is successfully investing in the highways infrastructure, harnessing the knowledge and energy in local communities to improve outcomes and delivering Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) schemes on time and to budget. This is an important finding as we are currently delivering over £40m of highways projects for the LEP. 

The council’s key strengths identified were: the service managed the termination of the highways contract and the very challenging procurement of the new contract effectively; harnessing the knowledge and energy in local communities has led to improved outcomes and additional funding; there is a clear positive intent amongst staff and partners to ensure the service is successful; strong and capable senior political leadership which gives clear and consistent vision; the case has been successfully made for investment in the infrastructure and in an asset management approach/methodology.

Areas for development included: clarity is needed about how the wider council vision and transformation cascades to the highways and transport service; to consider the development of a performance management framework to underpin delivery of strategic outcomes; ensure IT systems support integration and workflow/ feedback; recognise and plan for the risks associated with the significant challenges faced over the coming months with mobilisation of the new contract. 

It was extremely positive to have this external assurance and affirmation that most of what we are doing in Wiltshire is working very well.

Speak again soon. For daily updates, discussion, personal opinion, comment or just to connect or keep in touch you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/drcarltonbrand. 

Carlton”