United local view vital for role share
Author: Mark Smulian, LGC |
Mutual trust between political leaders and equal attention to individual councils are said to be vital in making a success of shared chief executives.
A joint report by the Local Government Association and thinktank Localis has concluded that successful sharing also required a joint vision for the process and for initiatives to be locally driven.
Drawing on research from 34 cases of shared chiefs, it found all that reported figures had exceeded the levels of savings expected when they set up.
This was among factors that led most councils to say they doubted they would untangle sharing arrangements even if their financial position improved.
But it warned that one stumbling block was cultural, between those councils seen as ‘member-led’ and others as ‘officer-led’, and that this had led to the collapse of several initiatives.
Peter Fleming (Con), chair of the LGA improvement board, said: ?It’s important that councils interested in sharing chief executives study our recommendations closely because doing so may not be appropriate for every local area.?
The report said mutual trust between leaders was ?absolutely critical? as was each council being seen to have sufficient officer time set aside to meet its needs, even if this was not divided equally.
In his foreword to Crossing the border: research into shared chief executives, Cllr Fleming wrote: ?If the people involved in the implementation of shared management didn’t get on or trust each other, no matter how good the idea was, it would not succeed.?