A council which is seeking to turn around its financial position is “out of the starting blocks but far from the finish line”, according to its leader.
A report from an independent body set up to challenge and advise Cheshire East Council said it was “slow to respond” to some of its issues.
Labour’s Nick Mannion, leader of the authority, said the report was a “snapshot that was taken several months ago” and a lot of work had since been done but he admitted the council did need to “shift up the gears”.
The leader of the council’s Conservative group Stewart Gardiner said he was “disappointed” by the report but also argued there was “an awful lot of work that’s not been reflected”.
The independent assurance panel which published the report was set up following a corporate peer challenge of the council, conducted by councillors and staff from other local authorities.
It includes an independent chair, representatives from the Local Government Association and the council’s leader, deputy leader and opposition leader.
The panel has met six times, and has published its first progress update on the authority.
It said it recognised and welcomed the council’s commitment to improvement and “the good progress that has been made in some areas”.
But it was accepted by the panel and the council that “improvement is not where the council would have wished it to be at this juncture”.
At the authority’s full council meeting, Mannion said progress was being made but the council accepted there was more to do.
“We recognise and accept much of the feedback and the spirit it’s offered,” he said.
Some opposition Conservative councillors raised questions on any potential ways to move faster through the democratic process and upcoming government changes on how local authorities operate.
The government is set to scrap committee systems for councils, like that in place in Cheshire East, to move to a leader and cabinet system which is how many authorities already operate.
Conservative group leader Gardiner said he was involved in the assurance panel and had attended two committee meetings, and was “taken aback by the tone and comments” in the report.
“I know, because I am involved, about all the hard work being done by our officers and leader and deputy leader but we don’t seem to be moving fast enough in the eyes of those judging us,” he said.
Mannion said progress was being made, adding: “Especially in developing the plans and foundations to improve our financial sustainability and the organisation itself but we accept there is more to do and we must deliver those plans at pace.
“We’re out of the starting blocks but far from the finish line.”
