'Persistent culture of secrecy' among Peterborough council officers should be addressed by higher-ups, independent report says

A “persistent culture” of secrecy among Peterborough City Council’s (PCC) lower tier officers should be tackled by higher-ups, an independent report on the authority’s governance and finance says.

Monitoring reports like this one have been produced by an independent panel every six months since the council requested exceptional financial support from the Government in summer 2021.

The latest report, expected to be the second-to-last one produced by the panel, says that a “huge amount has been achieved in the last six months” with improvements made to how the council manages its budgets and to its overall governance with a new, dedicated senior leadership team.

But lower tier officers – who are the council employees that undertake the majority of its day-to-day work – too often “focus on the short term to the exclusion of long-term planning”, the report says, and are not yet working with each other and higher-ups in a way that’s fully transparent.

In response, PCC said that engagement with staff, including in-person conversations and surveys, is frequent and that further work is planned to embed its new stated values into the organisation; these include being open, honest and transparent.

Councillors will discuss moving to all-out elections

Council officers are distinct from councillors, who do not work for the council full time and are currently elected in blocks of around a third each year.

The report asks that PCC considers, again, moving to all-out elections every four years for its councillors to try to firm up political control.

Currently, the Conservatives are the ruling party, being the largest, but as they don’t have a majority, there’s “no guarantee that the administration’s policies will be accepted by the council” as the report puts it.

PCC says that party leaders are due to discuss this again this month and will report back to the rest of the council “in due course”, despite the move having been rejected as recently as last year.

'Reliance on borrowing must be addressed'

Financial challenges remain at the council, despite improvements, the report continues, with a projected budget gap of £5m next year doubling to £10m the year after.

“Borrowing remains the single largest source of funding,” it says, and the council “needs to consider what it can afford”.

One way it could improve, it goes on, is by selling off council-owned buildings to increase its cash reserves.

PCC has indeed drawn up a list of its assets, which could include leisure facilities, libraries, green spaces, children’s centres and service buildings, for possible disposal, although this list is not public.

Currently, keeping up with operational costs and maintenance on its buildings is not viable, the council says, and it will look to provide a “joined-up approach to providing council services in council buildings” in future.

Finally, the report says, PCC has missed the deadline for its most recent accounts, which will also then need to be audited, which should be addressed as a priority.