Balancing the budget

We’ve already got a national reputation for providing top quality schools and nurseries, home and residential care services, libraries, public transport and roads. And improvement is highly sought-after and consistently delivered throughout the council.
 
But we’re not complacent. We know we can do better. And we set ourselves some stiff goals and targets to focus our energy and performance. Importantly, we question everything. If it doesn’t help to make life better locally – we don’t do it.
 
Neither do we sit back and keep our fingers crossed that we’re doing all right. We carefully plan our priorities and the services we provide to meet local needs. We take every possible opportunity to find out what local people think. And our doors are always open to independent inspectors and auditors. What’s more we keep a close check on what we do to make sure we’re doing a good job and that we’re getting better at doing it.
 
Importantly, we always look for those creative solutions to tackle local and national issues. But we don’t work in isolation. Wherever possible we take the lead in creating innovative, challenging and effective partnerships that make a big difference.
 
There's no such thing as the perfect council. But our attempt to become one drives us on to do even better.