Harrogate Borough Council makes year on year improvements
Date press release issued:
10 December 2008
HARROGATE ON THE RIGHT ROAD
Harrogate Borough Council's Cabinet heard last night (10 December) that its services perform well above the national average for district councils in 2007/2008 and that year on year improvements were being made in the local community.
One highlight of the report was the news that visitors to the council's leisure, museum and arts venues topped the 1,000,000 for the second year running.
And good news for creditors is that the council paid over 91 per cent of its invoices on time an improvement from 86.61 per cent in 2006/2007.
Added to that, the report confirmed that 176 new units of affordable housing were provided in 2007/2008, the Harrogate Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership was acknowledged by the Home Office as one of the country's top performers and the council's conference and exhibition business generated £150m of visitor spend in the district over the financial year.
The report also noted that the average length that homeless people have to stay in bed and breakfast accommodation also improved year-on-year with an average of 2.24 weeks from 2.53 weeks.
Councillor Mike Gardner, Leader of the Council, welcomed the report but said that improving performance in some areas is extremely challenging owing to the impact of the current economic conditions on some services.
He said:
"This report highlighted some exceptional results but we know we are faced with challenges to keep up this rate of improvement.
We need to expand recycling and we need to look closely at the use of temporary accommodation for the homeless and reducing the length of stay in bed and breakfast.
Unlike many councils, we are not cutting services and we are seeing no dip on our provision.
That performance is being achieved in the face of increased costs for such as concessionary fares, as well as diminishing resources and reduced Government grant.
However, our public satisfaction rates have never been higher and we appreciate that local residents are pleased with our services and the council's performance as a whole.
"They can be assured that we will continue to strive for improvement and our ambitions are clearly set out in the council's Strategic Plan".
ENDS
MEDIA CONTACT:
Councillor Mike Gardner, 01423 500600 ext 6299.