OFFICERS of Copeland have been praised following the council’s positive performance report, leaders say they have gone above and beyond to deliver key services and projects despite immense challenges.

Copeland Council’s leadership met on Tuesday and one of the items in discussion was the authority’s quarter four performance report.

The report sets out the progress made by Copeland Borough Council in the final quarter of the 2021-22 financial year on Key Deliverables and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Key Deliverables are the outcomes desired by an organisation from its efforts; Key Performance Indicators are measurable values that demonstrate how successful an organisation is in achieving its objectives.

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Senior councillors heard that at the end of quarter four, 13 of Copeland’s Key Deliverables have been fully complete and 21 of 23 milestones scheduled have been met.

Key Deliverables are broken down into sub-actions known as milestones.

The completed Key Deliverables include a Domestic Abuse support project; social prescribing, Town Deals and Levelling-Up Fund bids.

Councillor David Moore, portfolio holder for nuclear and commercial services said: “It gives me great pleasure in bringing the performance report here. Quarter four’s always the one that all eyes fall on.

“As we move through the year, quarter four’s where we get the final report for how we’ve done in the year.

“We look through and we do have a few that slipped below. If we look at the ones we’re getting for council tax rebates, the terrific amount of work that our people have had to do, the Government initiatives that have come forward to get the funding back to people that most need it and getting out the council tax rebate of the £150, that’s all work that was not programmed into our work schedule. But it’s work we’ve competed and completed well with the majority of people now receiving that funding.”

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Cllr Moore said some deliverables set by Government are “unrealistic” including affordable housing targets.

Copeland was behind on its target for affordable homes, Cllr Moore said that it is not possible to meet it given the nature of developments seen in the area.

Cllr Steven Morgan said: “In my opinion, we should not dismiss that as a goal we cannot achieve. It is true that we have an awful lot of affordable housing in the area but it is also very old.

“We have a high level of attrition with young people leaving the area and in large part I think it’s because of not having enough new affordable housing. So I would encourage us to not give up the pressure.”

Cllr Moore said: “It’s planning panel that comes under that pressure and planning panel has its own powers to make those decisions. We do apply wherever the statutory requirement is to put affordable houses into those applications.

“A planning panel has to balance whether that affects the deliverability of the entire scheme and very often the affordable home element can make a scheme coming forward unviable but I think it’s right wherever possible we support the building of affordable homes.”

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