Purpose

To consider the response to the Corporate Peer
Challenge that took place 8-11 July 2025.

Decision

(1) 
To approve the draft action plan.
 
(2) 
To agree to a follow up visit in Summer 2026 to help the council
assess the impact of the peer challenge and demonstrate the
progress made in response to the review’s
recommendations.

Reasons for the decision

Peer Challenges are improvement-focused and
tailored to meet individual councils’ needs, designed to
complement and add value to a council’s own performance and
improvement.
 
The peer review report recognised delivery of
many good things where the council is making a difference,
including climate action, place-shaping, community wellbeing, staff
culture, and financial management.
 
There were also a range of suggestions and
observations within the main section of the report. This includes
an immediate response of undertaking a communications peer review
7-9 October 2025 and to further embed the council’s core
policy of ‘giving people a bigger say’ by reaching more
widely and deeply into communities.
 
The peer review team identified eight key
recommendations, and the action plan sets out the method of
addressing these.

Alternative options considered

None.