22nd February 2007

  • I’m sure by now that you will all have heard the good news about our 2006/07 Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) result

  • Waltham Forest has been awarded three stars out of a possible four – a massive increase since 2002 when we were rated the equivalent of 0 stars

  • This is really great news for our residents – not because an organisation outside the borough has told residents that services are better, but because they are better

  • Being a three star authority means that our vulnerable children and adults are getting good care; that the streets are cleaner; that our libraries are better; and that we’re working better with the police to keep our streets safe

  • Its important that we do take the time to reflect on the progress we’ve made

  • We’ve got proposals in front of us tonight to agree no more than a 2.5% Council Tax increase for the next three years, one of the lowest increases in London, when in 2002 we set a Council Tax increase of 17.5%

  • We have a 2 star rated children and adults social services when they were in special measures in 2002

  • Our recycling rate has gone up to a massive 28% today from 8% in 2002

  • And our kids have just got their best ever results at GCSE level when in 2002 we were judged to be failing them

  • Its not just outside bodies who have told us we’re getting better, our residents have told us in their satisfaction survey that things are better all round

  • Everyone in this Council have worked hard to make these improvements – and I’d like to thank them all

  • But whilst these results are undoubtedly a major milestone in our improvement, we are not going to celebrate them

  • We’ve got a long way to go until we are confident that we are achieving the truly excellent, absolutely value for money services that our residents deserve

  • We may have three stars and have gone from being the equivalent of a back packers hostel to a Holiday Inn, but we’re certainly not the Savoy yet

  • The decisions are going to get tougher and the work is going to get harder

  • What we now have is a track record of achieving what we set out to do, and this will serve us well for the future

  • So we know we’ve got more to do, we know we have the ability to deliver and we know our residents want us to get better

  • So there’s no time to celebrate – we just need to get on with it