Vale Council: What's good and what can be improved (From Penarth Times)

Vale Council: What's good and what can be improved

8:30am Saturday 8th September 2012 in News

THIS year’s Local Government Performance report has found that the Vale of Glamorgan Council is performing well in many areas – but there is room for improvement.

The Local Government Data Unit report examines and compares the performance of Wales’ 22 county councils.

Leader of the Vale Council, Cllr Neil Moore said: “The council has achieved some good results but there are areas that we need to improve."

The council is a top performer when it comes to offering assessments to carers of adults, and also ensures that 100 per cent of youngsters who have been looked after by the authority are in suitable accommodation when they are 19 years old.

The percentage of statutory visits social services teams made to children looked after by the council was another area where the authority was a top performer.

The performance of pupils at council maintained schools mirrored the excellent A-level and GCSE results achieved by local pupils, with the Vale of Glamorgan one of the top three education authority areas in Wales.

The council is also seen as a top performer when it comes to clearing away fly-tipping, which is done within five days.

However, the condition of roads is a common complaint from residents, and Cllr Moore said: "The report finds that the percentage of our roads in a poor condition is average for Wales – but this is not good enough and the council is working hard to improve as many roads as possible."

He also said that it was concerning that the Vale had the lowest level of affordable housing as a percentage of new homes, provided during the reporting period, and this was something they would be investigating. "However, our performance on preventing homelessness is above average," he added.

“Another area the council struggles with is the number of days taken to deliver disabled facilities grants. However, we are improving in this area and we will be pressing our officers for further improvement."

The percentage of waste sent to landfill by the Vale was found to be higher than average, but the recent introduction of mixed recycling collections is increasing the amount of waste that is recycled.

The full report can be seen at www.dataunitwales.gov.uk