Eastbourne and Lewes scoop iESE Council of the Year 2019

Since 2015, Eastbourne Borough Council and Lewes District Council have been working on a Joint Transformation Programme (JTP) to bring the staff of the two entities together. Whilst they had already previously shared some services, the merging of their teams has amounted to £8.2m shared investment and resulted in savings of up to £3.4m per annum.

Dr Andrew Larner, Chief Executive at iESE, said the win in both categories – Council of the Year and Working Together - was well-deserved. “The creation of a single management structure isn’t new, albeit that the savings achieved have been significant. However, their entrepreneurial approach, from housing and regeneration to delivering high-quality affordable broadband, has targeted key community needs, building capacity and resilience of residents and businesses alike, and helping communities to thrive.”

In addition to aligning the two councils’ systems and workforces, the merger has sought to embed a culture of innovation and creativity, resulting in numerous income-generation initiatives. This has included setting up specific ‘arms-length’ companies to allow the councils’ to exploit new opportunities, creating a dedicated asset-management team within its internal structures, and working with partners and stakeholders to bring in dedicated expertise and become a ‘partner of choice’ for the private sector.

Jo Harper, Head of Business Planning and Performance at Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council, said the two councils were delighted with the iESE Council of the Year win. “We are proud to have the award and to have won it together speaks volumes. It embeds that spirit of partnership.” Harper added that the two councils were particularly proud of how their joint working demonstrated how politicians can overcome ideological differences in the interests of the greater good – a reference to the fact that Eastbournehas a Liberal Democrat administration, whilst Lewes has a Conservative cabinet with no overall control.

Harper said the win was a fantastic achievement but came at time when the two organisations were still in the very final stages of merging their two teams. This has meant that publicising the win to staff – who have been through a period of instability – has had to be handled delicately. “We have had to be very sensitive because we are at the final stage of the restructure. We felt that to come in with a great fanfare would not ring true with our staff. The only reason that we have been able to achieve what we have so far is because everyone has gone through such a significant change and we have, as an entire organisation, been able to rise to this challenge. Instead of saying ‘aren’t we great’, it is about saying 'haven’t we worked hard and been amazingly resilient and flexible and adaptable in times of change',” she explained.

The two councils submitted a convincing pitch as to why they deserved to win Council of the Year 2019. The award application highlighted five areas where the councils are concentrating their asset management and commercial activity: regeneration developments, housing developments, property investments, pure investments and other income generation initiatives. The property, legal and finance teams have looked to develop their commercial skills in particular.

Numerous ventures were outlined in the award submission which impressed the judges. One such project is the new Wishtower restaurant, due to be completed in summer 2019, which aims to become a destination restaurant for residents and visitors alike. The project cost £.1.8m, with the council contributing £600,000, with projected returns of £100-£150,000 per annum.

Another project underway is investment in facilities for international tennis players who participate in the International Tennis Championships in Eastbourne and which will provide conference space out of season. Three additional tennis courts have been constructed, along with the installation of a new irrigation system to improve the quality of the grass courts. The total cost of the project is £54m, of which £5.6m has come from South East Local Enterprise Partnership and the Lawn Tennis Association.

The project has addressed a repairs backlog of £10m. This investment aims to protect conference revenue, calculated to be worth £10m per year to the Eastbourne economy, but the poor condition of the site was seeing bookings worth £800,000 per annum being lost.

The International Tennis Tournament is worth £65,000 in bed/room lettings per year but faced future risk without investment. It is believed that the investment will protect 250 jobs, whilst the project has generated 250 construction jobs and will secure a further 25 permanent jobs. Each council already has its own housing company and together they have established a jointly-owned venture, Aspiration Homes.

Established at a £20m cost to each council, the company is designed to take advantage of ‘Right to Buy’ receipts and other available grants. Treasury return on debt is 4.5 per cent. The first development by Aspiration Homes – 12 apartments - is under construction. A number of other investments and other income-generation initiatives show the JTP to be forward-thinking and innovative in the ways it seeks to secure the financial future of both councils. This includes, for example, Devonshire Park Catering, an in-house operation which also supplies externally.

A public house has been purchased to extend the scope of this operation. The service has a £1m turnover with a return of £100-£150,000 net profit per annum. Harper stressed that while the award submission listed many investments, the partnership had been very careful with its decisions.

"You have to be very aware of your local economic climate and your local community needs. Just going out willy-nilly and investing in shopping centres and retail parks isn't always going to be the answer, you have got to think about the direction of your local economy and how can you contribute to that in a constructive way and in a way that will work because not every investment is going to pay off.

"We have been very careful and, although we have been prepared to take risks, those have been very carefully calculated by weighing up the potential and using the advice of experts to make sure we are making good decisions," she said.

As well as innovative thinking, Harper believes another big success has been how the JTP has sought partnerships. In Lewes, Newhaven Town Centre is benefitting from regeneration through a partnership between Lewes District Council and the Capital Local Enterprise Partnership, for example. Despite the work already done and the success of the JTP, Lewes and Eastbourne recognise they always have more to learn about harnessing commercial approaches. It continually reviews best practice and this constant striving for innovation was also key to its Council of the Year win.

“We weren’t the first two councils to bring our staff and services together, but what makes us unique is the fact that we were doing three things at once – we were bringing the two councils together, we were implementing a new operating model and style of working and we were moving towards this much more commercialised approach to the way we ran our business,” said Harper.

She added that she would encourage other councils to apply for the iESE awards in future years. “I think every council has amazing and innovative things it is doing just to survive in the current climate. Don’t necessarily think everyone else has done what you are doing already – maybe they haven’t, maybe you are doing things others can learn from.”