Local government has always been a sector that changes shape and adapts to whatever is thrown at it and we have proven that time and time again during the crisis we have been facing in recent months.
Our financial sustainability as a sector is something we all are concerned about, particularly since in just six months’ time we should be setting legally balanced budgets.
A luxury we don’t have is time. It has never been in shorter supply than right now when much of the financial support we have received so far has been one-off in nature and still so much of it is uncertain.
As we engage with our local community, our narrative about the choices we face has to be honest, including the fact that some of what we are doing will be about survival in the shorter term, with a hope of buying enough time to provide space for sustainable transformation.
It’s crucial that in our rush to survive we don’t forget to listen and look out for green shoots of ideas that should be considered.
In the last few days I’ve had suggestions from each of my teams that have been about doing things differently and not from their usual day-to-day area of work. These ideas have been sparked by a greater understanding of what is happening across the council thanks to greater collaborative working while responding to COVID.
Our challenge remains: how can we encourage that greater understanding and ideas generation from our communities, while at at the same time not presenting an overly optimistic view of decisions we may have to make.
We know that these green shoots will not be enough to bridge the significant gaps in all of our medium-term financial strategies, but it may just buy a little bit more of that precious commodity – time.
Adele Taylor is director of resources at Windsor & Maidenhead RLBC