The last council in England without a CPA rating has finally received one – and the category is ‘poor.' The Audit Commission announced the rating this week for the West Midlands district of Bromsgrove, but added that it was ‘moving in the right direction'. The commission's senior manager, Phil Jones, said the past few years had been ‘troubled' for Bromsgrove which had ‘poor leadership and no direction', but added that it ‘changing quickly'. In an interview with The MJ, the council chief executive, Kevin Dicks, who was appointed two months ago to drive through improvements, said the council was well aware of its weaknesses and was addressing them.
