WARRINGTON Borough Council’s Labour-controlled Cabinet is to consider the council’s draft Improvement and Recovery Plan, which sets out how it intends to make a series of positive changes following government intervention due to debt concerns.
In May 2024, the council was reviewed to assess if it was complying with its ‘Best Value Duty’ with Inspectors appointed and required to report back to the Government.
After the review ended, the former Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution, Jim McMahon MP, decided in July 2025 to appoint ‘Ministerial Envoys’ to help the council take forward a number of widespread improvements. The Minister also gave the Council clear instructions on what changes and improvements need to be made, through a series of Ministerial Directions.
At the time, the council pledged to respond at pace to the damning best value inspection report.
In response, the Council is developing an Improvement and Recovery Programme and Plan to guide its work. At its meeting on Monday, 10 November, Cabinet will review the draft Plan in public for the first time, as it takes steps to become more open about its work and decision-making.
One plan, eight key themes
The draft Improvement and Recovery Plan coming to Cabinet for consideration is split into eight key priority areas, including:
– Governance, scrutiny and audit, ensuring the Council is well-run into the future
– Financial sustainability and debt reduction, focusing efforts to reduce the Council’s level of borrowing in a measured way, and taking steps to ensure financial sustainability
– Organisational capacity, culture and development, ensuring the Council has the right skills and culture to lead its improvement work
– Strategy refresh, refining the Council’s strategy to make sure it reflects the improvements it needs to make
– Working with partners, ensuring that the Council forms stronger relationships with its communities, and plays a leading role in delivering devolution to the area through establishing a Mayoral Combined Authority for Cheshire and Warrington
– Service standards, making sure that where service-specific improvement plans are in place, they are successfully implemented
– Programme delivery, ensuring that the Council’s Improvement and Recovery Plan is well-managed
– General continuous improvement, using the Improvement and Recovery Plan to set the foundations for taking forward other important areas of work that demonstrate continuous improvement
The plan will help the Council to ensure it is working to satisfy the Ministerial Directions and secure long-term and sustained improvement.
Leader of the Council, Cllr Hans Mundry, said: “This plan will ultimately drive forward our approach to improvement as a whole council. We recognise that we have a lot of work to do, and our plan is the first important step in our journey to becoming a Council that is well-run, is trusted, and is committed to changing for the better.
“Our draft plan coming to Cabinet is an important sign that we want to be more open about the decisions we make and the work we do. We want our residents and partners to see our proposals around how we want to improve, and we will continue to shape this plan until it is ultimately agreed by January 2026.”
Following Cabinet scrutiny of the draft plan, it will go through further engagement with all councillors before ultimately being adopted and submitted to the Council’s envoy team. This includes Full Council considering an updated draft of the plan at its meeting on 1 December, before the report is submitted by 9 January 2026.
For more information about the Council’s improvement work, visit warrington.gov.uk/improvement-and-recovery or read the Cabinet papers for next week’s meeting HERE.
