Gosport Borough Council– Progress Review

The council undertook an LGA Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC) during November 2024 and published the full report with an action plan. 

The Progress Review is an integral part of the Corporate Peer Challenge process.  Taking place approximately ten months after the CPC, it is designed to provide space for the council’s senior leadership to:

• Receive feedback from peers on the early progress made by the council against the CPC recommendations and the council’s CPC Action Plan.
• Consider peers’ reflections on any new opportunities or challenges that may have arisen since the peer team were ‘on-site’ including any further support needs
• Discuss any early impact or learning from the progress made to date 

The LGA would like to thank Gosport Borough Council for their commitment to sector led improvement. This Progress Review was the next step in an ongoing, open and close relationship that the council has with LGA sector support.

The Progress Review at Gosport took place (onsite) on 4 November 2025. 

The Progress Review focussed on each of the recommendations from the Corporate Peer Challenge, under the following theme headings: 

• Local Priorities and Outcomes
• Organisational and Place Leadership
• Governance and Culture
• Financial Planning and Management
• Capacity for Improvement

For this Progress Review, the following members of the original CPC team were involved: 

• Sarah Martin Chief Officer & Director of Corporate Services (Head of Paid Services) - Dartford Borough Council (Lead Peer)
• David Tutt – Leader of the Opposition – East Sussex County Council (unable to take part on site)
• Daniel Bainbridge - Group Head of Law & Governance - Arun District Council
• Paul Minnis - Director: Major Development & Regeneration - Cheltenham Borough Council
• Romilly Beard – LGA Regional Programme Manager – One Public Estate (shadow peer)
• LGA Peer Challenge Manager Gill Elliott LGA Associate

We understand that since the CPC in late 2024 the council has been heavily involved in discussions around both Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) and Devolution in Hampshire. We also know that at the time of the Progress Review, the Council has not endorsed any of the LGR options put forward. Gosport is a small council with relatively lean resources, so LGR has inevitably taken up a lot of senior leaders’ time, particularly that of the chief executive and the leader. We appreciate that this will have impacted on the development and delivery of the council’s CPC action plan. 

Despite this the peer team was pleased to note that all of the ten original CPC recommendations have been addressed in the council’s action plan. There have been some really positive achievements, particularly around improving ICT, staff capacity, regeneration and budget monitoring.  We do feel that more work is needed around member development, performance monitoring and the “golden triangle” of the senior statutory officers. Although not part of a formal recommendation, it was mentioned in our original report that late reports were a concern. During the Progress Review we heard that the situation over late reports had improved over the last year. Opposition members, however, said that there continued to be too many late and exempt reports. They also expressed the view that relationships across the political groups remained poor.

3.1 Recommendation 1 – establish an agreed structure around programme management 

Peers recommended that the council establish an agreed structure around programme management to enable the prioritisation of projects and effective delivery, building on the Capital Programme Review meetings and the existing Regeneration Framework.

In 2024 the team had observed a lack of clarity between officers and members on the priority of projects beyond Criterion and the People’s Park. They felt that this could be addressed by developing a consistent programme and project management approach, e.g. the use of Gantt charts, risk registers, resource schedules. This would help to develop a priority list and identify appropriate resource allocation across all projects. Informed decisions could then be taken on project progress and timescales. 

In its Action Plan the council said that it would adopt programme management tools (project boards, risk registers, milestone tracking) and align projects against council priorities.

We understand that a Regeneration Framework is in place with Regeneration Steering Group and Delivery Board meetings currently being overseen by the Economic Development & Regeneration Manager. Finance led Capital Programme Review meetings are also in place to track spend against budget. The deadline for capital projects to have individual risk registers is end of 2025. Major project updates are given at fortnightly Council Management Team meetings. Regular internal and external comms on project progress is in place. 

The ’What’s going on in the Borough’ section of the staff bulletin connects staff to the community. New projects are aligned with council plan, strategies and action plans to be discussed with the administration as part of budget setting to provide structured project gateway process. All Board reports reference alignment with council plan objectives. A project manager resource has been recruited to Economic Development & Regeneration and Open Spaces teams who will provide support corporately on projects and process.

At the Progress Review the team concluded that the council was clearer on priority projects but going forward there is still a need to continue on the journey of getting strong project governance in place and have a clear way of identifying future project priorities.

3.2 Recommendation 2 – Take a definite decision on the future of the Town Hall

In 2024 Peers saw that the current town hall building which was opened in 1964 was old, tired, under-utilised and a drain on council resources. It is situated in the town centre/High Street area which is itself in need of improvement. 

In its action plan update the council reported that the future of the town hall site has been specifically identified in its Gosport Waterfront and Town Centre Supplementary Planning Document. There is potential for mixed use redevelopment within the Gosport Waterfront and Town Centre Regeneration Area identified in both the Council’s adopted and emerging local plan. We understand that essential works only are currently being undertaken with some internal service relocation being done to maximise efficiency of use and reduce energy consumption (e.g. Env Health & Community Safety). Future options appraisal is ongoing, but this is now linked to discussions regarding LGR.

3.3   Recommendation 3 – introduce a Member Development Programme

At the time of the CPC in November 2024 the peer team thought that both the administration and the opposition were still adjusting into their new roles following the change of political control in 2022 and that improved formal development would be beneficial for all members. Peers felt that the programme should include member-officer relationships and enable group leaders to deliver personal development reviews for their members

As part of its’ Action Plan the council undertook to review its structured training for Members including governance, planning, finance, leadership and relationships/codes of conduct. Group Leaders are to introduce mentoring and annual development reviews.

Prior to our visit the council reported that new Member induction has been reviewed. Financial oversight training is being developed and will be added in 2026. In readiness for the 2026 elections the council intends to develop training around conduct and general induction and we would endorse this. Group Leaders will be asked to become training champions, encouraging attendance at training sessions, reviewing core and specific training requirements and offering mentoring and personal development reviews within their groups.

We understand that there is now a member portal that members can sign into although there is not yet an agreed member development programme. We recognise that experienced members also have useful knowledge and we feel that this can be shared with the newer members. 

We were concerned to hear from officers that the boundaries between member and officer roles are still blurred, with senior members becoming too involved in operational matters and trying to by-pass approved council processes to speed up project delivery. Officers advised that they are not always shown respect and trust from senior members. To ensure that there is more clarity on respective roles and to help build professional and respectful working relationships, we would recommend that the Member-Officer Relations Protocol is reviewed and promoted.

Members also told us that they are facing more attacks on social media and that member safety is a real concern. We appreciate this concern and would encourage Gosport’s Members to make use of the LGA’s Member training on this issue 

3.4    Recommendation 4 – Establish a Health and Safety Committee

Peers wanted the council to provide additional governance and reassurance that the appropriate health and safety measures are embedded. Serious health and safety concerns were found in the Street Scene department last year. These had been addressed at the time of the CPC but peers felt it was important to ensure that good Health and Safety practices were embedded across the organisation.

The council reported that there is a new Health & Safety Policy and that health and safety training is currently being rolled out from July 2025 to all staff whose roles are detailed as having responsibilities in the policy. Health & Safety is now a standing item on the Council Management Team agenda. Managers have been made aware that any health and safety concerns from staff are to be raised via Council Management Team and if appropriate referred to the Corporate Governance Group, with service area/Strategic Risk Register updated as appropriate. The importance of reporting near misses or actual health & safety incidents on Prime has been highlighted during the training and has been cascaded to all staff through section meetings. All staff have also been reminded via bulletins of key safety responsibilities including dress guidance, lone working, fire alarm tests and mandatory learning.

A Health and Safety forum has been set up headed by the Corporate Services Manager, the Health and Safety Officer and HR Manager. Terms of reference have been agreed and a call for officers from each section within the Council has been issued.

3.5   Recommendation 5 – Develop a New Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Strategy

In 2024 Peers saw that ICT was not delivering an adequate service to the council. They made the point that going forward ICT would be a fundamental part of the council’s transformation into an efficient and modern organisation with up-to-date business processes.

At the Progress Review we were very pleased to see that the council has really addressed this recommendation and made great progress on its ICT provision. In 2024 there was no long-term vision for the ICT service; ICT practices were very traditional: remote and agile working was not really possible due to outdated hardware; IT service support was poor and, cyber security was a problem with a risk to disaster recovery and business continuity in the event of cyber-attacks. 

There is now a new IT manager at Gosport supported by the Director of IT at Southampton Council. This support will be reduced going forward. Additional resource has been recruited around network and cyber security. Core applications are now being hosted by the provider, who also carry out upgrades and patches. Whilst this is at a financial cost the systems are now far more robust. 

The emerging IT strategy will focus on the continuing Cloud journey and the end user experience. Going forward it is intended that all the major Council systems such as Finance, Planning and Housing will be cloud based, which will also enable AI to be utilised in the future. The new strategy also recognises that ICT still needs to be better aligned with broader organisational processes including with Finance and work around this is ongoing. 

Equipment is to be updated with staff receiving new laptops that can enable them to work anywhere. Training will be provided on the new tools that will be available such as Office 365. In addition to the training itself there is a recognition that there needs to be a staff culture change programme to help staff embrace a modern way of working. The new strategy will also reflect the challenges of future LGR.

3.6 Recommendation 6 – Strengthen the “Golden Triangle” Relationship Between the Head of Paid Service (chief executive), section 151 Officer and the monitoring officer.

Peers felt that regular scheduled meetings between the three key officers should take place with an audit trail of items discussed and decisions taken. During the Progress Review we learned that whilst meetings have been scheduled, the three statutory officers are still not meeting altogether regularly as a group. It is important that both roles are able to provide support to the chief executive and that the three statutory officers work closely together. We appreciate that the capacity of the S151 officer to spread his time across three organisations is already a challenge and will become worse due to the demands of LGR. Consideration should therefore be given to increasing the capacity for both the S151 and MO roles to strengthen the golden triangle relationship.

3.7 Recommendation 7 - Establish Quarterly Budget Monitoring Reporting to Members

In 2024 peers saw that although managers had access to budget monitoring information, no formal reports were taken to members on the in-year position. They felt that doing this would provide greater transparency and proactive risk management.

In its Action Plan the council undertook to introduce quarterly monitoring reports in-year with variances highlighted, to Policy & Organisation Board. These would be linked to service performance to ensure Members are updated on the council’s overall position. Members would also be provided with training in financial oversight.

At the time of the Progress Review whilst as yet nothing had been reported to Members, a template report has now been agreed after much discussion with key stakeholders. The report will now include detailed financial information which will enable members to clearly understand the budget monitoring position. Quarterly budget updates are now in place with Q2 update presented to the Policy and Organisation Board in November.

3.8 Recommendation 8 – Introduce Performance Monitoring Against the Corporate Plan priorities

At the CPC peers found that there was no overall corporate monitoring system for service performance in the council. Instead, reporting varied within services with some reporting to Members.

We recognize that staff have been positively engaged in the corporate plan refresh which has been good for bringing staff together as “One Gosport”. Some training has now been undertaken and service business plans are in place. The Corporate Governance Group is working well and corporate complaints policies have been aligned with housing complaints. There is still some learning to be done around housing regulation to give managers the confidence to report any lack of compliance. KPIs still need to be formalized across service areas and performance monitoring to Members still needs to be developed. The Housing Chair receives performance figures but other Members do not. We were told that the groundwork has been laid for formal performance monitoring via CMT but this now needs to move forward.

In 2024/25 the Annual Internal Audit opinion was downgraded to limited assurance due to a poor response to audit follow-up actions and an increase in limited assurance audit reports, a number of which related to the known issues with IT. It is now compulsory for managers to update the audit tracker and this is monitored by CMT. So far in 2025/26, there have been less limited assurance audit reports so it is hoped that the annual assurance opinion will be improved, however, it is too early in the year for this to be confirmed.

3.9 Recommendation 9 – Review and Address Staff Capacity Across the Council

The original CPC recognized that the council was a small and very lean organisation. It found that resources and capacity were stretched, with some posts having wide remits. The council has an older workforce and there was an over-reliance on some key staff in areas such as Finance and Legal. Succession planning in key areas and across the council was limited which was a risk for the organisation. 

In its CPC Action Plan the council pledged to develop a new workforce strategy for recruitment, retention, and succession planning. It also intended to invest in system automation and training (linked to IT developments). The workforce strategy will align with the refreshed corporate priorities. A key focus will be placed on understanding the existing workforce demographic and recruitment and retention. The HR Fusions system (HR /Payroll/Absence) is seen to be working better now and the council is trying to capture more employee data from this. An action plan is being developed to further encourage staff to update profiles to close data gaps. 

A new Learning Portal was launched in January 2025 which makes it easier and more accessible for staff to complete mandatory training. There is a personalised dashboard to help staff view, track and manage their professional development. During the Progress Review peers heard that “Bite size” training has been rolled out to managers and there has been good feedback and take-up. A new staff leadership network is being rolled out aimed at laying the foundations of new values and behaviours. The fifty managers in the leadership network range from heads of service to team leaders. Managers are being encouraged to attend management training on sickness absence management and disciplinary investigations. HR has seen a more robust approach as a result.

Recruitment processes are still mainly manual but it is expected that improved IT will help with this as processes become more efficient. Recruitment is still challenging in some areas e.g. building surveying. There are still some capacity issues, however, some key posts have now been successfully recruited to. LGR could be affecting recruitment as people may be reluctant to leave their current jobs.  HR are looking at the council’s employer proposition to see what makes Gosport a good employer and have looked at how best to promote vacancies. 

3.10 Recommendation 10 - Consider How the Existing Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Statement of Commitment Can be Fulfilled and EDI Objectives Delivered 

The council had given some consideration to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at a corporate level. Equality objectives and a statement of commitment had been published and there was evidence that Equality Impact Assessments were being completed and attached to reports going to Board. Nevertheless, EDI was not really a “living and breathing” issue within the council. The anonymous results of the staff survey in 2023 revealed that 30 per cent of staff considered themselves to have a disability. 

The council held staff sessions in June 2025 on communication, collaboration and organisation values. The intention is to refine these values to help support staff over the next few years. Council policies have been updated to ensure gender neutral language and compliance with legislation on sexual harassment. Staff guidance and resources have been expanded to support inclusive practices with further training under review There are training materials on the Learning Portal to support carers. The council is now a Hidden Disabilities employer, and the Sunflower Friendly Council initiative has helped staff and residents feel more supported. A Staff Wellbeing Roadshow was delivered summer 2025 offering health checks. 

Work has been conducted with neighbouring authorities on workplace reasonable adjustments and the HR team are developing a framework to capture and report these needs. Town Hall staff rest area has been improved to encourage collaboration and networking. Compliance on mandatory training is tracked with EDI reports generated. Once data is more complete it will be used to create further staff networks and strategies. Work around EDI will be of benefit to the council as it prepares staff for LGR.

We heard from several sources during our visit that governance conflicts in the Member - officer space have hampered the progress of key projects. This then requires more officer time than it should warrant. We feel that the Leader in particular needs to have greater trust and reliance on the professional expertise and judgement of his experienced officers. This would be to the benefit of the projects concerned and also member - officer relationships in the council more generally. We would also recommend that senior members and officers undertake training to better understand the respective roles of members and officers and to respect the need for good governance arrangements.  This link will be a useful guide in this respect.

The LGA would like to thank Gosport Borough Council for undertaking an LGA CPC Progress Review. 

We appreciate that senior managerial and political leadership will want to reflect on these findings and suggestions in order to determine how the organisation wishes to take things forward.

Under the umbrella of LGA sector-led improvement, there is an on-going offer of support to councils. The LGA is well placed to provide additional support, advice and guidance on a number of the areas identified for development and improvement and we would be happy to discuss this. 

Will Brooks (Principal Adviser) is the main point of contact between the authority and the Local Government Association (LGA) and his e-mail address is [email protected]

Further information, support, and resources on LGR/Devolution, can be found on the LGA’s devolution and LGR Hub website.