About Us

Political structure

The London Borough of Havering has 54 councillors and the current make up of the London Borough is:

Conservatives: 26

Residents: 16

Labour: 11

Independent: 1

The next election is scheduled to take place in May 2006.

How Havering is doing

Havering council is 'improving well'. That's the judgement made by the Audit Commission as part of its annual Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) of all councils for 2005.

This year's assessment, described by the Audit Commission as a 'harder test' scores Havering Council 3 out of 4 on its current improvement activity. The Audit Commission noted in particular improved service outcomes, increased public and user satisfaction and low costs.

Leader of the Council, Michael White said, "This is great news for Havering and its residents. The Audit Commission has confirmed what residents are telling us locally - we're getting better and 'improving well.' I am especially pleased that this assessment shows we are giving value for money services to local people. We will continue to do this and can I assure residents that we will do even better over the coming years"

Many of Havering's services are doing extremely well with the children and young people service scoring top marks of 4 out of 4. The benefits service scores 3 out of 4. The council is also one of only 16 London Boroughs to be given 3 out of 4 for providing value for money services.

Downloads - These Documents are located in the right hand margin

The Corporate Development Plan for 2005-08 sets out the Council's vision and priorities and where its improvement will be focused.

The Performance Plan sets out what the Council has achieved, and targets for service improvement.

The Medium Term Financial Strategy sets out how resources will be deployed in support of the vision and priorities and to deliver the service improvement targets we have set.

These key documents drive service plans across all Council directorates and, through Personal Development and Performance Appraisal, identify how individual members of staff will be contributing to improving services.

In addition to responding to recommendations arising from the Comprehensive Assessment the Council sets out improvement plans arising from Inspections of our services that have been undertaken by external agencies. We also continue to conduct internal reviews of our activities in order to help us to focus our attention on providing better and more responsive services.

We continuously monitor our performance as part of our Performance Management Framework 'Managing Performance in Havering'. Senior managers have to report on performance every month and elected members are encouraged to challenge and demand continuous improvement.

Other Achievement in 2004 and 2005

A number of other inspectorates and organisations have commented on our work and there have been improvements against a range of national performance indicators. Highlights include:

• Sickness absence is now one of the lowest in London .
• Council Tax collection rates are now 1.5% higher than London average
• Planning performance against target is now one of the best in London
• New claims processing for Benefits has improved from 74 days in 03/04 to 40 days in 04/05
• Improvement in street cleanliness recognised by ENCAMS (the environmental charity) who found that public spaces below standard cleanliness levels had fallen from 43% in 2003/04 to 37% in 2004/05
• YES, a survey of street cleanliness, shows a 9 point improvement for 2004/5. Havering is now rated as 7th highest in London.
• The 2005 MORI survey identified the following improvements in residents' views between October 2003 and February 2005: The proportion of residents satisfied with the overall performance of the Council leapt by 10% from 37% to 47%. Satisfaction with the cleanliness of the borough improved from 42% to 48%. This is backed-up by an ENCAMS survey showing a 6% improvement between 2003/04 and 2004/05Havering?s efficiency savings for 2004/05 were ranked 11th out of 33 London boroughs for proportion of budget saved.
• Recognised with Corporate Investors in People and the Two Ticks Disability Symbol
• Winner of a Prince Michael of Kent Occupational Road Safety Award for the Transport Service
• Shortlisted and recognised as commendable by
  • the Beacon Awards for Sustainable Energy
  • the LGC Awards for Sustainable Communities
  • the Association of Public Service Excellence for the Transport Service and the Library Computer System
  • the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors for the Mardyke Estate Community Centre
  • The National Training Awards for the Leadership ProgrammeThe British Diversity Awards for the Havering Diversity Challenge
  • The LGC Finance Awards for the Benefit Service
• Council properties have been renovated, including complete renewal of Upminster and Gidea Park Libraries, improvements to the Town Hall and Mercury House, and procurement of a new building for council staff to replace the Broxhill and Whitworth centres. Central Park Pool has been built and now rates as one of the ten best in London.