October 2003, and five months into a newly-elected council, North Devon DC was labelled as 'weak'. It was a tough time, with local newspapers carrying damning front-page headlines. We went through the usual process - disbelief, anger, denial and finally, acceptance. Next came the improvement plan. We included 19 projects targeted at weaknesses identified in the CPA report. There were some service-based projects, but most were about corporate capacity and management. It was a three-year plan, franked informally by the Audit Commission, and resourced in part with £170,000 from the ODPM Capacity Building Fund. We gave our plan a dear brand and promoted it strongly with staff and members, with regular updates through monthly newsletters and face-to-face briefings by the leader and myself.
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