About Our Council
Better Local Government
In 1996, Better Local Government - A Programme for Change was published which charts an ambitious course for the reform of local government. It requires a new focus on the local government service and provides for new structures to deliver services more efficiently and effectively to our customers.
Roscommon County Council is well advanced in developing those structures of decision making. They include the Corporate Policy Group and the Strategic Policy Committees which were proposed by Better Local Government and are enshrined in the Local Government Act 2000. They will bring members involvement in policy making in association with sector representatives to the fore front of the local government agenda.
Better Local Government is based on four core principles:
- Enhancing local democracy and widening participation
- Serving the customer better
- Developing efficiency in local government and
- Providing proper resources to allow local government to fulfil the role assigned to it.
The principles are not new and are evident in work which has already been carried out within the organisation, in the context of the Strategic Management Initiative (SMI) and Better Local Government - A programme for change. What remains to be done now, is to put the structures in place, to staff them adequately within resource constraints and to adopt the practices and technologies which will give the best in terms of service provision and job satisfaction.
