The focus of the review was to provide insight into the factors that encourage collaboration among local councils and those that might hinder it. Three research methods – a scan of some key literature, some small scale qualitative research with seven council participants and a survey of local councils – were employed during the first half of 2009 to look into these factors. In relation to the survey, all 85 regional, city or district councils were invited to participate in the survey and 53 (or 62%) responded within the allowed timeframe.
Key drivers of inter-council collaboration
Findings from all three research methods employed support the idea that key drivers of inter-council collaboration are fiscal constraints (the requirement to achieve more with fewer resources) and higher expectations of citizens, customers, and the councils themselves relating to council services. Councils that responded to the survey ranked ‘to reduce or contain the costs of council services’ as their most important motivating factor for collaboration (81%), followed by ‘to improve council services’ (77%), and ‘to meet higher public expectations in line with implementation of new legislation setting higher standards ...’ (65%).
Less than half of respondent councils indicated that they were motivated by a desire to attract skilled and experienced staff, ‘as an alternative to amalgamation with other councils’, or by a desire to help address problems related to climate change and global warming.
Factors encouraging inter-council collaboration, shared service delivery & planning
A common theme running through the findings of the scan and the qualitative research alike was the importance of the personal qualities of individuals to the success of inter-council collaborations. The personal qualities of individuals tended to be viewed as of greater importance than the governance and structural arrangements put in place to support the collaboration.
The survey findings reflect those of the qualitative research in that the top three initiating and sustaining factors of inter-council collaboration of survey respondents were the quality of inter-council working relationships, communication and council leadership as provided by council Chief Executives.
The quality of the leadership from Council Chief Executives was perceived as being of greater importance than that from the Mayors/Chairpersons in initiating and sustaining inter-council collaboration.
The Local Government Act 2002 does not direct councils to collaborate with each other or set reporting requirements about collaboration undertaken, rather it encourages them to do so where it is appropriate. It is therefore not surprisingly that survey respondents did not consider the provisions of this Act as an initiating or primary driving factor related to inter-council collaboration. A similar view was determined from the other research undertaken.
Factors hindering inter-council collaboration, shared service delivery & planning
Survey respondents rated ‘Council leadership not supporting or promoting collaboration’ as the top barrier to inter-council collaboration (93%). They rated ‘Councils operating in an insular way and taking a parochial approach’ (90%) as the next highest barrier to inter-council collaboration.
The scan, participants in the qualitative research and the survey revealed that factors that hinder inter-council collaboration and factors that encourage it, appear to be two sides of the same coin. They point to the importance of leadership, particularly the leadership of council Chief Executives, in setting the scene in which fruitful inter-council collaboration can occur.
The role of inter-council collaboration in the near future is expected to increase
Inter-council collaboration is continuing at a pace. The top five areas in which respondent councils were most likely to have collaborated with other councils were in relation to: provision of community information (77%), procurement processes (76%), geospatial information (74%), management of waste (71%), and in the development of their vision for their LTCCPs (69%).
Over seven in ten (72%) of respondent councils expect both formal and informal collaborative activities to increase over the next year, while just over half (55%) and one quarter (28%) expect collaborative activity to increase with government agencies and NGOs respectively.
The top five areas that councils saw as potential candidates for some/more collaboration were geospatial information (53%), procurement processes (50%), field services (47%), management of waste (45%), and in other areas (43%).