BY GEORGE...things have really changed

STOCKTON has undergone a transformation since its council became a unitary authority, says George Garlick.
And the borough is well placed to continue its progress in the coming few years.
Mr Garlick, 57, is leaving the authority to take over as chief executive of the new unitary council for County Durham. With 500,000 people, it will be the biggest local authority in the North-east and one of the biggest in the country.
Mr Garlick arrived as the chief executive at Stockton Council in 1995.
It was preparing for the major shake-up in local government on Teesside with the scrapping of Cleveland County Council and the setting up of the unitary councils covering each of the boroughs in 1996.
Mr Garlick believes the creation of the unitary councils has been a success for Stockton and for the whole of the Tees Valley.
“The effect of providing the four Teesside unitaries and a unitary council for Darlington to form the Tees Valley has been quite virtuous.
“We have competed with each other to provide the best services and that has raised the standard of service delivery across the whole area.
“Last year all five Tees Valley councils were four-star authorities,” said Mr Garlick.
He said the decision of the councils to set up the Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit had helped drive forward the agenda on economic, planning and transportation strategy.
Mr Garlick said that in the past 13 years Stockton had gone from an average performing authority - and in some cases such as street cleansing, a poorly performing authority - to being one of the top three performing councils in the country.
He pointed to Stockton’s success in being the overall winner of the city category in the 2007 Britain in Bloom finals as a clear indication of how the appearance of the borough had been transformed.
Examples highlighted by Mr Garlick on the progress the borough had made were:
Stockton schools’ performance at five or more A* to C grades at GCSE or equivalent was 39.5% in 1997. This year the figure was 64.4%.
At the end of Key Stage 2 performance at Level 4 or more was, in English, 59.8% in 1997 and this year it was 84.5%. In Maths, the 1997 figure was 62.3%, this year it was 82.5%.
Satisfaction with the way the council provides services had risen from 45% in 2000 to 54% in 2006.
In 2000 Stockton’s average ranking in the index of multiple deprivation was 75th worst nationally. By 2007 the borough had fallen to 98th.
Housing regeneration work in the borough has seen 1,000 homes demolished and 500 new homes have been provided so far on the regeneration sites. There has also been an £89m investment over five years in improving the council’s housing stock.
Mr Garlick said: “The borough has been transformed in so many ways.
He sees the Tees Barrage and its “creation of an 11-mile lake” as a huge catalyst in the work to regenerate the borough.
And he said the modernisation of the political system in the authority provided a new focus on quick decisions in local government.
“Big changes will happen in the next five years. Thornaby town centre is being rebuilt, Billingham is about to be renewed and in Stockton town centre we have the Southern Gateway project,” said Mr Garlick.
He added that there will be further progress on the Stockton Middlesbrough Initiative.
“The Building Schools for the Future programme in the borough is another wonderful opportunity and another spur to the huge emphasis we have had on education.
“Events such as the Stockton International Festival have gone from strength to strength.
“I have had a fantastic 13 years but it will be good for Stockton to have a change.
“Durham will be a very big unitary council. It is a big job and a big challenge,” said Mr Garlick, who plans to continue to live in Stockton.