Executive summary
North Tyneside serves urban, suburban, and coastal communities. It is characterised by rich natural assets, industrial heritage and ongoing regeneration. The borough ranks moderately among other UK local authorities when it comes to overall deprivation levels with a marked gap between its most deprived areas and those least deprived. Led by a directly elected mayor, and part of the North East Combined Authority (NECA), the council is committed to being a borough “where everyone has the opportunity to live well and succeed”.
North Tyneside has favourable conditions for success, with mature organisational foundations, good councillor and officer relationships, record of strong service delivery, and a shared desire across the council and partners for it to succeed. The new elected mayor and chief executive are recognised for their positive leadership, with strong support for them to act as influential change‑makers and more prominent place ambassadors. Collectively, this provides a powerful platform for delivering the new Our North Tyneside Plan priorities.
Turning this platform into tangible progress on key mayoral priorities will require an organisational‑wide shift, with North Tyneside not yet having had to make some of the difficult decisions some councils have. This will require modernising processes, shifting from services to outcomes, unlocking more community power, and accelerating public service reform (PSR). To do so, North Tyneside must embed a ‘one council’ approach that reduces the potential for fragmentation and integrates performance, finance, and risk reporting.
Moreover, escalating financial pressures, rising demand, and wider socioeconomic shifts mean the council cannot continue operating as it has done up until now. With a forecast gap of £18m by 2029/30, low reserves, and a continued pattern of overspending, the distance between what the council delivers and what it can afford is widening.
The council recognises urgent action is required, and has been proactive in its response, undertaking a Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) financial review and refreshing its strategic transformation approach, the Plan for Change. Swift implementation of the CIPFA review’s recommendations will be essential to secure medium-term financial sustainability. This must be underpinned by a jointly owned action plan across cabinet and the senior leadership team (SLT) delivered with pace and the impressive discipline the council applies to delivering its statutorily regulated services.
The Plan for Change will be central to long‑term sustainability and meeting future demand. While progress is being made, it needs to fully address future funding gaps and drives North Tyneside’s PSR agenda. This will require strong Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP) alignment, collective ownership, resourcing, and clear focus on harnessing community power to improve outcomes for people and places. In doing so, the council can build on its strong examples of co‑production.
The council’s organisational culture is a clear strength and will be crucial in enabling the council to sustain positive change. North Tyneside describes its people as one of its greatest assets, which is reinforced by high staff satisfaction levels and strong ‘relational practice’. Leveraging these strengths, North Tyneside should now build on its positive culture of kindness, commitment and passion, with sharper prioritisation and a greater readiness for constructive challenge to support it to deliver its ambitions and navigate the changing demands ahead.
The council is committed to, and has a strong track record of, working effectively with partners across local and regional systems. It is widely viewed as a collaborative and positive partner but should invest energy in strengthening relationships with education and business partners.
The borough has compelling place assets; however, North Tyneside needs a stronger, coherent place narrative, including a clearer growth story to harness the opportunities its strengths create. North Tyneside should articulate its vision as a distinctive unique selling point (USP), with clear priorities, outcomes and impact for people and place that are consistently communicated and reflected in MTFP spending decisions. This will create a strong platform for North Tyneside to ‘harness its heft’, both enhancing its place leadership presence, and enabling partners and communities to align behind - and become ambassadors for - a shared story of North Tyneside.
North Tyneside has much to be proud of, and a strong platform to build from. It must now be bold, accelerate the pace of delivery, and more confidently tell its story to shape its future direction and galvanise everyone behind its ambitions.