Eastbourne Borough Council
Eastbourne Borough Council used our Customer Knowledge and Local Knowledge databases to gain insight into their performance journey, improve their provisions and gain perspective on how they compare with other local authorities.
Eastbourne is a thriving seaside town sitting at the foot of the South Downs in East Sussex with a population of around 90,000 people. Over recent years priority has been attached by Eastbourne Borough Council to performance improvement, and a recent Peer Review acknowledged the valuable contribution that Local Futures had made to consolidating the performance management culture of the authority.
"Local Knowledge has proved an invaluable tool for Eastbourne Borough Council over the past year, informing the Corporate Plan and providing a robust and meaningful evidence base to back up our chosen priority themes. Thanks to Local Futures we have been able to present data in a variety of ways that have combined clarity of understanding with thematic views." William Tompsett, Strategic Performance Manager, Eastbourne Borough Council

Eastbourne Borough Council was initially provided with access to Local Knowledge by Improvement and Efficiency South East, who had recognised the potential benefits of the system to improve the performance of local councils. The performance management culture of the council was in need of improvement and, by sponsoring access to the system, IESE were keen to assess the potential of Local Knowledge to help achieve this.

The Council's own assessment of Local Knowledge identified the following benefits:

  • Improvements in the way in which data is presented, with the Report Card format proving very popular with Members and the public. Spider charts provided a visual tool for understanding how baskets of indicators build up a picture of an area’s character.
  • Developments in the use of area-based information and mapping data to identify the characteristics and needs of specific areas of a town. Using this information they were able to target services more accurately and efficiently. In a climate where resources are even more limited, this level of knowledge-based planning was invaluable.
  • Having access to such a large range of data and statistics in one place saved significant officer time that would previously have been spent sourcing and processing data. It also enabled them to challenge anecdotal evidence and perceptions of a local area.


The benefits of Local Knowledge were noted by the Government Office South East, when they conducted a peer review of the council's performance journey. In particular, they commented on how Local Futures had enabled them to assess both the local situation and how we compare with other local authorities. GOSE went on to state that Local Futures has 'consolidated the growing performance management culture of the authority'.

Case Studies

  • Wakefield Borough Council - Use Local Knowledge to share data across its partnerships

  • Local Government Leadership - we support them in many ways, for example by providing an invaluable evidence base for the Connected Communities programme.

  • Thames gateway London Partnership - we have provided research and consultancy services and have developed the Thames Gateway Knowledge Platform.

  • Nottinghamshire County Council - use Local Knowledge and a SMART Observatory to inform a range of research and policy development work.

  • BT - have used our consultancy and online services for research and analysis. We have also helped BT to organise study tours and inform partnership working.

  • King's Lynn & West Norfolk Council - have used our research and consultancy services and also have a SMART Observatory.

  • The Community Foundation Network - have used our consultancy services, Place Profiles and Local Knowledge to encourage local giving.

  • Eastbourne Borough Council - utilised our Customer Knowledge and Local Knowledge services to inform policy and improve their performance journey.