Wrexham Council leader Mark Pritchard has defended its performance after an internal review rated leadership, culture and financial planning as amber for the second year in a row.

He said that he was pleased with where the council was and told a scrutiny committee that to achieve faster cultural change would require more investment.

The Customers, Performance, Resources and Governance Scrutiny Committee was reviewing the draft of Wrexham Council's Self Assessment report for 2023/24.

The review is put together annually by chief officers and lead members - a challenge Cllr Pritchard likened to 'marking your own homework'.

In the review, two areas that were previously rated amber - the system being green, yellow, amber, red  - Leadership and Organisational Culture and Financial Planning - did not improve from the previous year.

On Leadership and Organisation the review reported that Wrexham Council has not yet been able to fully implement 'improvements in culture, values, behaviours and ways of working in public meetings', struggles to ensure elected members and committees access necessary training and needs to fully roll out its Values and Behaviours Programme 2023-2028.

In assessing Financial Planning, it highlighted the ongoing need to develop financial resilience in the face of increasing budget pressures and an expected reduction in the Welsh Government settlement next month.

It also called for strong in-year forecasting of future service demand and costs and the implementation of the council's Change Programme to make £28 million of savings over the next two years to preserve the council's financial stability.

"To have two consecutive ambers in Leadership and Organisational Culture and Financial Planning is concerning," said Minera Cllr Jerry Wellens, vice-chairman of the scrutiny committee.

"Leadership and Organisational Culture is such an important area in terms of guiding and meeting objectives. Bearing in mind this is the second year this has been in amber,  there will have been intentions and actions to improve.

"What was tried to move these areas out of amber and why did it not succeed?"

Cllr Pritchard defended the findings, responding that the council took a robust and self-critical approach to the review.

He said improvements had been made but added that the pace of change required for a council with more than 6,000 employees could only be increased by greater investment.

"When you have an organisation of this size, trying to change the culture, move forward and reorganize it is very difficult," said Cllr Pritchard. "We have over 6,000 staff, lots of different departments and lots of different opinions about how the council should run.

"For me if you want to move quickly in some areas you have to have some money to do so.

"But I'm pleased with where we are. It's been very difficult to move some departments at the speed of others. Some departments have moved very quickly, others haven't and, to be frank, that's down to financial resources.

"I believe we are changing for the better. I've been here over 20 years and I remember how it was. I think we're in a very good place. Would I like these to be green, absolutely, of course I would.

"But what pleases me is that because of the financial difficulties we've had across Wales that this authority and all the departments are holding their heads above water and still delivering when there's £16m been taken out of our budget.

"I'm celebrating to be honest with you. I'm surprised some of these services are still being delivered - but we've worked tirelessly to do so."

He admitted there were departments that needed improvement, picking out planning and environment in particular.

"I'm not happy with the Planning Department, not the officers but the situation. We've not been able to get enough permanent planning officers in there.

"We have been using agency staff but that is unsustainable. The sooner we can employ full time staff in there I think it will be better for the council but authorities across Wales are facing the same problem in recruiting planning officers.

"I think the funding for the Environment Department needs to be looked at. We had a good debate in scrutiny on that. All officers and staff are working tirelessly in this organisation.

"I just feel that sometimes, if there was a little more money in certain areas, whether that's grass cutting,  education, social care, I think things could improve.

"If you want to deliver the service it has to be financially funded correctly."