In this regard, the focus groups stated that the elevation of waste compliance with
the EC Landfill Directive to the corporate-level was creating step change (i.e. greater
levels of change than any of these managers had experienced previously). They
considered that, as these were statutory services, their councils had reflected this
importance in their Corporate Plans but notably, they had consequently left almost all
aspects of service delivery to these same managers, meaning they focused purely on
operations to the probable exclusion of other corporate initiatives which were then
viewed as diversionary or of questionable merit. Reiterating what has been commented
upon above, this effectively insulated the services’ focus upon compliance while
reinforcing the operational/strategic divide mentioned before.