Home of the world's oldest passenger railway station, the Stockton Flyer, the Infinity Bridge, and the nation's best parmo [a breaded cutlet topped with a white béchamel sauce and cheese]. Stockton-on-Tees BC was our host for the fourth LG Challenge of 2023 - and our first visit to the North East since 2011.

The challenge was opened in Stockton's Tabernacle Baptist Church by Claire Holloway, the Local Government Association's (LGA) head of corporate services. Chief executive Mike Greene welcomed the contestants to the borough and director of adults & health Ann Workman set the challenge. Every challenge focuses on a different topic, and for this fourth challenge it was early intervention and prevention in adults social care, with an emphasis on taking the current prevention strategy to the next level. Already driving forward great work in this area, Stockton-on-Tees BC are ambitious to go further. Mike and Ann stressed how the borough was very much a tale of two halves, with many areas of wealth sitting adjacent to areas that are more deprived, with these communities experiencing a contrast in health outcomes and expectations.

The teams adjourned to their team rooms to choose their captains – Lewis Sheldrake for Team Catalyst and Leanda Cable for Team Thrive – and to start reading up on the challenge ahead. Ann joined each team for a Q&A session giving insight into prevention approaches both for the older population in Stockton-on-Tees and throughout adult life. Q&A over, two contestants from each team were taken on a whistle stop tour of the borough. Next stop was the ARC, an art centre in Stockton, for a Q&A session with a panel of staff members from across the adult social care spectrum.

Back at the borough council offices, the teams had a chance to discuss what they had learned from the tour and Q&A sessions, as well as catch up on the progress made so far by the rest of their team. Over dinner, the contestants had another chance to grill Ann and the adults and health team and test their findings and proposals so far, before working well into the night to prepare for another packed day.

Day two started early for the teams, who were back at the council building finalising their papers and refining their presentations. They took the opportunity to meet with council finance officers, to find out more about adult social care funding, to cost their proposals and investigate potential funding streams.

With their written plans submitted to the judges by the 12:00pm deadline, the teams headed back to the Tabernacle to present their proposals to the panel of judges. As this challenge fell close to local elections, this was an all-officer panel. Claire Holloway and Ann Workman were joined by Marc Stephenson, assistant director of community safety and regulated services; and Jane Edmends, assistant director of housing and a fairer Stockton.

Team Catalyst were first to pitch their ideas to the panel. Their key concept was to revolutionise the way the council uses data to deliver their services by targeting interventions to those mostable to benefit, as well as promoting ideas around working in partnership and maximising the use of community assets. Their proposals were grouped around a single strapline - ‘One Story, One Ride, One Home' – which clearly impressed the judges as they probed the team on the detail.

Next up was Team Thrive. Their ‘Neighbourhood Model' focused on three layers: the individual, the neighbourhood and intelligence sharing, with a focus on the cradle to grave ethos around social care, and the importance of everyone living active and healthy lives.

Both sets of proposals were of exceptional quality given that the teams had only 24 hours to familiarise themselves with the area, the topic and the issues - and it was another difficult decision for the judges. In the end, Team Catalyst was declared the winner, with Ann Workman paying particular tribute to their memorable strapline, their handling of the questions, and the potential for the council to implement their proposals.

All in all, being in Stockton-on-Tees was a fantastic experience and most importantly, the council were left with a series of innovative proposals from both teams that will contribute to their mission to take their prevention strategy further. I would like to finish with a huge thank you to everyone at Stockton-on-Tees BC who worked so hard to make our time there the best it could be and without whom the challenge wouldn't be possible.

Michael Balls is programme support officer at the LGA