Agenda item

The Committee is asked to recommend to Council that they approve the adoption of the proposed Outline Corporate Plan for 2024-28 (as appended to this report) which specifies the priorities, key themes and values for the Council for the next five years.

The Committee considered a report from the Deputy Chief Executive and the Head of Communications and Customer Experience that sought a recommendation to Council that it adopts the proposed Outline Corporate Plan for 2024-28 which specifies the priorities, key themes and values for the Council for the next five years.

The Leader made the following statement:

“I have great pleasure in introducing this report on our proposed Outline Corporate Plan for 2024-28. The Corporate Plan is a key policy document which outlies the proposed strategic priorities and values for the Council.

Following the local government elections in May this year, 22 new Councillors were elected to this Council and since that time the administration Group Leaders have been working collaboratively to discuss and formulate a refreshed set of priorities and values based around the previous CARES and PROVIDE acronyms.

I know you will have read the published papers and have had time to digest the presentation and outline plan. We have been working with officers to develop these ideas you have before you, which specifies our key themes for the Council for the next five years.

There are budgetary challenges ahead and we recognise that we still have to be responsible in setting our aspirations for the future of our Borough. However, and in line with our new Residents’ Pledge, we are confident that this proposed plan puts our residents at the heart of everything we do.

The proposed updated priorities are:

·         Community

·         Addressing housing need

·         Resilience

·         Environment

·         Services

The previous ‘Affordable Housing’ priority has been amended to ‘Addressing Housing Need’ reflecting our new approach to housing delivery, how we can work with partners and how we can best support residents to live independently in their own homes.

The ‘Recovery’ priority has been changed to ‘Resilience’ and incorporates the final resilience of the Council, the economic resilience of the Borough and ensuring our preparedness for the effects of climate change.

Finally ‘Service Delivery’ has been amended to ‘Services’ with an emphasis on community focused and accessible services.

The Outline Plan also proposes an amended set of values, which will underpin our decisions, interactions and behaviours, externally for residents and internally with each other, both Councillors and Officers.

Two changes have been made; the previous ‘Empowering Communities’ value has been amended to ‘Empowering and Inclusive’ and ‘Responsive and Flexible’ has been amended to ‘Responsive and Respectful’.

If agreed by Committee tonight, this Outline Plan will be presented to Council on 14 December 2023. If adopted by Council, the Outline Plan will formulate the Detailed Plan in parallel with the budget setting process and this will then be recommended for adoption at the February 2024 Council. Annually we will measure and review the objectives and progress of the Corporate Plan and report it as part of the Annual Report.

I believe that there has never been a greater need for strong local government. This new Plan will demonstrate how this democratic and inclusive Council can deliver and advocate for the services and resources that our communities need for a stronger, healthier and safer Borough”.

The Committee resolved to recommend to Council that the proposed Outline Corporate Plan for 2024-28 be adopted.