Agenda item

The Scrutiny Committee is asked to review the approach outlined to develop the Corporate Plan 2024 to 2028 and provide feedback or recommendations to Cabinet.

Cabinet member for Corporate Services introduced the report. The corporate plan should reflect the financial landscape of a council, that sits alongside the MTFP. For the corporate plan to be a credible strategic framework, it can be aspirational and ambitious, but it must be affordable and able to be appropriately budgeted for. The corporate plan was a golden thread where officers could see where their work aligns with the values of the council and of  residents. Specific metrics will feature, and quarterly data and annual data would be reported, with a continued development of the data hub for residents.

·       Equitable access to leisure facilities – a member asked what happened to creches in leisure centres? Cabinet member explained this could be questioned in consultation, then would have to engage with contractors. Cabinet member for Community Wellbeing explained that she understood the concern, but also the numbers using the service weren’t always there for contractors to invest in it.

·       Page 18 homes and infrastructure: housing strategy and action plan – a member asked can we look at entering the private rental market, and keep the private standards up, and generate revenue? Council being a private landlord? Cabinet member for Corporate Services explained we had policy flexibility to look into this.

·       How do we introduce the overall vision in light of wider issues (poor living standards, covid etc). How do we be optimistic whilst considering what could go wrong. Cabinet member explained this would be within the document/context, after consultation, to see what issues and concerns were raised by consultees. We will use learnings for the Joint Local Plan consultation process and build on that.

·       Support shown for the themes

·       Overarching vision needed, state the values that underpin the themes.

·       Should we have something about procurement values embedded in the plan due to the upcoming contract negotiations for services.

·       Engagement needed to yield us a good database of key contacts/community groups. To be more prepared for the future. Cabinet member explained that various teams – community, grants etc, have their own databases.  Also, council member contacts. Our aim was to be a “council in the community”.

·       Agreement over merging the climate and nature themes as they were so interlinked. Focus on engagement was approved of.

·       Homes and infrastructure – a member asked how we ensure it was an equal mix, fair. Cabinet member responded that we can add this to the vision – treat all demographics equally.

·       A member raised the issue of lessons learned from the Joint Local Plan (JLP) consultation, and how there may not be enough time to incorporate those lessons. Officers will review this point but also reminded that this consultation was discretionary.

·       Co-production aspirations – go out and facilitate conversations. Cabinet member responded that there was a strong team in-house to facilitate.

·       A member raised unfair access to leisure centres for rural residents who are without transport. Cabinet member replied that sustainable transport was being raised at County Council, it was their responsibility so we can only encourage.

·       Talked about younger participation. Cabinet member replied that we plan to go where people were already present. Deputy Chief Executive explained that we will build upon networks across teams.

·       Support for businesses? Cabinet member explained that this was included in the plan, referencing theme three.

·       A member raised that it was our duty to move on and lead on climate adaptation.

·       Do we make clear what we mean by equity, equality and fairness. Cabinet member stated that they wanted to be simpler in language and the word ‘fairness’ felt clearer. Member wanted us to make sure that when we did use those words, we were coming from the same understanding.

Members debated, raising the points that they felt should form a recommendation. The committee voted in favour of the following recommendation:

Recommendation

The committee reviewed the approach outlined to develop the Corporate Plan 2024 to 2028. Committee approved of the approach and considered that Cabinet should endorse this. Committee provided comments for Cabinet to consider:

1. Slight changes in language suggested – use of adaptation (related to climate), participants not audiences, promoting not supporting community-led engagement. Suggestion of having a jargon-buster.
2. Engagement should be considered – hard-to-reach groups, look at our communications channel and how we use language.
3. Cabinet is recommended to take forward the drafting of an overarching vision to crystallise the values in the Corporate Plan
4. Procurement strategy should align with priorities in the Corporate Plan
5. Fairness on housing (relating to theme 4) and equal access to services
6. Consider business support and amplifying that in the Corporate Plan
7. Visitor economy – how do we engage with that in the Corporate Plan
8. Supporting engagement for younger people/ future generations
9. Timetable for lessons learned from the Joint Local Plan engagement process