Agenda item

To receive a report by the Joint Interim Head of Business Improvement and Modernisation (copy attached) to approve the final draft of the Corporate Plan 2022 – 2027.

 

The Lead Member for Corporate Strategy, Policy and Equalities, introduced the Corporate Plan 2022-2027 report (previously circulated).

 

Thanks was given to all those that had been involved in shaping the proposed new Corporate Plan. A wide and varied amount of consultation had taken place. Thanks was extended to all political groups for the positive and constructive comments to help refine the plan.

 

It was a statutory requirement that Local Authorities publish Well-being Objectives, Equality Objectives, and identify areas for Organisational Improvement. Denbighshire’s Corporate Plan 2022-27 served all of those functions.

 

The draft plan outlined the priorities and vision of what Cabinet with the support of Council aimed to achieve over the next five years.

The key pledges which the Local Authority were committed to, to achieve in the Plan are organised by themes. They were important because they either:

 

·         Require significant capital / revenue funding, e.g. roads and new schools (but not everything requires extra funding);

·         Require significant cultural / organisational change, e.g. to become a Denbighshire of Thriving Welsh Language and Culture, and/or

·         Will impact across the whole county, e.g. establishment of an electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

 

The Corporate Plan was an important document to demonstrate a collective vision that we all work towards together. The plan focused on enhancing the wellbeing of Denbighshire communities and residents by creating good conditions within the community. It also focused on the quality of services offered to those that required support.

 

The plan had been separated in to nine key themes each of which would be allocated to a Cabinet member to oversee. Each theme described objectives that we aim to deliver over the next five years. The priorities outlined in the Corporate Plan had been arrived at via a thorough and clear process of evidence-gathering and analysis and in-depth consultation with communities.

 

The Corporate Plan did not and was not intended to represent all Council business. A lot of important work took place outside the scope of the plan.

The plan is intended to be flexible with any changes required reported to Council.

 

During discussion, the following issues were raised:

·         If the plan is agreed, research to establish the work that would be required to deliver each of the pledges would take place. At that stage officers and the Lead member would be able to establish what was deliverable and when given resource, time and funding that is available.

·         During the time to develop the draft Corporate Plan, the financial position had deteriorated. The financial outlook for the next two years had changed from the being of the year. A finance update was due to be presented at the next Council Workshop which would provide detail of the changes. Correspondence with members with changes and saving plans regarding the budget would take place as soon as the budget figures were made available.

·         A number of the projects included in the plan, had already been or in the process of being approved and included in the budget.

·         As an authority, borrowing for investment purposes was not authorised.

·         Active travel and the use of foot paths and cycle paths were encouraged under theme 5 of the plan.

·         It was about 1300 responded during the phases of consultation. Work to encourage participation had taken place. Quality of conversation was a focus when engaging with the public. It was confirmed an offline version of correspondence was offered for those that wished to respond. The importance of talking to the public was included in theme 9.

·         The title of the 21^st century school scheme had been renamed as Welsh Government Sustainable Communities for Learning Programme and it had been included in the plan.

·         Ambitious plans for housing had been included in the plan. A number of upcoming meetings would address some of the issues and concerns of the housing policy and plan. It was stressed the importance of being open and transparent about the future plans.

·         The authority had a number of different fees and payments that generate income. Some of the fees are statutory and set with other fees being more flexible.

 

The Chief Executive thanked members and officers for the detailed debate. In his opinion the discussion had been positive, he offered his support of the plan over the 5 year. Members were informed that an annual review between SLT and Cabinet would take place to review progress. Members were encouraged to contact Lead Members with any questions they have during the five year plan. 

 

PROPOSED by Councillor Mark Young, SECONDED by Councillor Cheryl Williams.

 

RESOLVED that:

·         Members approve the final draft of the Corporate Plan 2022-2027 to enable the document to be translated and published

·         That Members confirm they have read, understood and taken account of the Well-being Impact Assessment as part of its consideration.