Agenda item

That the Council Plan 2018-19 be adopted on the recommendation of Cabinet, subject to:

·         the agreed changes to wording on the Regional Economic Growth Deal and the development of the Regional and Local Transport Strategy under the ‘Business Sector Growth and Regeneration’ priority;

·         the inclusion of the objective to maximise provision of affordable housing, with a broader approach to performance be included under the ‘Modern, Efficient and Adapted Homes’ priority; and

·         an open approach to reviewing targets for improvement at any stage.

Councillor Mullin moved the recommendations in the report on the annual review of the Council Plan 2017-23 which had been refreshed for structure and content for 2018-19.  He thanked Members for their input at the recent workshop and at the Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committee.  This was seconded by Councillor Attridge.

In presenting the report, the Chief Executive explained that the Plan should be published annually and the contents were subject to a rolling review.  He drew attention to the appendices including the responses to Member consultation and confirmed that Cabinet had recommended the Plan for approval.

The Corporate Business & Communications Executive Officer gave a presentation covering the following:

·         How the Plan is put together

·         Choosing in-year priorities

·         New content: national issues

·         Member consultation

·         Benefits of planning

·         This year’s 2018/19 Council Plan

·         Using the Plan

·         Next steps

During the presentation, a reminder was given of the role of Overview & Scrutiny in monitoring progress and the Audit Committee in monitoring strategic risks.  The low number of significant ongoing issues of underperformance from 2017/18 would be subject to further monitoring through agreed action plans.

Councillor Richard Jones said that despite previous requests, revisions were not highlighted in Part 2 of the Plan and he gave examples of changes to measurements and targets where explanation should have been given, which he agreed to share in full after the meeting.  To enable the Council to meet its statutory duty on publishing the Plan, the Chief Executive suggested that the recommendation be changed to adopt the Council Plan as it stood, subject to ongoing review of targets for improvement.

Councillor Jones also suggested changes to wording on two of the impacts under the ‘Business Sector Growth and Regeneration’ priority which he said could not be included at this stage.  On the delivery of commitments though the Regional Economic Growth Deal (Item 2), the Chief Executive agreed that the second sentence should be removed.  On the development of regional and local transport strategy (Item 7), it was agreed that the first bullet-point be amended to read ‘Proposing that transport infrastructure features in the Regional Economic Growth Deal proposal’ to reflect this particular aim in-year.

Councillor Peers said that tracked changes in Part 1 of the Plan should reflect explanation on why aims had been deleted.  In response to queries, the Chief Executive provided clarification on terminology in the document.  On the ‘Modern, Efficient and Adapted Homes’ priority, whilst the Chief Officer (Planning, Environment & Economy) acknowledged the request to reinstate the aim to maximise provision of affordable homes through the planning process, he pointed out that the Council had little control on influencing performance.  As such, he suggested that the objective be included as a third bullet-point under ‘achievement will be measured through’, but with no set target.  The Chief Executive and Councillor Bithell were in agreement that schemes should be measured on an individual basis as it was not viable to set an overall target.

Under the ‘Ambitious Council’ theme, Councillor Heesom stated his reservations about county-wide benefits from the Regional Growth Economic Growth Deal.

The Executive Officer advised that a more detailed report to explain all the changes would be brought to the next meeting of the Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

The Chief Executive clarified the proposed changes and spoke about the potential to bring forward consultation on the Plan for 2019-20 at an earlier stage next year.

In summing up, Councillor Mullin said that the process demonstrated the effectiveness of Overview & Scrutiny and he thanked the Executive Officer and her team for their hard work.

On being put to the vote, the recommendation from Cabinet and proposed changes were carried.

RESOLVED:

That the Council Plan 2018-19 be adopted on the recommendation of Cabinet, subject to:

·         the agreed changes to wording on the Regional Economic Growth Deal and the development of the Regional and Local Transport Strategy under the ‘Business Sector Growth and Regeneration’ priority;

·         the inclusion of the objective to maximise provision of affordable housing, with a broader approach to performance be included under the ‘Modern, Efficient and Adapted Homes’ priority; and

·         an open approach to reviewing targets for improvement at any stage.