Issue - meetings

RECOMMENDED:

That the adoption of the Council Plan 2025 -2030 be recommended to Full Council with effect from 1 April 2025.

At the meeting of Cabinet held 11 December 2024 it was agreed that authority be delegated to the Leader, in consultation with the Chief Executive, to make any necessary minor amendments and typographical corrections to the Plan prior to consideration at Council.

Accordingly, a revised tracked changed version of the Council Plan 2025 -2030 is now included at Appendix 1 to Report CAB3480 (attached)

Councillor Tod (Leader and Cabinet Member for Asset Management) moved that the Recommended Minute of Cabinet be approved and adopted (seconded by Councillor Learney, Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency).

Council proceeded to ask questions and then debate the matters in the recommended minute.

At conclusion of debate and following the seconder (Councillor Learney, having reserved her right to speak) addressing the meeting and then summing up by the proposer (Councillor Tod), Council then voted on the Recommended Minute before it.

RESOLVED:

That the recommended minute of Cabinet held 11 December 2024 be approved and adopted:

1. That the Council Plan 2025-2030 (Appendix 1 to Report CAB3480, as amended) be adopted with effect 1 April 2025.

1.    That the adoption of the Council Plan 2025 -2030 be recommended to Full Council with effect from 1 April 2025.*

2.    That authority be delegated to the Leader, in consultation with the Chief Executive, to make any necessary minor amendments and typographical corrections to the Plan prior to consideration at Council.

*NB recommendations to Council are not subject to call-in.

Councillor Tod introduced the report and outlined the priorities within the Council Plan 2025 – 2030.

At the invitation of the Leader, Councillors Lee and Horrill addressed Cabinet as summarised briefly below.

Councillor Lee

Councillor Lee raised a number of detailed points and suggestions in relation to the proposed plan, as well as its future implementation and performance monitoring.  He queried when the results of the residents’ survey would be available to all councillors.

Councillor Horrill

Councillor Horrill thanked Cabinet for consulting on the draft plan with a wide range of committees and partners. She also requested the full results of the residents’ survey be made available to councillors.  She made a number of other points, typographical updates and suggestions in relation to the plan itself.

Councillor Tod and other Cabinet members responded to the comments made, including emphasising that the Plan was a strategic level document rather than a detailed delivery plan.

It was proposed that the Leader be granted delegated authority to make any necessary minor amendments to the Plan prior to consideration by Council.  This was agreed as set out in the second resolution below.

Cabinet agreed to the following for the reasons set out in the report and outlined above.

RECOMMENDED (TO COUNCIL):

1.                That the Council Plan 2025 -2030 be adopted with effect from 1 April 2025.

RESOLVED:

2.                That authority be delegated to the Leader, in consultation with the Chief Executive, to make any necessary minor amendments and typographical corrections to the Plan prior to consideration at Council.

RECOMMENDATION

The Policy Committee is asked to review and comment on the direction of the Council Plan, including the vision, themes and priorities.

Councillor Martin Tod, Leader and Cabinet Member for Asset Management; introduced the agenda item which set out proposals for the Council Plan 2025-30, an overarching high-level document covering what the council wanted to achieve and informing other strategies and plans, including the Local Plan and individual service plans.

Councillor Tod explained that the two policy committees and Scrutiny Committee were being asked to look at their relevant responsibilities of the current plan, he specifically, wanted to reassure the Cabinet, that  each committee had considered:

1. Their thoughts on the future challenges faced.
2. How the current plan had performed.
3. Where the committee thought the council needed to be by 2030.

He stated that this committee was asked to focus on:

1. Homes for All.
2. Vibrant Local Economy.
3. Pride in Place.

Simon Howson, Senior Policy and Programme Manager provided the committee with a presentation and introduced the process for developing the next council plan, he highlighted the following key points:

1. The presentation included a quick look back and a look forward, outlining challenges, knowns, and unknowns, and sought councillors' input on priorities, focus areas, and evaluation of what had worked or hadn’t.
2. The current council plan was adopted in January 2020 and runs until 31 March 2025; from 1 April 2025, a new plan would commence.
3. This was an opportunity to review outcomes and priorities for the council and the district, with priorities being evidence-based, using data from the recently completed resident survey.
4. Engagement was ongoing with councillors, parish councillors, businesses and the voluntary sector to gather input for the new plan.
5. The engagement phase aimed to listen to residents and businesses in the district in order to input into the next council plan.
6. The draft council plan would be considered by the Cabinet in December 2024, before going to full Council for adoption in January 2025.
7. He reminded the committee of the current council plan and vision, and the current priorities: tackling the climate emergency, homes for all, living well, vibrant local economy, your services your voice.
8. The focus for this evening was on homes for all, vibrant local economy, and pride in place.
9. He outlined the roles of various committees in the plan review and presented key questions for the committee to consider, including how challenges had changed since 2020, expected future challenges by 2030, and what success would look like.

The committee was asked to review and comment on the direction of the Council Plan, including the vision, themes and priorities.

The committee proceeded to ask questions and debate the report. In summary, the following matters were raised:

1. A question was asked about what evidence would be used to formulate the new council plan, referencing the corporate peer review feedback that highlighted perceptions of the council being too focused on the city at the expense of the wider district.
2. Further information was requested on the potential to better utilise the voluntary and community sectors.
3. A question was raised regarding how housing challenges had changed since 2020, noting that private landlords  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10