Issue - meetings

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