Agenda item

Councillor S J Conboy, The Executive Leader to present the Corporate Plan Refresh 2025 for approval.

(The Report was considered by Cabinet at their meeting on 15th April 2025 and it was agreed that it should be recommended to Council for approval).

Time Allocation: 20 Minutes

In conjunction with a report by the Head of Policy, Performance and Emergency Planning (a copy of which was appended in the Minute Book), the Executive Leader, Councillor S J Conboy presented to Members the Corporate Plan Refresh 2025 Report for the Council’s consideration and approval.

Councillor R Martin addressed the Chamber and stated that he did not wish to question the intentions behind the refreshed Plan but did challenge the assumptions, effectiveness and priorities of the Plan. He observed the national cost of living crisis and felt that the Plan read more like a shopping list of unrestrained aspirations and was therefore unrealistic. He observed that whilst this may be well intentioned, he felt it was unrealistic and noted that in particular the lack of core prioritising and focus had previously been highlighted as an area of concern but was still not addressed by the refresh in his opinion. He also felt that the Plan focussed on outputs rather than outcomes for the district with strong focus being placed on enabling and influencing partners and a reduced focus on Council actions.

In particular, Councillor Martin stated that he felt that the Climate Strategy lacked proportionality and that costly projects were being undertaken without a measured return on investment. He was concerned that there was vagueness when working with housing partners with big aspirations but lack of detail on how Council resources could process these schemes. Councillor Martin was concerned that the Plan was not appealing to residents due to it’s length and encouraged Members to reject the Plan and ask that it be reworked into a more realistic, slimmer and more targeted version which would hold delivery above discussion, impact above intention and residents above process.

Councillor L Davenport-Ray responded that many of the projects within the Climate Strategy had had external funding which had been hard fought for and was essential to assist the Council in achieving its net zero aspirations.

Councillor Conboy acknowledged the comments of Councillor Martin and lamented that the same sentiments had not been shared as part of the Scrutiny process, as this would have given an opportunity for concerns to be addressed and mitigated. Councillor Conboy further stressed the importance of partnership working in being preventative and that the interventions which could be achieved in this manner of working were beneficial to residents and the local economy.

Further comment was made by Councillor S Wakeford, who gave the example of working with housing partners to ensure good economic growth for the district, and stated that the targets within the Plan allowed for the Council’s influence on this to be measured. He felt that this was a Corporate Plan that the Council could be proud of.

Councillor P Hodgson-Jones observed that the right kind of measures and objectives needed to be smart and realistic. In his opinion, the Council’s scrutiny function could be more involved in identifying underachieving targets and bringing those back to the Council Chamber. He felt that the Corporate Plan indicators were not sufficient to the Plan’s success but that response to scrutiny and criticism would help to drive forward. He observed that with the impending Local Government Review, the Council needed to show that they were able to effectively and efficiently run their affairs to ensure that they could be influential in the new unitary structure, thus ensuring the best outcome for residents.

Councillor Conboy reminded the Council of the work which had been undertaken to improve and evolve the Council’s Scrutiny process and noted that this would continue to evolve. She also welcomed feedback and scrutiny from across the Chamber to ensure effectiveness and due diligence.

Having been moved and seconded, and upon being put to the vote, it was

RESOLVED

a)  that the refreshed Corporate Plan (attached at Appendix 1 of the report) be approved; and

b)  that the Key Performance Indicator changes (attached at Appendix 4 of the report) be approved.