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Appendix A – Policy and Resources Recovery and Renewal Actions

A Vibrant Economy

 

Action

Resources

Target start and end

Committee and Senior Responsible Officer

Principles

Having business ready premises – move in ready kick start/pump prime linked to the Economic Development Strategy

 

This is set out in Priority 1 Open for Business in the draft Economic Development Strategy. “Consider investing in industrial and warehouse premises to help de risk new employment sites coming forward” and the Strategic Plan areas of focus for 2021/26 “Intervening where necessary in the market, to deliver key employment sites”

 

 

In addition, any such future activity would be required to meet the minimum targets and parameters set out in the Council’s Capital Programme Medium Term Financial Strategy Report to Policy and Committee (January 2021). This could extend to further investment opportunities on Kent Medical Campus or at Loc8 Maidstone at Junction 8 M20 or the rural employment sites.

Capital programme

September 2021 and going

P&R/JF

Maidstone's Open for business

Transform the Town Centre through the Development of Maidstone Town Centre Strategy.

 

This is a key piece of work given the pivotal role of the town centre for the borough’s economy, the significant change occurring, expectations in the Local Plan for significant increases in homes and jobs in the town centre; it is important that there is a clear long term vision, through engagement with the public and stakeholders and a comprehensive approach to planning and delivery. Engagement with members suggests widespread support to creating a town centre strategy in principle, investing in its development and a proactive approach from the council to delivery too.

 

Success will be partly dependent on dedicated programme management resources.

 

A further detailed report would be brought to the Policy and Resources Committee 

 

£90,000 programme management plus S106 – please cross reference to Appendix C

September 2021 and going

P&R/PC

Cross Cutting

Capacity to develop projects and bids for bidding e.g. Levelling Up Fund, Future Towns Fund

 

Large capital and revenue bids often require specialised knowledge to support the business case within the application. This fund would enable us to buy in this technical support at the appropriate time and at the speed needed to respond to short deadlines.

£40,000

Business Rates Pool

September 2021 to September 2025

P&R/JF

Cross Cutting

Total from Recovery and Renewal allocation

£90,000*

 

 

 

*This figure could be significantly higher based on information in Appendix C

 

Resilient Communities

Action

Resources

Target start and end

Committee and Senior Responsible Officer

Principles

Create community participation and involvement space online for real time/dynamic interaction with the public. Online system supply and license to use.

 

£15,000

September 2021

P&R/AC

Strengthening Community Resilience

Financial Hardship projects

 

In February 2020 the Policy and Resources Committee considered a report on Debt recovery and support for low income households. It was agreed that a pilot piece of work be conducted as part of the council’s commitment to an inclusive economy and financial inclusion. The pilot was to take a data led approach to identifying low income households in financial difficulty and proactively intervening to provide support e.g. maximising income, and through this to both reduce risks around indebtedness and through this potentially

reduce demand for council services or incurring debt with the council.

 

This work has been done within the existing resources of the revenues and benefits team and resulted in significant additional income for our most financially vulnerable families both through our own efforts and working with others including Southern Water.  A more detailed report on the outputs of this work will be brought to the Policy and Resources Committee in September 2021 and the learning applied to future strategy for supporting families in financial hardship.

 

 

 

£34,320

P&R/SMcG

Levelling Up

Total from Recovery and Renewal allocation

£49,320

 

 

 

 

The Way We Work

Action

Resources

Target start and end

Committee and Senior Responsible Officer

Principles

Technology and new equipment (e.g. video conferencing) to enable new ways of working

 

Increase capacity and technical support to enable the implementation of the Microsoft 365 (Teams) to include the transfer from Skype telephony and video conferencing to Teams.  The cost is broken down into £45,000 call charges, £25,000 consultancy and £15,000 support.

 

£85,000

Capital Programme

October 2021

P&R/SMcG

New Ways of Working

Desk top equipment (office and home) to enable new ways of working

The council has an existing ICT replacement strategy to provide for the upgrade and/or replacement of desktop equipment on a rolling programme. 

Capital programme

October 2021

P&R/SMcG

New Ways of Working

Funding is required to meet the following needs to help the council become more efficient and effective:

 

·         Increased staff capacity in project/programme/change management for 2 years to enable the introduction of new policies, procedures, practices and technology particularly Microsoft 365 with associated training for staff - to support new ways of working and reduce future running costs - £100,000

·         Additional expertise in office design to help the organisation design smart working spaces that will support and enable new ways of working for our staff.  This will build on the work that has already done on amount and type of space the council requires and on the pilot of agile working space in Maidstone House starting in October - £50,000

 

£150,000

Oct-23

P&R/GH

New Ways of Working

Increase HR capacity to facilitate agile working and new ways of working

 

 

The objective of the culture change programme will be to review the work undertaken in this area and to gain feedback from our employees on organisational culture, to change and develop the council to meet future workforce requirements.  

 

£50,000

September 21-22

P&R/BS

New Ways of Working

Total from Recovery and Renewal allocation

£200,000

 

 

 

 

Responding to Increased Demands Arising from COVID19

 

Action

Resources

Target start and end

Committee and Senior

Responsible Officer

Principles

Data Analytics Support for recovery and renewal projects

 

Performance dashboards were introduced to monitor service delivery early on in the pandemic allowing the leadership team real time access to performance information for key services. Following the success of this work, work has begun to introduce dashboards for key services.

 

The performance dashboards have proved a significant benefit for these services, enabling them to swiftly monitor performance, identify trends and plan service delivery across the team, without spending officer time producing reports and undertaking analysis. 

 

The development of dashboards can be technically complicated and time consuming.  Therefore, additional resource is required to invest in order to deliver the programme for the benefit of other teams as well as shape new dashboards for Members and customers. The data will be used to monitor performance information in relation to the recovery and renewal actions.

 

£50,000 plus COMF (covering period to July 2022)

July 2022-23

P&R/AC

MBC service resilience

 

Total from Recovery and Renewal allocation

 

£50,000