Decision details

That the strategic plan and the corporate planning timetable, as set out below, be agreed:-

The corporate planning process within the Council ensures the overall vision for the borough is delivered.  The priorities and outcomes in the Strategic Plan are developed alongside the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) to ensure a consistent approach between service delivery and budgets.  Service planning allows the Council to convert high level objectives from the Strategic Plan into actions for each directorate, service or team across the Council, which then feeds into individual staff appraisals.

On 12 August 2009 Cabinet agreed to decide annually whether to update the existing Strategic Plan or to create a new one.  Following extensive change in the national arena it was agreed to write a new Strategic Plan 2011/12 to take the Council through to 2015 alongside the MTFS.  It is recommended that as the plan is only 2 years into its 4 year life, the plan for 2011-15 is updated for 2013-14.  The update will include the work of the Cabinet on the future shape of the organisation and medium term planning and prioritisation of the actions required to achieve the outcomes outlined in the Strategic Plan.

An update would include:

·  A review of all the outcomes and associated actions;

·  An update of performance against the Key Performance indicators;

·  An update of what was achieved in the year (in 2012/13 we…);

·  An update to any local or national context where relevant;

·  An update to the foreword; and

·  An update on the Sustainable Community Strategy refresh if available, including a decision on whether it will be amended to become the main document for the Locality Board, renamed the Community Strategy.

The following timetable is proposed for the development of the 2013/14 update.

Cabinet could decide to produce a full new Strategic Plan for 2013-17.  This was not recommended as a new strategic plan was only created two years ago.

Alternatively, Cabinet could decide that the Council already has a four year plan in place and therefore there is no reason to produce either an update or another full document.  This was not recommended as the local and national context is constantly changing and the Council needs to be able to demonstrate how it is planning and managing the issues arising from these changes.