Council

27 February 2019

 

Strategic Plan 2019-45

 

Final Decision-Maker

Council

Lead Head of Service/Lead Director

Alison Broom Chief Executive

Lead Officer and Report Author

Angela Woodhouse Head of Policy Communications and Governance and Anna Collier Policy and Information Manager

Classification

Public

 

Wards affected

All

 

Executive Summary

 

Following agreement of a new vision, priorities and outcomes by Council in December 2018 this report sets out the proposed high level key actions the Council will take in the short term to deliver against the outcomes.

 

 

This report makes the following recommendation to Council

 

That the Strategic Plan 2019-45 (Appendix A to this report) is adopted.

 

 

 

Timetable

Meeting

Date

Heritage, Culture and Leisure Committee

29 January 2019

Strategic Planning, Sustainability and Transportation Committee

5 February 2019

Communities Housing and the Environment Committee

12 February 2019

Policy and Resources Committee

13 February 2019

Council

27 February 2019



Strategic Plan 2019-2045

 

 

 

1.      INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

 

1.1     In December 2018 Council agreed the new vision, priorities and outcomes for the Borough until 2045.

 

1.2     The formation of the new vision, priorities and outcomes has been reached following an intensive process of engagement, research and involvement which included a number of councillor workshops and public and partner consultation to ensure what was developed reflects the key issues facing the borough in the long term.

 

1.3     This report identifies proposed high level key actions that the Council will take in the short to medium term to ensure that the Council is on course to achieve the agreed outcomes. The focus is on significant projects and changes to the Council’s approach and work programmes. The intention is not to include every business as usual activity in the high level key action plan. Each council service produces an operational service plan and this is where actions to maintain or evolve these services is articulated.

 

Key Actions 

 

1.4     Proposed key actions can be seen in the sections beginning with “between 2019-24 we will place particular importance on” under each priority in Appendix A.  

 

1.5     The vision in the Strategic Plan is to 2045, so key actions reflect the Council’s focus of resources in the short to medium term (1-5 years).  Actions will be regularly reviewed to ensure that the Council’s resources are always focused in the right areas, reflecting the needs of the borough at the time.   

 

1.6     The actions identified are brief and strategic, following assessment of the Council’s current plans, our ambitions and the resources needed. It should be noted that not every outcome will have actions at this point in time as the Council has finite resources and the plan stretches until 2045 allowing some topics to be addressed now and others to be considered at a later date, in other words the action plan acknowledges that the Council will not be able to tackle all the outcomes straight away. The proposed actions reflect current promises and outcomes where current issues are most acute for example housing.  Some areas for example community development currently have limited resource and will require careful planning and further work as well as looking at funding before we can progress.

 

1.7     The Council has a comprehensive range of topic specific strategies each of which has an associated action plan. Our Stragic Plan document will include a full strategy map. As noted above operational actions will be covered in departments’ service plans which will be refreshed (as is our usual practice) in February/March 2019 to coincide with the new municipal year; they will reflect the budget provision for 2019/20 and any preparations needed for operational changes or budget changes agreed for the period beyond.

 

Cross cutting objectives  

 

1.8     Where actions will have an impact on a cross cutting objective/s this has been identified by the use of a symbol.  A key of the symbol can be seen in the table below, this is also reflected on the Council’s one page summary of the visions and priorities in the plan for consistency.

 

Heritage is respected

Health inequalities are addressed and reduced

Deprivation is reduced and social mobility is improved

Biodiversity and Environmental sustainability is respected

 

As projects progress impact on crosscutting objectives may change.  This will be assessed as part of the Council’s existing decision making process.  

 

Monitoring of Actions 

 

1.9     Members will be able to keep oversight of progress of these key actions through the service Committees in a number of ways:

 

·         Quarterly and annual key performance indicators

·         Strategy and briefing updates

·         6 monthly strategic plan updates.  

 

 

 

2.        AVAILABLE OPTIONS

 

2.1     The Vision, Priorities and Outcomes have already been approved by Council and cannot be amended. Feedback from all three service committees will be submitted at the meeting as at time of report publication only one committee has given feedback.

 

2.2     A number of options are open to Council:

 

·         Review and make amendments.

This would allow the Council to identify additional actions or amendments

 

·         Approve the Plan

This would demonstrate that Council is content with the document.

 

·         Do not approve the Plan

This would mean the Council does not have in place actions from April 2019 to deliver the vision and priorities it has already approved.

                  

 

 

3.        PREFERRED OPTION AND REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

 

3.1     Council is recommended to approve the Strategic Plan 2019-45. This would enable the delivery of the vision and priorities that have already been approved by Council.

 

 

4.       RISK

4.1    The Strategic Plan sets out the Council’s priorities and how they will be delivered informing the council’s risk register which will pick up any actions from the Strategic Plan. A Member and Officer corporate risk workshop was delivered on 22 January 2019 to review and identify risks in relation to the new plan and the product of this will be reported to the Policy and Resources Committee with monitoring by Audit, Governance and Standards Committee in the usual way.

 

 

 

5.       CONSULTATION RESULTS AND PREVIOUS COMMITTEE FEEDBACK

 

5.1     As the Committee will be aware from previous reports and discussions on the new Strategic Plan, consultation has been undertaken with residents, Parish Councils, Councillors and Committees to develop the agreed vision, priorities and outcomes. The four Service Committees have all had the opportunity to comment and recommend amendments which have been incorporated into the plan.

 

 

6.       NEXT STEPS: COMMUNICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION

 

6.1     The Service Committees have all had an opportunity to comment on and influence the strategic plan actions.

 

 

7.       CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS

 

 

Issue

Implications

Sign-off

Impact on Corporate Priorities

The plan sets out the short to medium term high level key actions to achieve the outcomes associated with Council’s corporate priorities.

Head of Policy, Communications and Governance

Risk Management

Refer to section 4.

Head of Policy, Communications and Governance

Financial

This report sets out the key actions the Council will take in the short term to deliver Strategic Plan outcomes.  The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS), approved by Council on 12 December 2018, sets out how the Strategic Plan will be delivered in financial terms.  The actions described here are consistent with the MTFS.

Section 151 Officer & Finance Team

Staffing

The Plan will inform the Council’s Service Plans which in turn inform individual appraisals setting out the direction and key tasks for staff.

Head of Policy, Communications and Governance

Legal

The new Strategic Plan aligns with the Council’s general duty, as a best value authority, to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the way in which its functions are exercised, having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness – section 3 of the Local Government Act 1999. Once adopted by the Council as recommended, the Strategic Plan and the high level actions will enable the Council to monitor its performance against the agreed objectives.

 

Head of Mid Kent Legal Services

Privacy and Data Protection

We recognise the plan actions will impact what information the Council holds on our residents. As projects are developed which involve the collection and/or processing of personal data the project managers/owners of specific tasks will ensure that privacy impact assessments have been undertaken

Head of Policy, Communications and Governance

Equalities

As decisions are made on each of the projects and actions equality impact assessments will be undertaken as needed

Head of Policy, Communications and Governance

Public Health

The plan has actions to improve health and wellbeing of our residents

Head of Policy, Communications and Governance

Crime and Disorder

The plan sets out high level priorities for community safety

Head of Policy, Communications and Governance

Procurement

No implications

 

 

8.        REPORT APPENDICES

 

·         Appendix A: Draft Strategic Plan 2019-2045

 

 

9.        BACKGROUND PAPERS

 

Report to Council: New Strategic Plan Vision, Priorities and Outcomes 2019-2045

http://aluminum:9080/documents/s63863/New%20Strategic%20Plan%20Vision%20Objectives%20and%20Outcomes%202019-45.pdf