Agenda item

Presentation by the Strategic Director Corporate Focus

The Strategic Director Corporate Focus gave a presentation to the Group on the draft Corporate Plan.

He referred to the plan which had been mentioned at Council in October when the Chief Executive had given Members a presentation on the Corporate Priorities.   These priorities had formed the basis of the new Corporate Plan which was compiled usually every four years.    The new plan was shorter than previous years, user friendly and aimed to tell a story of the Council’s achievements.  The structure of the plan was in a standard format with the following contents:

-       Forward from the Leader and Chief Executive

-       Our business as a council

-       Where we are now

-       A successful track record

-       Where we want to be

-       Our vision

-       Key challenges to achieving our vision

-       How do we get there and what do we want to achieve by 2021

-       Our priority projects

-       Spending plans

-       Contact details 

The Strategic Director then highlighted areas and the contextual information contained in the plan, listing achievements of the Council, the councils past priorities and how these can be taken forward in the future.  The plan was an opportunity to take stock, to understand the needs of the district.  He referred to the work undertaken by the Cabinet talking to various key stakeholders such as the Deputy Chief Constable, the Director of Public Health, a representative from the Chartered Institute of Housing and a Lead Officer from Excellent Age, Lincolnshire County Council to try and get an understanding of the key pressure points that the district faced from the police budget cuts, to the main diseases suffered by the district to the impact of crime, and issues faced by an aging population.  Other data was also looked at to understand the State of District and how the Council’s priorities could become simpler and more outcome focused taking into account all the information gathered.

(10.55am Councillor Bisnauthsing arrived)

He then went on to speak about the change from the past priorities to the current ones:

-       Grow the economy

-       Keep South Kesteven clean, green and healthy

-       Promote leisure, arts and culture

-       Support good housing for all

And how by building on these priorities would lead to a well run council.  Although the inspection regime put in place by the last government had been abolished, the Council still had to show that it was well run, showed Value for Money and continued to drive out efficiencies.

Members questioned about the Customer First priority being “dropped” as this was a main priority.  The Strategic Director said that it had not been dropped but that it should be implicit in the work that was done, it should underpin everything that was carried out by employees and the Council as a whole.

Further questions were then asked about the publicity for the document to which the Strategic Director replied.

Another Member referred to the team in Customer Services and informed the Group that if anyone was interested in a tour of the facility they should ring the Customer Services Manager, Hayley Kent Simpson who would be only too happy to show them around and they could see how the customer first priority was embraced.

Further discussion then followed on having a vibrant community in which people wanted to live and work and how leisure, arts and culture were a part of this.  The need for Housing to be available for all and the support to be in place to help people facilitate this, from affordable housing to the provision for the elderly, the Council needed to understand the demand.

Another issue which faced the district was broadband access as within Lincolnshire this was very patchy.

The district needed to grow a mix of local economy and the Council needed a range of plans and projects to help move this forward and this was where priority projects came in which would invest in these areas and support delivery of outcomes.

Further discussion then took place on sustainable communities, transport links, rural isolation and good quality housing.    One Member asked if the Council had to provide a Corporate Plan to which the Strategic Director replied that although it was not law, the DCLG expected authorities to have in place a plan showing their budget and how they expected to spend said budget.   The Chairman said that the Corporate Plan in a way underpinned the budget of the Council and he thanked the Strategic Director for his presentation.