Agenda item

This report presents the draft Council Plan which sets out the council’s priorities and objectives for the next five years.

The Chair, Councillor Cornell, presented the report and advised that the Plan had already been considered by Housing, Environment and Community Services & Licensing Committee. The Chair drew the Committees attention to the 3 themes included in the Council Plan:

·       Environment & Climate Change

·       Community Resilience & Wellbeing

·       Economy, Recovery & Regeneration.

The chair advised that the Council Plan was a mix of continuing with significant ongoing projects such as the Canal and new projects, some of which had arisen from the last 18 months of the pandemic.

Councillor Davies advised that the Conservative group hadn’t supported the plan at previous committees, not because they disagreed with it, but because they wanted to take some time to consider it. He put forward two key suggestions:

1.     That the plan should include annotation or colour coding to show which of the items Stroud District Council would be leading on and which were projects that the Council would be working in partnership with others but would not be leading.

2.     That measures and smart objectives should be added to the key objectives to ensure that they have metrics by which they can use over the coming years to check if the Council had achieved it’s aims.

The Chair thanked Councillor Davies for his constructive comments and advised the Committee to look at the performance management section of the report which advised that the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) would be developed with Officers and Members. It was also confirmed that the Council Plan quarterly updates had been added to the Strategy and Resources Committee Work Programme.

Councillor Davies asked for confirmation that Committee Chairs would consider adding an item to their Work Programme to write or review the KPIs to help ensure that the work would be completed. The Chair advised that the service Committee Chairs were present and they would consider the request, it was also advised that the KPIs would be picked up in performance management which was on the Committees Work Programmes.

Councillor Brine agreed that the Council would need to be able to measure progress and that Performance Management needed to change so that Councillors were ensuring that they were looking at what the Council Plan says should be achieved and holding the administration to account. Councillor Braun stated that it would be really good for all Committee Members to work collaboratively to deliver on the Council Plan and that many of the projects would involve partnership work and that in the detailed KPIs further information could be provided on this.

Councillor Davies asked again whether the Council Plan could be annotated to show when Stroud District Council would be taking a lead and asked for a commitment that the KPIs would be brought back to Committee. The Chair advised that they would need to consider Councillor Davies request to see whether that information would be better placed in the KPIs or in the Council Plan. 

In response to a question from Councillor Turner it was confirmed that the Youth Council had been consulted on the Council Plan.

Councillor Craig asked whether the wording on Page 28 Section ER5.1 of the Council Plan could be changed to allow for amendments to the Local Plan. The Chief Executive confirmed that the Local Plan had to go through a statutory process and that this would involve recommendations from the inspector which the Environment Committee would then be able to consider prior to recommending to Council. Councillor Craig confirmed that he was satisfied with the assurance provided that the statutory process would be followed.

Councillor Pearson advised that Members of the Public may question how the Council was going to carry out the actions within the Council Plan as that detail had not been provided and he stated that it may not be achievable in the timescale. The Chair advised that some of the objectives in the plan had been started already and were longstanding projects.

Proposed by Councillor Ross and Seconded by Councillor Brine.

Councillor Ross thanked the Corporate Policy and Governance Manager for their work in helping to formulate the plan and advised that it was very different and much more complex than previous Council Plans.

Councillor Davies stated that there were two areas which he felt the plan was light on, young people and skills development. He stated that when it came down to Committee level he would like to make sure that there was a focus on those areas.

Councillor Braun commended the plan and drew Members attention to new projects including the work on retrofit and the retrofit centre for excellence. She stated that Housing Committees decision regarding the Council Owned properties would be a large piece of work over the next 30 years and that she hoped that this would also expand into the private sector.

Councillor Turner acknowledged that the KPIs were fundamental to the Council Plan and that in order to make the metrics meaningful more time was needed and consultation with the Committees before they could be included.

Councillor Pearcy expressed his enthusiasm for the plan which was well thought out, clear and comprehensive. He also stated that the objective regarding partnerships with the Parish and Town Councils would be a great step forward.

Councillor Pearson asked for confirmation that performance monitoring would be reviewed. The Chair confirmed that a report would be coming back to Committee in November and the Chief Executive advised that they were currently looking at new systems to replace the current system Excelsis.

Councillor Housden advised that he was disappointed that youth services weren’t covered more in the plan but stated that there were many other good projects in there.

Councillor Brine in summing up stated that the Council Plan was full of good things for their Communities and that they would only be able to deliver it if everyone worked together and they were challenged if any projects started to go off track.

On being put to the vote, the motion was carried.