Decision details

To seek approval of the completed refresh of the council plan. The plan was appended at appendix one of the report.

ORDERED that Executive:

1.     Approves the refreshed Council Plan which set out how the Council would measure success, following previous agreement of the outcomes in December 2025 by Executive.

2.     approves further minor amendments to the outcomes agreed by executive in December 2025 to create separate outcomes for digital and transport connectivity and minor, non-material changes to sentence structure to enhance readability and did not change the nature of the agreed outcomes.

3.     Approves the cessation of the Council’s transformation programme and transition into a continuous improvement model.

4.     Approves the transition of the customer strategy and the Neighbourhoods model into business-as-usual delivery.

5.     Approves the Council’s engagement in the place leader’s partnership, its membership on that partnership.

6.     Endorses the planned development of a place strategy for the town, to be led by the place leader’s partnership.

REASONS

Refreshing the Council Plan enabled the Council to continue to plan over the medium term. Updating outcomes and measures of success ensured that the Council Plan reflected current progress against the council’s vision and priorities. Under the local government act 1999, local authorities must legally deliver what was termed ‘best value’ in that a Council must be able to show that it had arrangements to secure continuous improvement in how it carried out its work. The proposals in the report set out how the council is embedding continuous improvement within its strategic planning. 

OPTIONS

Members could have chosen to not refresh the activity within the plan or the measures that assessed impact. This was not recommended because the Plan would not then have provided a blueprint against which the organisation could set its supporting plans, strategies and policies against with any confidence that the Plan reflects the priorities and needs of the town’s residents.