Agenda item

Report of the Leader

The Leader introduced the report. He thanked all the officers involved for their hard work in preparing the corporate strategy and in particular the Strategy and Engagement team.  He highlighted that it was a short, informative and easy to understand document. He noted that this had previously been agreed on an annual basis in anticipation of the Place Vision. The Place Vision had now been established and the corporate strategy built on the issues outlined within it, it had also been developed in parallel with the budget so was aligned to the Medium Term Financial Strategy. As per the outcome of the recent peer review, he advised that key resources were being focussed on the most important priorities. He confirmed that O&S had reviewed the document in February and they would conduct a 6 monthly review and the strategy would be reviewed by Council again in June. He highlighted that the departmental service plans were running in parallel to the corporate strategy.

The Leader cited the 5 key priorities and highlighted that the priority to make Cheltenham the cyber capital of the UK was an extremely important and exciting project for Cheltenham and the surrounding areas. With regards to the improvements to the town centre and public spaces they were continuing to ensure the CTP was rolled out and worked effectively. He confirmed that phase 1 of the High Street works had been completed and that the BID had reported an increase in footfall. Waste and recycling continued to be developed and work on making Cheltenham carbon neutral as per the Council motion adopted in February, was ongoing.  He noted that the lack of affordable housing was one of the biggest issues facing the town and the council was committed to delivering the £100m housing investment plan.

In the debate that followed, Members made the following comments:

·         One Member sought assurance that the resources were in place to be able to deliver on the corporate strategy. They were also grateful that a section on how success would be measured had been included. They also queried how we ensure the wider public are made aware of the programme and what the priorities are.

·         Councillor Harman, speaking on behalf of the conservative group highlighted that at the recent Council meeting they had voted against the continuation of the Boots Corner trial. He explained that they were in support of the corporate strategy, however, their stance on Boots Corner had not changed as this was just one element  of the Cheltenham Transport Plan.

·         Councillor Sudbury also advised that whilst she was in support of the corporate strategy she still had reservations about the transport plan.

The Leader acknowledged that as a Council and given the limited resources we are not able to achieve everything. However, once the action list had been devised they could better identify how each action would be resourced.

RESOLVED (unanimously) THAT

the draft corporate strategy 2019-23 (appendix 2) be approved and be used as a basis for monitoring the Council’s performance over the next three years.