Agenda item

Report of the Leader of the Council

The Leader of the Council introduced the Corporate Strategy – 2012/13 action plan, the third annual action plan of the five year strategy.  He explained that the plan had evolved in parallel with the budget and highlighted some key points.  In compliance with the public sector equality duty, three objectives were developed which were considered most important in promoting equality and diversity; Listening and responding to a wide-range of communities, Promoting fair access to our services and Ensuring fair employment practices.  The action plan included specific commitments to support the six priorities identified by the new partnership structure, though the Council was not directly responsible for delivery.  Appendix 2 detailed the ongoing progress of various Commissioning Reviews and set out future plans. 

The report included details of comments made by scrutiny, of which a major recurring concern was whether there were sufficient resources within the Council to deliver all of the work set out in the action plan.  He assured Members that an Officer level assessment had been undertaken and Officers were fairly confident that it was achievable. The plan was always ambitious, for which he couldn’t apologise and he thanked Officers for making it all happen.  Overview & Scrutiny would consider a report twice a year to monitor progress. 

The plan included some major projects (Art Gallery & Museum, North Place & Portland Street and St. Paul’s) and next week would see the launch of GO Shared Services and UBICO.  These were exciting times for the Council, but GO and UBICO needed to produce savings and this would be monitored to ensure that this was being achieved as well as working as they should be. He hoped that Members could support the recommendations. 

A number of Members were dismayed that there was no mention of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.  £15k had been set aside for the Olympic celebrations and there was still £30k of Promoting Cheltenham Fund monies that had not been allocated and yet the Council appeared to have no plans to commemorate the Queen’s 60^th year on the throne.  These Members urged that something be done to mark this occasion, whether this was an event or as one Member advocated a permanent marker. 

Some Members could understand the concerns that had been raised but felt that, importantly, events were being organised to honour the Queen from the community, up.  Details of various events were raised, with one Member thanking the Council for the support it had offered in facilitating a Parish Council to organise a Jubilee celebration which it was hoped would attract 1500-2000 people. 

A Member pointed out that the message from the Queen herself had been that Councils should not spend vast amounts holding celebratory events and should instead look at augmenting what they already do.  He expressed his surprise that nothing had been proposed at the last meeting, when the budget was approved, at which Members could have put forward a request for funding of such an event.  Importantly he felt that the Olympic Torch celebration at the racecourse on the 23 May would be a spectacular event for everyone in Cheltenham. 

The Mayor advised Members that a commemorative plaque and flag would be purchased to mark the Queen’s Jubilee. 

The Cabinet Member Finance & Community Development highlighted the importance that neighbourhood management would play in relation to strengthening communities and how this would become increasingly important in the future as resources within the emergency services, etc, reduced.  First response to issues would need to come from the local community and it would be desirable if Neighbourhood Coordination Groups took responsibility for dealing with day to day issues.  

The Cabinet Member Sport & Culture responded to queries relating to his portfolio.  In terms of what the Council was doing to support the partnership priority; Ensuring that our young people have access to a suitable range of positive activities, the outcomes set out on the ‘people are able to lead healthy lifestyles’ detailed the annual Summer of Sport initiatives for which the target attendance figure was 1,497 and the free under 16 swim, of which CBC was the only Borough in the County to offer.  He assured Members that the targets that had been set, whilst very high, were legitimate and he was sure were achievable. 

The Cabinet Member Housing & Safety responded to queries raised relating to her portfolio.  She acknowledged the importance of youth work for which the Council had made £50k available, this funding was being used to identify gaps in provision across the town and the linkages that had been formed would help to prevent duplication.  She was happy to consider a reference to the Night Time Levy for inclusion in actions relating to how Licensing would help to reduce the impact of alcohol on individuals and families.  Welfare reform was a key area of concern for her personally and the strategies that were being developed aimed to protect people against these reforms.  She did however voice her apprehension about the resilience of the services dealing with this issue, given that a number of resources had been lost. 

In closing, the Leader took the opportunity to respond to the various comments and concerns that had been raised.  He felt that the comments about the Jubilee were unjustified at this stage.  The Chief Executive was absent from the last Council meeting (24 February) as he had attended a briefing with the Duchess of Gloucester to discuss Jubilee events.  Having been involved in the consideration of bids for the Promoting Cheltenham Fund he was able to confirm that no bids for Jubilee related events were received.  The JCS offered the Town a degree of protection and this would only be benefited by working with Gloucester and Tewkesbury.  He acknowledged that the economy was an important issue suggested that as part of commissioning, now, was not the right time to review the service.  Partnerships were not the perfect solution but they were vital in the current circumstances.  He was confident that the restructure from six to three partnerships would increase effectiveness, though admittedly this relied upon the appropriate linkages being in place and working as they should.  This would be for Overview & Scrutiny to monitor and review. 

Upon a vote it was

RESOLVED that the 2012-13 corporate strategy action plan be approved and used as a basis for monitoring the council’s performance over the next 12 months.

(Voting: 22 For, 5 Against with 4 Abstentions)