Agenda item

Report of the Strategy and Engagement Manager

The Strategy and Engagement Manager introduced his report which set out the council’s draft corporate strategy for 2013/14 together with a detailed action plan.  The strategy set out in a public document what the Cabinet/Council was planning to achieve in 2013/14 and as such could provide a basis for future performance management by Overview and Scrutiny. This year directors had been more intensely involved in producing the action plans which were now underpinned by detailed resource plans. Resources were going to be challenged but it was also important to allow for ad hoc events that may occur during the year.  This was an opportunity for the committee to identify any gaps in the strategy before it went to Council and highlight any areas they may wish to scrutinise in more depth and add to their scrutiny workplan.

The chair expressed concern that there were a number of gaps in the targets set out in the action plan and felt it was unrealistic for O&S to comment on the appropriateness of the targets without this information. He felt this had been flagged before in previous years and so should have been addressed in the document presented to members.

A member wanted to know more about the other projects highlighted in paragraph 3.1 and questioned why the plans to commemorate the First World War Centenary and the war memorial enhancement would have a significant impact on resources. In response, the Strategy and Engagement Manager did not have any more details at this stage but following the experience of the Jubilee it was considered that members would want to be marking this important occasion in some way.

There was some discussion about whether it was appropriate for this committee to receive the strategy and action plan after it had scrutinised the budget as if O&S identified any significant gaps it may be too late to allocate the necessary funds to fill them. However an alternative view was acknowledged that it was unrealistic to build up expectations of what could be delivered in the corporate strategy until members knew how much money the council had to spend. In response the Leader advised that informal Cabinet did review a first draft of the action plan before finalising their budget proposals. It would be possible for O&S to review this early draft but there would be many gaps and there was a question for O&S as to how many times they wish to be involved in the process. The chair requested that O&S should be able to review the priorities for the plan in December and identify any missings at that early stage. The detail regarding individual targets could come later and it would be useful if this could be sent out to all members.

A member asked for more information regarding the proposed feasibility study on the Prince of Wales Stadium.  In response the Executive Director advised that this was one of two feasibility studies commissioned during the initial stages of the Leisure and Culture Commissioning review. The results would be coming back in parallel to the commissioning work and would require a decision at some point on the way forward.

A member asked whether it be possible for CBH to have more input into the JCS in order to help address the need for more affordable housing.

A member commented that the action plan to support the arts and culture strategy seemed to be very town centre focused and they hoped the Leisure and Culture review would address this and give the plans more substance.

The chair thanked members for their input and asked these points to be noted by Cabinet when finalising the draft strategy for presentation to Council on 25 March 2013.