Agenda and minutes

The Joint Executive Advisory Board (EAB)

RESOLVED

that Councillor Angela Gunning be elected as Chairman for this meeting.

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Graham Eyre.  There was not a substitution.

In accordance with the local Code of Conduct, a councillor is required to disclose at the meeting any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (DPI) that they may have in respect of any matter for consideration on this agenda.  Any councillor with a DPI must not participate in any discussion or vote regarding that matter and they must withdraw from the meeting immediately before consideration of the matter.

If that DPI has not been registered, the councillor must notify the Monitoring Officer of the details of the DPI within 28 days of the date of the meeting.

Councillors are further invited to disclose any non-pecuniary interest which may be relevant to any matter on this agenda, in the interests of transparency, and to confirm that it will not affect their objectivity in relation to that matter.

There were no declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests.

To confirm the minutes of the meetings of the Joint Executive Advisory Board held on 7 January and 15 February, 2021.

The minutes of the meetings of the Joint EAB held on 7 January and 15 February, 2021, were confirmed as correct records, and would be signed by the Chairman at the earliest opportunity.

The Joint EAB was invited to consider a skeleton of the draft Corporate Plan 2021-2025 which set out the Council’s vision, mission, values and priorities.  The Corporate Plan also outlined some suggested activities to implement the priorities, which would reflect the values, and measures to gauge the success of implementation.  The key findings of a supporting consultation survey were also before the Joint EAB to assist with its deliberations.

By way of elaboration, the Strategy and Communications Manager gave a presentation which provided the background to the preparation of the Corporate Plan and explained the draft priorities developed in January 2020, the public consultations undertaken in February / March 2020 and December 2020 / January 2021, the new draft priorities and the next steps.

The background to the preparation of the Corporate Plan consisted of a Councillor Workshop in respect of corporate priorities in November 2019, approval of draft priorities by the Executive in January 2020 and a public consultation (including a sample survey) in February / March 2020.  Following the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, the preparation of the Corporate Plan was delayed for 12 - 18 months, after which a public consultation regarding future spending priorities took place in December 2020 / January 2021 and new draft priorities were subsequently agreed by the Executive Liaison Group in March 2021. 

Following the consultations, the following three new draft priorities were developed:

·             Empowering Communities and Supporting People Who Need Help

·             Residents Having Access to the Homes and Jobs They Need

·             Protecting Our Environment

In terms of next steps, the comments of the Joint EAB would be considered by the Executive Liaison Group before further drafting of the Corporate Plan took place for recommendation to the Executive followed by adoption by the Council in May / June 2021.  Subsequently, draft Themed Strategies, identifying actions to deliver against priorities and measure success, relating to Community, Regeneration and Economy, and Environment would be submitted to EABs for consideration prior to approval by the Executive.

The Leader of the Council confirmed that the Corporate Plan was at an early draft stage and welcomed all comments from the Joint EAB to assist with its development by identifying key corporate priorities.

The following points and views arose from related questions, comments and discussion:

1.           Currently the corporate priorities were not ranked in any particular order and consideration may need to be given to their presentation in the Corporate Plan.

2.           As the Council was involved in numerous projects and had limited funding available to pursue them, there needed to be a clear focus on priorities.

3.           Improving the mental health of residents across the Borough was considered important, particularly following the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic.  The Community Wellbeing Team was continuing its work to engage with residents and support them with mental health and wellbeing issues.  Although the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had been considering the establishment of a Mental Health Task Group, there was uncertainty as to whether this would be progressing owing to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.