Issue - meetings

This report outlines a proposed refresh process for the Council’s Corporate Strategy and asks Members to endorse the process and agree to participate in a series of medium term planning workshops.

RESOLVED: (i)         That the broad principles contained in Option 2 in the report be endorsed.

REASON:      To give the Council’s corporate strategic planning greater coherence, and to improve the Council’s position under future inspection frameworks.

                        (ii)        That the Strategy be further developed with Members prior to formal submission of draft proposals to a future Executive meeting.

REASON:      So that the emerging Strategy can be refined in consultation with Executive portfolio holders and to meet budget requirements, and to ensure that any proposed changes made since the previous Corporate Strategy can be tracked.

Members considered a report which outlined a proposed refresh process for the Council’s Corporate Strategy (the Strategy), to ensure greater alignment with the Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS) and the Local Area Agreement (LAA).

From April 2009, the format of the Strategy would change.  The vision for the City in the SCS would be recognised as an overarching element.  Instead of the existing ten priorities, there would be eight themes, with a set of medium term (three year) improvements under each theme, as well as a set of one-year actions.  The existing Corporate Values would remain unchanged.  Quantifiable measures of overall progress would be produced during, and at the end of, each year.  This performance monitoring would be a key element of the Financial and Performance reports brought to the Executive. 

Members and Officers had already met for the first round of workshops to discuss one-year actions for 2009-10.  Further work was continuing to consider delivery arrangements and measurements for these actions.  A second round of workshops, to consider the medium term planning, would take place in January.  Members were invited to endorse the refresh process outlined in the report and to participate in the second round workshops (Option 2).  Option 1 was to leave the current corporate strategy unchanged.

Members acknowledged the value of the workshops in discussing proposals for inclusion in the Strategy but stressed the need to ensure that the Strategy contained realistic goals and that targets were deliverable within available resources.

Having noted the comments of the Shadow Executive on this item, it was

RESOLVED: (i)         That the broad principles contained in Option 2 in the report be endorsed.

REASON:      To give the Council’s corporate strategic planning greater coherence, and to improve the Council’s position under future inspection frameworks.

                        (ii)        That the Strategy be further developed with Members¹ prior to formal submission of draft proposals to a future Executive meeting. ²

REASON:      So that the emerging Strategy can be refined in consultation with Executive portfolio holders and to meet budget requirements, and to ensure that any proposed changes made since the previous Corporate Strategy can be tracked.