Agenda item

Purpose: To inform Members of the feedback received from the consultation on the Draft Council Strategy 2023 – 2027 and to request that the Strategy (amended in response to the consultation feedback and including the Council Strategy Delivery Plan) is adopted by the Council. A new strategy is needed to set the Council’s direction for the next four years by defining new priority areas based on changes to the external and internal intelligence about residents’ needs, including the feedback received from our residents’ surveys, consultations and the results of the local elections.

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 17) concerning feedback received from the consultation on the Draft Council Strategy 2023 – 2027 and to request that the amended Strategy be adopted by the Council.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Jeff Brooks and seconded by Councillor Martin Colston:

That the Council:

“Adopts the West Berkshire Council Strategy for 2023 – 2027, including the Council Strategy Delivery Plan, (see Appendix B) which includes the changes proposed within this report as a result of feedback from consultation”.

Councillor Brooks informed Council that he was proud to introduce the Administration’s first Council Strategy. For the first time the Council Strategy also included a clear delivery plan that was published and would be updated annually. There were five priorities, and these were:

• Services we are proud of.
• A Fairer West Berkshire with opportunities for all.
• Tackling the climate and ecological emergency.
• A prosperous and resilient West Berkshire.
• Thriving communities with a strong local voice.

The role of every Council was to provide great services and make communities stronger.  Residents were consulted on what mattered to them and the Strategy demonstrated how delivery would be achieved. Not all targets may be met but it was important to be transparent. 

When the Liberal Democrat Group took control of the Council in May it was known that the budget had been set but what was not known was the level of pressures in service areas and where some areas had been under budgeted or overspending for a number of years.  There was surprise at the lack of controls and thus controls were being putting in place, such as a weekly review of spend and on recruitment. The financial constraints would put the Strategy under strain in the early years and it would be necessary to cut the Council’s cloth accordingly, but the plan would be delivered. He thanked officers for all their hard work over the summer to help put the plan together and the work of Councillor Martin Colston. Councillor Brooks commended the Strategy to the Chamber.

Councillor Martha Vickers said that she wanted to highlight how part of the Environment Advisory Group had been opened up to the public which was part of the Administration’s desire to be free and open.

Councillor Carolyne Culver mentioned that she supported the Strategy and the opening up of forums to the public. She welcomed the emphasis on infrastructure and advised that she was currently chairing a Task and Finish Group for Health Scrutiny that would be looking at the provision of health care within new developments, especially in rural locations. As well as healthcare provision it was also important to consider water infrastructure as part of new developments. The Environment Agency and Thames Water had been invited to the next meeting of the Scrutiny Commission as the public were concerned about sewage and fresh water infrastructure. It was important to have water saving measures in new developments. There were some good points about climate change in the Strategy but there needed to be more about water quality and security. West Berkshire’s chalk streams needed protection, drought resilience was needed and work needed to be done on SuDS and flood forums.

Councillor Heather Codling said that she felt the themes and priorities within the Strategy would help ensure the long term wellbeing of residents and she was pleased to see the areas relating to young people within the community. There was the emphasis in driving up standards in education, reducing the attainment gap and the SEND Strategy was already out for consultation. The Administration was seeking to increase the number of foster carers and were also working towards offering more apprenticeships with our partners and local employers. There was also an emphasis on working with town and parish councils in further developing youth groups and assisting them in employing youth workers, especially in rural areas.

Councillor Matt Shakespeare said that as a Councillor representing the east of the district he was pleased to see that the Strategy planned to deliver to the whole of the district, especially the vibrant village thread which would support areas such as Pangbourne. It was important to support our small communities. He welcomed the review into Home to School Transport which was important for rural communities.

Councillor Iain Cottingham highlighted the robustness of the financial controls within the Strategy. It was important to have a robust and sustainable financial plan to facilitate the delivery of the Strategy. It was important that the decisions being made today ensured finances were in place for the next four years.

Councillor Owen Jeffery said he was pleased to see that the Strategy was proactive in directly involving our communities, an example of this was in Thatcham where they had received the Hemingway report and had moved into what could be done and how it could be delivered. It had been decided that the chairman of this process should be a local Town Councillor. This Administration was trying to allow local people to take part in local decisions.

Councillor Stuart Gourley said the Strategy was a sign of real ambition for the new Administration. He was pleased that the Strategy built upon their Manifesto pledges.   He was pleased to see continued transparency and the Council opening up as much as possible and allowing residents to see the roadmap and journey we were on. There were SMART objectives and tangible outcomes. He highlighted the building of a community sports facility on Faraday Road, the inclusion of 20 MPH zones and a focus on flood prevention.

Councillor Janine Lewis, as Portfolio Holder for Public Health, Culture, Leisure, Sport and Countryside, highlighted areas around mental health, working on the active travel plan and improving physical health that would also help support net zero climate change targets and reduce pressure on the NHS with healthier lives. The libraries were going through transformation to provide a more inclusive service and improve its digital offer.

Councillor Denise Gaines referred to previous comments on the new Administration’s ambition to improve inclusion and transparency, and mentioned that there was an intention to introduce a public forum that would include local housing providers and tenants from both social and private housing. She also mentioned how she would be working with local transport providers so that the needs of residents could be met.

Councillor Tony Vickers mentioned that the Administration had introduced Community Forums, the first one had already met discussing the future of the Faraday Road Football Pitch and the next one would be on rural affairs. It was planned to hold four forums per year. Rural areas had been overlooked for too long and this would end now the Administration had more Councillor representation in rural wards. He said they would also listen to those who had an understanding of rural issues such as Councillor Culver. Councillor Vickers also said that he was the Council’s representative on the AONB and was pleased to say that there were now more Liberal Democrats on the body and they would work together for a better future.

Councillor Dominic Boeck said that the Administration may be surprised to hear that he was impressed by the Strategy and that he was pleased to see that the strategic priorities mirrored those in the draft Strategy produced prior to the election. He did not approve of the Administration’s ideological opposition to academy schools, if parents and governors wanted their school to become an academy then they should be supported. The Administration mentioned putting in financial controls, but this was nothing new and would have had to take place anyway. It had been forecasted year on year that this was going to be a tough year and next year would be even tougher. He mentioned that much of the delivery plan was really a continuation of what was already underway. It was good to see many of the goals and actions were challenging but he questioned if they were achievable. He wished Councillor Brooks well in delivering the plan and said he would be monitoring progress.

Councillor Clive Taylor said he was impressed with the Strategy especially the comments made about youth services, although he would have liked to have seen mention of youth clubs as they were important in tackling anti-social behaviour. He recommended that a future discussion topic for the Community Forums could be youth services and it would be good to get the results of the recent survey out in the public domain.

Councillor David Marsh said he was pleased to see so much support across the chamber, adding that if the Administration proposed things that were agreed with they should be supported. He raised that the start of the Strategy mentioned making West Berkshire Greener which was something he supported. He was pleased to see that there would be a trial regarding removing traffic from Newbury Town Centre making it cleaner and better for businesses. He also supported the 20-mph speed limit initiative.  He mentioned that most residents supported environmental measures and a greener district. As it had not already been mentioned he raised all the good projects regarding housing and especially affordable housing, although not all affordable homes were affordable, and he encouraged more social rent homes and bringing more empty homes back in us. He was pleased to see a delivery plan appended as it allowed Council to monitor progress.

Councillor Alan Macro said that it was time to reduce the Council’s reliance on agency staff. In Adult Social Care they had a lot of agency staff, this was not only expensive but also hindered continuity of care. In Adult Social Care there was an increase in demand and increased financial pressures, so he welcomed initiatives such as Shared Lives.

Councillor Ross Mackinnon said that as already mentioned there was a lot of overlap between this Strategy and the draft Strategy produced prior to the election. There may not be much disagreement on the priorities but there was on the Strategy such as the plan to reintroduce postal planning application notifications which was a costly backward step, the Council should not be building a sports stadium on the Faraday Road site when we had the Sports Hub and there was only one mention of the Local Plan in the Strategy. He mentioned that Councillor Brooks had said there had been under budgeting of services, but he had not mentioned any of this when the budget was set and they had not produced the promised emergency budget. He questioned the transparency promises and used the Environment Advisory Group as an example of the Administration still having the main meeting in Part II. He had doubts on the delivery of the plan as they had already failed to deliver their 100 day plan.

Councillor Erik Pattenden mentioned that this Strategy had a delivery plan that had been missing from the previous plans from the Opposition. He also mentioned that the previous Administration’s handling of budget forecasting had been poor.

Councillor Howard Woollaston questioned the ambition such as 1000 affordable homes by 2023 and not 2027, only 40 EV charging points a year and the Playing Pitch Strategy that was already in place but the document talked about implementation in 2026.

Councillor Martin Colston said that there were some very clear differences between this Strategy and the draft one proposed by the Opposition prior to the election. They had already appointed an Opposition Chairman to the Scrutiny Commission, Community Forums had been brought back and letters notifying of planning applications would be re-introduced. They would be listening to the local community and make West Berkshire an employer of choice. The Strategy was supported by a Delivery Plan with SMART objectives which had not been previously introduced. He also mentioned that the town centre steering groups would be chaired by local town councillors. He paid tribute to the work of officers for their support in putting the Strategy together.

Councillor Jeff Brooks made concluding comments by saying that he thanked all Councillors for their positive comments. It was expected that there would be bricks back from the Opposition but the Administration had opened up task groups retaining Part II capacity when advised by the Monitoring Officer, with regards to bin collections any changes would be discussed and not a decision taken in private. The Administration would also fix the flawed Local Plan that was rushed through prior to the election. The Councilcould have all the strategies in the world, but operational excellence would be introduced to deliver them. They would be working smartly and harder to get the plan delivered. Ambitious targets had been set and it was expected that they would not all be met and unexpected events may intervene, but we had a delivery plan that we would do what we could to achieve. With regards to the comments about only meeting 50% of the targets in the 100 day plan after 200 days he said that they had met 70% of the targets after 133 days.

Councillor Brooks went on to say that with regards to the financial position they should have been aware of the situation, yet the current administration did not know about issues such as the failed software upgrade that had taken years and cost hundreds of thousands of pounds that had not been reported. It was only by looking at the issues in detail that the situation was becoming clear. With regards to academy schools, they supported strong local education and this would be achieved by keeping services together and supporting them within the LEA. He went on to mention that the Chairman of the Scrutiny Commission had been given to an Opposition Councillor as they wanted to be challenged and put things right. He commended the Strategy to Council.

The Motion was put to the meeting and duly RESOLVED.