Agenda item

A presentation by The Leader on the Corporate Action Plan (45 minutes)

The Leader of the Council gave a presentation which reviewed the progress that the Council has made through its Corporate Action Plan over the last year. The Corporate Action Plan is an annual document that details the actions that will be taken to achieve the ambitions set out in the Corporate Plan 2019-23, Growing Our Potential, which was adopted by Council in April 2019.

The Corporate Action Plan is the vehicle for delivering the priorities set out in the Corporate Plan. During the last year, the Council has made significant progress through the delivery of the projects set out in the year three Corporate Action Plan. This progress towards the Council’s strategic aims formed the basis of the Leader’s presentation.

Members discussed:

·  Levelling Up funding – There has been a strong bid made for Andover however this will be very competitive.  If the funding is not successful then the Council will continue to progress its plans through other funding strategies and with development partners aligned with the phasing of the  work.

·  Sustainability and growth of the voluntary sector – The Leader recognized that the sector had been playing an important role in partnership with other agencies to support work to address issues facing communities such as Covid and cost of living. The Council plays an active role to support the voluntary sector in its work through local partnerships and through its funding and grants programmes. The leader explained that the Test Valley Partnership had met that day and focused on cost of living and how partners could support people impacted.  The outcomes from the Test Valley Partnership meeting will form an action plan.

·  Ukrainian refugees – The Leader explained that there were a number of households that were hosting Ukrainian refugees.  The concern was that at the end of the 6 months (which the Government were funding) there would be a risk homelessness for some refugees if hosting arrangements break down.  The Housing and Environmental Service are however reviewing this regularly.  The Leader will find out how many Ukrainian refugees are being hosted in Test Valley and let the Committee know.

·  Business Week – The Leader will find out what the Council will be doing to mark and promote Business Week.

·  Affordable housing – The Leader will share a breakdown tenure of the 408 affordable houses built in the last 12 months which will also highlight were they are built.  He will also speak to the Head of Housing and Environmental Health to see if there is any information about the relationship between average rents and average local salaries.

·  Youth Employment Hub – The Leader will let the Committee know where the Youth Employment Hub is in Romsey and how this has been publicised.

·  Electric Vehicles – 11 of the Council’s fleet vehicles are electric.  Some fleet vehicles are replaced with electric vehicles once they reach the end of their life.  In order to optimise fuel usage the waste collection rounds are reviewed regularly.

·  Climate Emergency Action Plan – The Council can be an influencer to the public and encourage businesses to apply for grants to help them reduce their carbon footprint.

·  Solar Panels – A number of Council buildings have solar panels and this is part of the Climate Emergency Action Plan which will come back to the Committee.

The Leader advised the Committee that there were no new additional projects for this upcoming year.  The new Corporate Action Plan is out to consultation and once this has closed the responses will be analysed and worked into the new Corporate Plan for 2023-2027.

The Leader thanked the Committee and staff for publicising the work on the new Corporate Plan and for all the work the Committee had undertaken over the last year.

Resolved:

That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee endorse the progress made through the Corporate Action Plan in year three of the Corporate Plan 2019-2023.