Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils
Democratic Services

Mobile menu icon

Agenda item

The Leader of the Council

Minutes:

184.1         Councillor Ward introduced report BC/19/24, Corporate Plan (2019 – 2027) which the Cabinet had been working on in conjunction with Mid Suffolk District Council.  The current strategic plan was due to expire in 2020 and it was the intention that the proposed new Corporate Plan would be replacing the Joint Strategic plan. Appendix A provided a summary of the development of the revised Corporate Plan.

 

184.2         The draft Corporate Plan had been supported by the Senior Leadership Team and officers across both Councils and required the approval of both Cabinets and Councils.  The new Corporate Plan provided a joint vision for the future of the Council’s area and addressed opportunities and challenges facing the District in the foreseeable future.

 

184.3         The revised version and new mission statement would provide more confident leadership for the area through greater place-based workings. The interconnected strategic priorities in the plan were the environment, the economy, housing, well-being, our customers and communities.

 

184.4         The Corporate values were included in the Corporate plan to ensure that they were part of the objective to benefit communities and residents in the District.

 

184.5         Councillor Ward MOVED recommendation 3.1, which was SECONDED by Councillor Arthey

 

184.6         Councillor Ward invited the Chief Executive to present the Corporate Plan the Council.

 

184.7         After the presentation, Councillor Lindsay stated that the purpose of the Council should be to improve the quality of life for residents and he hoped that the Corporate Plan would provide the foundation for this. The Council was a public sector service and even if some of the services were conducted as a corporate body he felt that the use of the word ‘customer’ for the residents in the District was not appropriate as it set a mind-set that implied that residents were buying from the Council. This was not the case and he would prefer the word ‘citizens’ or ‘residents’, and he was unsure if he would be able to support a Corporate Plan using the word ‘customers’.

 

184.8         Councillor Ward responded that he was concerned if support for the Corporate Plan was based on the perception of one word.  However, he felt that the use of ‘customers’ worked well in this context as this implied private sector concepts of delivering services to customers’ satisfaction.

 

184.9         Councillor Malvisi agreed with Councillor Ward and thought these issues were related to the exchange of values to a mutual satisfaction.

 

184.10      Councillor Parker added that the Corporate Plan included everybody in the authority but that the Council also delivered to both communities, residents and customers in the District.

 

184.11      Councillor Hurren asked if the Chief Executive was confident that the Council would be able to deliver the Corporate Plan, as he had concerns about performance and hoped that future concerns would be responded to an appropriate manner.

 

184.12      Recommendation 3.1 was put to Members for voting and was CARRIED by 31 to 1.

 

It was RESOLVED: -

 

That the Council adopts the draft Corporate Plan (2019 – 2027) as visually presented in paragraph 4.5 to replace the Refreshed Joint Strategic Plan (2016 – 2020)

 

 

Supporting documents: