Leader of the Council
Minutes:
81.1 The Chair invited Councillor Ward to introduce the report and propose the recommendations within it.
81.2 Councillor Ward stated that ‘Our Plan for Babergh’ set out the administrations vision, approach and priorities to help create a resilient more sustainable future, with and for, all residents and communities.
81.3 Councillor Reece raised that in paragraph 4.4 on page 50 of the report it stated that a low response had been received from some areas including businesses and the VCSF Sector and enquired if these sectors would be listened to regarding the upcoming car parking conversations.
81.4 Councillor Busby replied that hopefully a broader conversation would take place with businesses to enable them to thrive in Babergh.
81.5 Councillor Holt asked if targets and deliverable programs would be brought forward not just headlines.
81.6 Councillor Saw replied that each of the pillars would have an action plan and would be evaluated and assessed against those action plans.
81.7 Councillor Ward asked Jo Hobbs Corporate Manager – Strategic Policy to give context and details regarding engagement process.
81.8 Jo Hobbs stated that strategy documents were a difficult subject for people to engage with, but engagement numbers were comparable with other Councils for the subject.
81.9 Councillor McLaren asked what was going to be done to reduce the 26.1% of adults classed physically inactive as shown on page 58 of the report.
81.10 Councillor Saw replied that the feelgood initiative was launched in October which has three key areas, weight management, getting people physically active and helping people to give up smoking. People were able to self-refer or be referred by a GP and in October, 200 plus people referred themselves and this number had been increasing over the following months. Councillor Saw also stated that there were programmes available at the leisure centres to encourage people to be more physically active.
81.11 Councillor Holt enquired why economic growth was not mentioned in the headlines of the plan.
81.12 Councillor Ward replied that on page 60, one of the main themes was thriving economy and there was a list of items which the Council was committed to, to help build the economy.
81.13 Councillor Hurren asked where the money was coming from for the ambitions within the plan.
81.14. Councillor Ward acknowledged that the Council was in a challenging financial time but there were a number of measures being taken in the budget to be discussed at the February Council meeting to try and put the Council on a sound footing and also afford the ambitions within the plan. Also, a number of things in the plan would be done in partnership with others and would not necessarily require huge investment from the Council.
81.15 Councillor Maybury asked for more detail regarding the proposed partners as previously mentioned.
81.16 Councillor Ward replied that it would depend on the individual delivery plans but at this stage that detail was not available.
81.17 Councillor debated issues within the report and the plan including funding, changing the way the Council works with partners, the role of parish councils and better ways of using the money the Council does have.
81.18 The recommendations were PROPOSED by Councillor Ward and SECONDED by Councillor Saw, and by a vote of 23 votes for, 1 vote against and 3 abstention.
It was RESOLVED:-
To accept the recommendation from Cabinet to adopt Our Plan for Babergh, setting out the vision, approach and strategic priorities for Babergh District Council for 2023-2031 (Appendix A).
Supporting documents: