SOUTHAM/FELDON COMMUNITY FORUM

21 September 2011

Subject: State of the District Lead Officer: Liam Nevin Contact on 01789 260400 Lead Member/ Portfolio Holder: Councillor C Saint

Summary

The Leader of the Council is required as part of the constitution to carry out consultation with the public and partners leading up to a ‘state of the district debate’ at full council for Stratford on Avon District Council. As part of the consultation process, the leader has requested that the matter be considered at the meetings of the Community Fora. This report summarises the events of the past year along with an outline of proposals for the coming year.

The Community Forum is invited to give its views on the State of the District with particular reference to the local area. To assist in that a short presentation will be made at the meeting on the Community Forum profile (derived from data provided by the Warwickshire Observatory.)

Recommendation

That any views on the ‘State of the District’ from this Forum be identified.

1. Background/Information

1.1 Stratford on Avon District Council’s Constitution adopted in April 2002 and updated in 2007, stipulates that the Council will debate the State of the District at its first meeting after the Annual meeting. However for this year only, the Council has agreed that the debate will be held on 17 October 2011.

1.2 This is the tenth year since the Council adopted the provision to debate annually the State of the District. This report summarises the principal elements of the consultation and key issues identified for maintaining and improving the quality of life in the District.

1.3 Members of the Forum are invited to debate this analysis of the past events and comment on the future proposals.

2. Achievements/Key Events During 2010/11

2.1 This year has been one of a continuation of the Council’s improvement

drive, while responding to the economic downturn, which has severely restricted available resources.

2.2 With the reduction in income, the Council has responded by putting in place the necessary savings focusing reductions away from the front line services considered to be critical to the well-being of the district. This has involved a significant reduction in staffing (including a 40% reduction in senior management costs), but with the help of a Government grant the Council Tax has remained unchanged. Further improvements have been made to the budget and service planning process, including the use of a specialist budget consultation exercise.

2.3 The Council is responsible for ensuring that its business is conducted in accordance with the law and proper standards, that public money is safeguarded and properly accounted for, and used economically, efficiently and effectively. The Council also has a duty under the Local Government Act 1999 to make arrangements to secure continuous improvements in the way in which its functions are exercised, having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

2.4 The Council endorsed a governance framework that comprised the systems, processes, culture and values, by which the Council is directed and controlled and its activities through which it accounts to, engages with and leads the community. It enables the Council to monitor the achievement of its strategic priorities and to consider whether those priorities have led to the delivery of appropriate, cost-effective services.

2.5 The Council’s vision and Corporate Strategy have been reviewed and changes were approved by Council on 28 February 2011. Following adoption of the Strategy the performance measures to be used to oversee the delivery of the Strategy are being reviewed. As has been the case for several years the Council’s performance against corporate strategy targets will be reported on publicly.

2.6 Last year’s Council Plan and associated performance measures were approved in February 2010 and reviewed in June 2011. These documents set out the corporate strategy targets and the high level actions arising from service plans. The targets are managed by Heads of Service, and overseen by Portfolio Holders with regular performance reports produced.

2.7 The Council’s medium term financial plan (MTFS) has been reviewed in accordance with the finance available over the period of the MTFS. Along with that the Council adopted a financial Strategy in February 2011.

2.8 The roles and responsibilities of the executive, non-executive, scrutiny and officer functions, along with the delegations from Cabinet and the Council are set out in the constitution. In addition, there are member role profiles and an officer/member protocol that sets out the respective responsibilities and relationships of officers and members. The constitution is kept under regular review under the supervision of the Audit and Regulatory Committee and the document is fully reviewed every three years.

2.9 A risk management framework has been established and in the last year has been supplemented by expert advice from Warwickshire County Council. The provision of such advice is now built into the service level agreement for audit services. Operational risks form part of the service plans and high level risks are identified in the strategic risk register which is

periodically reviewed by the Management Team.

2.10 The Council has received a number of accolades this year, showing us to be a high-performing Council. Achievements include the following:

Achievement of Priorities - The Council achieved almost two-thirds of Corporate Strategy targets and Improvement Plan projects. The 2010/11 end of year performance report indicated that:

• Community ambition: The Council achieved its ambition that the District be ranked in the top 10 nationally for Quality of Life by 2012;

• Organisational ambition: The Council’s ambition to achieve and maintain excellence has been achieved through the reaccreditation of the Investors in Excellence standard in 2010;

• Of the 37 Key Performance Measures we monitored during 2010/11, we have achieved 23 (74%) with a further 3 (10%) part achieved. 5 (16%) were not achieved. The remaining 6 actions have yet to be reported on for one of the following reasons; no result has been presented for Indicators that are not part of the new dataset; or rely on a third party to provide the data; or, data is not available until a later date;

• There is no longer a statutory requirement to collect and report National Indicators to central government, however, there is still the opportunity to benchmark the data and some indicators, are to be retained in the new national Single Data Set. Of the 23 National Indicators that were monitored in 2010/11, 9 (64%) achieved target and 5 (36%) did not achieve target. 9 indicators were not applicable as either the indicator was not in use or the evidence was not sufficiently robust.

Investor in Excellence - This award judges all-round performance and provides a systematic framework for pursuing continuous improvement. More importantly, it compares and assesses the way the Council runs its business with the private and voluntary sector. Gaining this recognition confirms that a small District Council with a predominantly rural area can provide high quality, value-for-money services. In 2011 in the Midlands Business Excellence Awards the Council was awarded the accolades of most improved organisation and highly commended status.

Member Development - The Council had been awarded the West Midlands Leaders Board Members Development Charter – Full Charter status. This was a considerable achievement and a reflection of the hard work by Members and officers.

3. Current State of the District

3.1 A Residents’ Survey was undertaken in 2010 to measure what the residents thought of the area in which they lived, what they thought about the Council and the way we work. The survey used the following topic areas:

• the local area in general; • local decision making;

• service satisfaction; • usage of services;

• information/Council in general;

• volunteering;

• community safety; and • contacting the Council.

The full results of the survey are available on the Council’s website. The results of the 2010 Survey were compared to the findings of the 2008 Place Survey and the following are selected comparison figures:

a) the percentage of people who felt that they could influence decisions in their local area had increased from 31% to 42%;

b) the percentage of people satisfied that the Council was keeping public land clear of litter and refuse had risen from 66% to 78%;

c) the percentage of residents who were satisfied with the refuse collection service had increased by 9% to 90%. The number of residents who were satisfied with the doorstep recycling service had risen from 78% to 87%;

d) satisfaction with parks and open spaces had increased from 69% to 72%;

e) satisfaction with sport and leisure facilities had risen from 43% to 51%; f) satisfaction with complaint handling had risen from 31% to 38%; and

g) overall satisfaction with the way the Council runs things increased from 45% to 57%.

3.2 The Health Profile of the district as produced by the English Public Health Observatories working in partnership had concluded that: • the health of people in Stratford-on-Avon is generally better than the

England average and whilst deprivation is lower than average, 2,190 children live in poverty;

• life expectancy for both men and women is higher than the England average, although life expectancy is 4.4 years lower for women in the most deprived areas of the district than in the least deprived areas (based on the Slope Index of Inequality published on 5 January 2011);

• over the last 10 years all cause mortality rates have fallen;

o the early death rate from heart diseases and stroke has fallen and is better than the England average.

o The early death rate from cancer is also better that the England average;

• about 13.1% of Year 6 children are classified as obese, while a lower percentage than average of pupils spend at least three hours each week on school sport;

• 71.9% of mothers initiate breast feeding and 15.7% of expectant mothers smoke during pregnancy;

• an estimated 14.0% of adults smoke and 23.5% are obese; and • the rate of road injuries and deaths is higher than average;

From this it is evident for health and wellbeing, priorities in Stratford-on-Avon include physical activity, workplace health, diet and nutrition. This is stated in the Healthier Communities and Older People’s Action Plan.

More information is available from www.warwickshire.nhs.uk

3.3 Deprivation mapping data is shared and has informed voluntary sector activity and benefit take-up; for example Warwickshire Welfare Rights Advice Service were provided with information which enabled them to target households in receipt of benefits in the Southam and surrounding area to ensure they were claiming the benefits they were entitled to. To date this has secured additional funding in excess of £100k.

3.4 Other ways of understanding the community that the Council serves includes: Parish Plans, crime and health data analysis, and extensive public engagement in the market town visions. These data sources have influenced the Council’s and partnership plans.

4. Key Issues and Targets – 2011/15

4.1 The key targets for the Council are as set out in the Corporate Strategy 2011-2015, which has recently been revised to focus reducing resources. A copy of the Strategy is attached as Appendix A t o this report and the High Level Actions adopted by The Cabinet at its meeting on 20 June 2011 are contained in Appendix B to this report.

4.2 There is no doubt that the Council faces a difficult time in terms of resources in the short to medium term. The large national debt will impact on all sectors of the economy for many years to come. However, the decisive action taken on the budget will make this a less difficult task than it might have been - nonetheless there are likely to be very hard choices to be made in the coming years e.g. where to focus cost reductions.

4.3 With reducing budgets, priorities will have to be decided and the Council will have to remain resolute about those, targeting areas of highest need, as set out in the overall Council Plan and agreed high-level actions.

4.4 There will be continued support and development of the Council’s overview and scrutiny function and this will be maintained through training and development and by focusing the work of the Committees on areas which will assist the Council in achieving its overall objectives.

4.5 A major issue yet to be resolved is the Council’s Core Strategy under the Local Development Framework (planning policies). The Council’s work has had to be restarted due to the major policy changes introduced by the Coalition Government. Decisions taken in the coming year will influence how the district and its communities will develop in the next two decades. An example of this is the requirement for new housing and employment land. A further major issue to be addressed is the Council's electoral arrangements. Members and officers are examining the options, and the pros and cons of reducing the number of councillors and also moving to a pattern of all out elections every four years rather than the current arrangement for elections in three of every four years. Representatives of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England recently attended the Council to discuss this, following which members will be meeting to consider their advice.

4.6 The Council will continue to work closely with District Communities, enhancing their engagement and opportunities for involvement in Council decision-making. The Council’s Community engagement strategy will continue to be developed and, in particular, this will act as the platform for enabling local people to become more actively involved within their

communities.

4.7 The Localism Bill is currently working its way through Parliament and is expected to get royal assent by the end of the year. Until the Bill becomes law it would be premature to second guess the detailed response required of the Council but the broad issues will raise a number of challenges; Neighbourhood Development Plans will provide parish councils with greater opportunities to determine development requirements, over and above the Development Plan, and Neighbourhood Development Orders will allow parish councils to determine within certain parameters, types of development which will be exempt from planning permission. The Council will look to incorporate these changes into its long established work with parish councils on parish plans."

5. Options available to the Committee

5.1 To debate the analysis of the past events and comment on the future proposals.

6. Evidence Base

6.1 This report has used various performance reports and data profiles published by central and local government as well other public sector organisations such as the National Health Service.

7. Implications of the proposal

7.1 General

7.1.1 There are no direct implications arising from this report. However, individual projects referred to in the report do have implications that will be addressed when considering each individual project or task.

7.2 Legal

7.2.2 See 7.1.1 above.

7.3 Financial

7.3.1 See 7.1.1 above.

7.4 Environmental

7.4.1 See 7.1.1 above.

7.5 Corporate Strategy

7.5.1 See 7.1.1 above.

8. Risk assessment

8.1 Not applicable.

9. Conclusion 9.1 The report outlines the past year’s actions and future proposals for

2011/12.

Councillor C Saint

LEADER OF THE COUNCIL

APPENDIX A

APPENDIX B

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