Issue - meetings

[To approve the Our City: Our Plan, the City of Wolverhampton Council Plan]

1.    That the Our City: Our Plan, the City of Wolverhampton Council Plan be approved.

2.    That cross party engagement be sought to deliver the priorities set out in Our City: Our Plan the strategic framework to level up our city.

3.    That it be noted, the priorities of Our City: Our Plan have been developed through a continuous conversation with our communities and partners with over 3,000 people engaged building on the Relighting Our City recovery commitment.

4.    That it be noted, a presentation and draft strategy of Our City: Our Plan was received by Scrutiny Board on the 8 February 2022.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Ian Brookfield presented the report on Our City: Our Plan for approval. The refreshed council plan, Our City: Our Plan was detailed in appendix 1 to this report. This report also provided an update on the new council performance framework and how the council would monitor progress towards delivering the councils priorities.

The plan sets out an ambition that ‘Wulfrunians will live longer, healthier lives’. Delivery of this ambition would be supported by six overarching priorities: strong families where children grow up well and achieve their full potential; fulfilled lives for all with quality care for those that need it;    healthy, inclusive communities; good homes in well-connected neighbourhoods; more local people into good jobs and training and thriving economy in all parts of the city. Supporting these six overarching priorities were three cross cutting principles: climate conscious; driven by digital and fair and equal.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Ian Brookfield proposed the recommendations and the Deputy Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Simkins seconded the recommendations.

The report was debated by Council.

Resolved:

1. That the Our City: Our Plan, the City of Wolverhampton Council Plan be approved.
2. That cross party engagement be sought to deliver the priorities set out in Our City: Our Plan the strategic framework to level up our city.
3. That it be noted, the priorities of Our City: Our Plan have been developed through a continuous conversation with our communities and partners with over 3,000 people engaged building on the Relighting Our City recovery commitment.

That it be noted, a presentation and draft strategy of Our City: Our Plan was received by Scrutiny Board on the 8 February 2022.

[To approve a refresh of the Council Plan 2019-2024 for the 2022-2023 municipal year]

That Council be recommended to:

1.    Approve the Our City: Our Plan, the City of Wolverhampton Council Plan.

2.    Seek cross party engagement to deliver the priorities set out in Our City: Our Plan the strategic framework to level up our city.

That Cabinetnotes:

1.    That the priorities of Our City: Our Plan have been developed through a continuous conversation with our communities and partners with over 3,000 people engaged building on the Relighting Our City recovery commitment.

2.    That a presentation and draft strategy of Our City: Our Plan was received by Scrutiny Board on the 8 February 2022.

Councillor Ian Brookfield presented the report on a refreshed council plan, Our City: Our Plan for recommendation to Full Council for approval. The report also provided an update on the new Council performance framework and how progress towards delivering the city’s priorities would be monitored. Councillor Ian Brookfield reported that at the base of the plan was people.  The key actions: strong families; quality care; healthy, inclusive communities; good homes; local people into jobs; and thriving economy, were all about people. The Plan was an illustration of how you level up a community and a city as it was getting right into where support was needed more.

Resolved:

That Council be recommended to:

1.    Approve the Our City: Our Plan, the City of Wolverhampton Council Plan.

2.    Seek cross party engagement to deliver the priorities set out in Our City: Our Plan the strategic framework to level up our city.

That Cabinetnotes:

1.    That the priorities of Our City: Our Plan have been developed through a continuous conversation with our communities and partners with over 3,000 people engaged building on the Relighting Our City recovery commitment.

2.    That a presentation and draft strategy of Our City: Our Plan was received by Scrutiny Board on 8 February 2022.

[To receive a presentation from Charlotte Johns, Director of Strategy; James Amphlett, Head of Insight and Performance; Claire Nye, Director of Finance and Alison Shannon, Chief Accountant]

Scrutiny Board welcomed David Pattison, Chief Operating Officer; Claire Nye, Director of Finance; Charlotte Johns, Director of Strategy, Allison Shannon, Chief Accountant and James Amphlett, Head of Insight and Performance to the meeting.

Scrutiny Board considered the Council Plan, Medium Term Financial Strategy and Performance Framework. Scrutiny Board noted the aims and objectives highlighted in the Council Plan and what it would be seeking to achieve for residents, businesses, and the city. The Council Plan was linked and supported by a detailed performance framework setting out exactly how the Council would measure and evaluate the impact of the aims and objectives listed.

Scrutiny Board noted the importance of understanding and monitoring how the Council was performing in relation to the Plan objectives and how the Council’s finances were linking in and being used to support and promote the Plan objectives and framework.

Board considered the matter of digital by design and noted that it was also important to take into consideration the number of children who were living in poverty. It was agreed that a huge amount of progress had been made and a lot of good work done to help citizens be more digitally connected but that there were still issues with connectivity at home and with poor internet connections.  It was stated that driven by digital was a cross cutting theme in the Council Plan because it touched on every facet of life. Underpinning this was the forthcoming digital Wolverhampton Strategy that was currently being consulted on and had been considered as pre-decision scrutiny recently. This Strategy aimed to look at digital in the round and it was stated that the city had really pushed ahead in terms of digital infrastructure whether that be full fibre broadband in the ground or 5 G masts in the sky, it was vital to ensure that the infrastructure was in place.  Officers were however still very conscious of the challenges around inclusion and poverty and were taking care to ensure that people had got the means to access equipment and the skills and support required to be able to capitalise on the opportunities that digital could bring. 

Some members noted that even though the Council Plan was refreshed every year they struggled to see the benefits for residents and how it translated into positive outcomes for the city. The majority of Board members welcomed the new plan. The importance of having a council plan was welcomed as a way of bringing together the council’s strategic priorities which would then inform how the council aligned its budget and resources to deliver those outcomes whilst also linking in with performance and improvement issues. A key part of the Council Plan was about the monitoring of performance going forward and in the context of the Levelling Up White paper it was also an opportunity to articulate what levelling up meant in in the context of our city to support the ongoing conversations with central government

Board agreed that having a council plan was vitally  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4