Issue - meetings

Cabinet RECOMMENDED to Council that the Corporate Plan setting out the Council’s vision, objectives and actions for 2015-2020, and incorporating key performance measures under each aim, be approved as set out at Appendix 1 of the report.

Council APPROVED the Corporate Plan, setting out the Council’s vision, objectives and actions for 2015-2020 and incorporating key performance measures under each aim.

Councillor Whiteman-Downes, Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Customer Services, presented a report on the Council’s revised Corporate Plan for 2015-20 and proposed that it be approved.  Councillor Whiteman-Downes outlined that the Plan had been refreshed to reflect the changing needs and priorities of the Council.  The long term vision and aims of the Council would remain unchanged and specific objectives would continue to fall under the three main categories of ‘engagement’, ‘partnerships’ and ‘wellbeing’.

Councillor Ray Manning, Leader of the Council, seconded the proposal.

The following points were made by Members in debating the revised Plan:

·         the objective regarding working with communities should feature ahead of the objective to develop the property company pilot scheme under the ‘engagement’ heading, in order to convey the right message;

·         the Plan still lacked specific information about how each objective would be measured and key performance indicators;

·         the Plan should include reference to the Council’s relationship with the Government under the ‘partnerships’ heading, particularly in respect of the Northstowe development and the Greater Cambridge City Deal;

·         the issue of conservation was not referred to at all within the Plan;

·         the Plan should set out a commitment to protect those rural villages in South Cambridgeshire that were at threat of large scale speculative developments;

·         the objectives within the Plan should do more to support the long term vision of South Cambridgeshire being the best place to live, work and study in the country.

(NOTE – Councillor Orgee attended the meeting at this stage of proceedings).

Councillor Manning, as seconder of the proposal, referred to the Council’s relationship with Government and agreed that this was an important issue.  He reported that, as Leader of the Council, he regularly met with and lobbied Ministers on a range of issues relating to South Cambridgeshire and would continue to do so.

Councillor Whiteman-Downes acknowledged the comments made and highlighted that the numbered objectives were not in a priority order and were all corporate priorities.  He emphasised that the plan had gone through an extensive consultation process, involving workshops for Members and consideration at meetings of the Scrutiny and Overview Committee and Cabinet where comments had been taken into account.  Councillor Whiteman-Downes agreed that communities in the district had to be protected, which was why the Council’s long term vision of ensuring that South Cambridgeshire was the best place to live, work and study in the country remained in the Plan.

Voting on the proposal, with 31 votes in favour, 12 against and 1 abstention, Council APPROVED the Corporate Plan, setting out the Council’s vision, objectives and actions for 2015-2020 and incorporating key performance measures under each aim.

Enough Members as prescribed in the Council’s Standing Orders requested a recorded vote.  Votes were therefore cast as follows:

In favour

Councillors David Bard, Richard Barrett, Val Barrett, Francis Burkitt, Brian Burling, Pippa Corney, Kevin Cuffley, Simon Edwards, Sue Ellington, Andrew Fraser, Roger Hall, Lynda Harford, Roger Hickford, Mark Howell, Caroline Hunt,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8

Cabinet RECOMMENDED to Council that the Corporate Plan setting out the Council’s vision, objectives and actions for 2015-2020, and incorporating key performance measures under each aim, be approved as set out at Appendix 1 of the report.

Cabinet considered a report which proposed changes to the Council’s Corporate Plan.

Councillor David Whiteman-Downes, Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Customer Services, presented the report and outlined that the draft version of the Plan had gone through a public consultation process between 1 December 2014 and 31 January 2015.  Feedback received had been broadly supportive of the Council’s identification of key objectives, with concerns raised around transport and housing which endorsed the high priority given to these items within the Plan.

A suggestion was made that the Plan should include, under the wellbeing section, reference to the impact of exploitation, trafficking and domestic abuse.  It was noted that the Council did already work with partners to support victims of these crimes, but that they were not necessarily issues that the authority had direct influence over.  It would therefore be difficult to include them as corporate priorities, but reassurance was given that the Council took such issues extremely seriously and would continue to work with partners where necessary.

Discussion ensued on the Green Deal initiative and the fact that this no longer featured in the Council’s Corporate Plan.  It was noted that the Green Deal was an ongoing piece of work that the Council would continue to be involved in, but it was no longer considered a corporate priority.  Progress on the Green Deal would be  reported through the Leader’s Portfolio Holder meetings.

Cabinet RECOMMENDED to Council that the Corporate Plan setting out the Council’s vision, objectives and actions for 2015-2020, and incorporating key performance measures under each aim, be approved as set out at Appendix 1 of the report.

Cabinet:

(a)       AGREED the Council’s draft Corporate Plan 2015-2020, consisting of its Vision, Aims and Objectives, as the strategic planning framework for the authority for consultation and development and the preparation of draft 2015-16 service plans, as set out in Appendix A of the report.

(b)       AUTHORISED the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Corporate and Customer Services Portfolio Holder, to make further editing changes to the draft, which may become necessary prior to publication.

(c)       CONFIRMED its support for, and participation in, a consortium of key partners including neighbouring authorities, the Highways Agency and local Members of Parliament, to lobby government for early investment and improvements on the A428 to support the continued growth and prosperity of the area in pursuance of current and proposed Corporate Plan objectives, specifically the inclusion of funding for upgrade work within its forthcoming spending plans.

This decision was first published on Thursday 13 October and so the deadline for call-in is Thursday 20 October at 5pm. If not called-in the decision can be implemented on Friday 21 October.

Any recommendations from the Scrutiny & Overview Committee meeting held on 6 November 2014 regarding this item will be reported at the meeting.

Cabinet:

(a)        AGREED the Council’s draft Corporate Plan 2015-2020, consisting of its Vision, Aims and Objectives, as the strategic planning framework for the authority for consultation and development and the preparation of draft 2015-16 service plans, as set out in Appendix A of the report.

(b)        AUTHORISED the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Corporate and Customer Services Portfolio Holder, to make further editing changes to the draft, which may become necessary prior to publication.

(c)        CONFIRMED its support for, and participation in, a consortium of key partners including neighbouring authorities, the Highways Agency and local Members of Parliament, to lobby government for early investment and improvements on the A428 to support the continued growth and prosperity of the area in pursuance of current and proposed Corporate Plan objectives, specifically the inclusion of funding for upgrade work within its forthcoming spending plans.

Consideration was given to a report which provided Cabinet with an opportunity to consider and agree the draft Corporate Plan for 2015-2020 for consultation, comprising the Council’s vision, aims and objectives. 

Councillor David Whiteman-Downes, Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Customer Services, presented the report and took Members through the draft Plan itself which was attached to the report.  He also sought confirmation of Cabinet’s support for, and participation in, a local alliance to lobby the Government to commit to early investment and improvements on the A428.

During discussion it was suggested that other key routes not specifically included in the Greater Cambridge City Deal, such as the A505, should not be overlooked.  In terms of the A428, a view was put forward that the Corporate Plan should specify which part of the A428 it was referring to and whether this meant the stretch of road from the City of Cambridge to Caxton Gibbet roundabout, the Caxton Gibbet roundabout to the Black Cat roundabout, or the entire road.

Cabinet:

(a)        AGREED the Council’s draft Corporate Plan 2015-2020, consisting of its Vision, Aims and Objectives, as the strategic planning framework for the authority for consultation and development and the preparation of draft 2015-16 service plans, as set out in Appendix A of the report.

(b)        AUTHORISED the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Corporate and Customer Services Portfolio Holder, to make further editing changes to the draft, which may become necessary prior to publication.

(c)        CONFIRMED its support for, and participation in, a consortium of key partners including neighbouring authorities, the Highways Agency and local Members of Parliament, to lobby government for early investment and improvements on the A428 to support the continued growth and prosperity of the area in pursuance of current and proposed Corporate Plan objectives, specifically the inclusion of funding for upgrade work within its forthcoming spending plans.