Play your part to thrive
Council Plan 2020-2024
By 2024 we will all play our part in building greener, fairer and stronger communities... The changes that we need to make the borough thrive will only happen when we recognise that there is more that unites than divides us. We will continue to build relationships with every community, family and resident so more of us can play our part.
Foreword
While we call this a 'Council Plan', I see it as belonging to the residents of west Cheshire. This is your plan shaped by your views, hopes, concerns and aspirations. I'd like to thank you for your input and can assure you that it has made a difference.
The Council Plan will guide our decisions, resources and actions for the next four years. The challenges our borough faces are vast ranging from climate change, inequality, an ageing population and growing a dynamic economy. We also have a £91 million funding gap for the next four years as demand on our services, particularly to support the most vulnerable, continues to rise.
Big challenges need big responses but the days of the Council knowing best are over.
Our plan paints a picture of an exciting future where we all work together to tackle shared challenges. That means collaboration with public sector partners, charities, businesses but most of all building deeper, stronger and broader relationships with communities.
Our communities are a huge resource of great ideas, innovation and insight. We need to harness this energy for the common good.
I came into politics as I firmly believe we all have a role to play to make our communities even better places to live, work and play. Through our common endeavour we can achieve so much more and truly make the borough thrive.
Cllr Louise Gittins
Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council
Our six priorities
Our focus for the next four years will be to ensure we all play to our part to:
Tackle the climate emergency: As well as making the Council a greener organisation, we will work with businesses and communities to ensure that our borough reduces its carbon footprint and that future generations are protected from climate change. We have a shared responsibility to act and there will be a real urgency to our response. While this is a real challenge it presents great opportunities to build a green economy, more active residents, less congestion, warmer homes, and a more efficient use of our resources.
Grow our local economy and deliver good jobs with fair wages for our residents: Our economy is doing relatively well compared to other areas, with lower levels of unemployment and higher levels of productivity. We have ambitious plans to build on this success with higher levels of growth, well supported businesses, dynamic town centres and excellent local skills. Our challenge is to make sure that more local people can access these local opportunities and secure good jobs.
Read more about grow our local economy and deliver good jobs with fair wages for our residents
Support children and young people to make the best start in life and achieve their full potential: Our borough is a great place to grow up for many but not for all. Our vision is for more children and young people to feel included, listened to and to live in safe communities. We will also do everything we can to support children, young people and families to go on to lead fulfilling lives whatever their circumstances.
Enable more adults to live longer, healthier and happier lives: The majority of our residents benefit from good health and wellbeing throughout their lives. However individuals from more deprived areas are more likely to be in poorer health and we need to think differently about how we meet the challenges of people living longer and maintaining good mental health. Joining up with our local NHS and care providers, we want to work closely with communities and build on people’s strengths and capabilities to make this happen.
Read more about enable adults to live longer, healthier and happier lives
Make our neighbourhoods even better places to call home: Our local neighbourhoods are central to our quality of life and are places where people come together and contribute as a community. We will work with communities to ensure our neighbourhoods are safe, well maintained and we have good range of homes that meet a diversity of needs.
Read more about make our neighbourhoods even better places to call home
An efficient and empowering Council: We will continue to deliver the best possible value for money by engaging with local people and stakeholders, prioritising our resources and through more innovative ways of working. We will continue to make savings through better contracts, reducing our building costs, and streamlining our processes. We will also look to digitise more services to make them more accessible and cost effective. We believe that better data and intelligence will help our services to be more focused and for us to better understand what communities and individuals want and need, as well as the difference we are making. We will also review our approach to engaging with communities to ensure they are listened to and empowered to play their part.
Our Council Plan was refreshed in December 2020 through the Stronger Futures Plan, which set out plans to recover and respond to the pandemic. Reflecting the Council’s declaration of a poverty emergency in October 2020, and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on those on low incomes, this plan defined a ‘Fairer Future: tackling the poverty emergency’ as an additional Council priority.
What difference will this make?
Children, young people and families
The Council works with you to help you realise your potential. You will feel listened to, valued and supported to learn and develop from an early age. If you experience difficulties the Council will work with you and join up a range of services to help you get back on track.
Residents
Council Tax is spent wisely and they are delivering the best service they can.
Older residents
You will feel supported, listened to and valued. We will build on your strengths and aspirations rather than your needs. You will tell your story once to local services and be supported to live at home for as long as possible. Your local community will be there for you when you need them and you will feel supported to make a contribution.
Our town centres
All our town centres will go from strength to strength with a vibrant retail sector - fit for the 21st century - a strong cultural offer, and be great places to live.
Rural
communities
You will feel that the Council values your community and works with you closely to keep your local area vibrant and attractive. You have better access to the internet, more affordable housing and better transport.
Businesses
Your borough will be a great place to set up or grow your business with skilled people, good infrastructure, an attractive environment and a responsive council that values your contribution to local communities. You will feel well advised on how to play your part in making a contribution to tackling climate change.
Public sector partners
You will have strong relationships with the Council who will feel like an open and collaborative organisation.
The voluntary and community sector
You will be central to supporting local communities to thrive and work seamlessly with the Council and other public services to make a difference.
Local neighbourhoods
Your local area will feel safer, cleaner and greener with good quality and affordable homes meeting a variety of needs. There will be lots of opportunities to make a difference in your local community and you will feel well supported and respected by your Council and local councillors.
Values and behaviours
In 2016 we introduced a core set of values and behaviours which have since guided the way that the council operates. They were shaped through extensive dialogue with our workforce and are now well embedded. We believe they remain relevant. They will continue to guide all elements of our approach to supporting the workforce including recruitment, training and performance management.
T eamwork
What this means
We always achieve more by working as a team rather than as separate services. The council will not allow its services to work in silos and will always look for opportunities to work closely with other organisations that have shared objectives. Teamwork is also about having good relationships with our communities and service users, where we all achieve more by working together.
Key behaviours
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Work alongside others both inside and outside the Council
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Recognise each others strengths and expertise
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Hold each other to account
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Think about the needs of customers not just your individual service
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Think about the big picture
H onesty
What this means
This involves acting with integrity and being honest about what works well, what is possible, and what needs to change. It is important internally but absolutely essential in regard to our relationships with residents.
Key behaviours
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Do the right thing not just the easiest thing
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Explain the reasons for our decisions and actions
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Be receptive to challenge
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Speak up about concerns and areas for improvement
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Be realistic about what is achievable
R espect
What this means
Respect is a value that is vital in public services. The council will always act to respect residents, partners and staff. It will respect the views and opinions of all, even where there are differences of opinion.
Key behaviours
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Value the perspectives and capabilities of individuals
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Respect difference
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Be polite and courteous
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Respond in a timely manner
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Challenge unacceptable behaviour
I nnovation
What this means
This requires the organisation to think creatively about delivering better results for residents with scarce resources. Often this is about tackling the root causes of problems rather than treating the symptoms, embracing digital technology, working in partnership, and designing services around needs of our residents.
Key behaviours
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Be enthusiastic and positive
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Challenge when things aren't working
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Seek out best practice
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Be open to new ideas
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Embrace technology
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Reflect and learn from our actions and experiences
V alue for Money
What this means
This is more than just about saving money. It is about focusing on the priorities of our communities and making a difference for every pound the Council spends or influences
Key behaviours
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Understand how much things cost and what difference you are making
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Put yourself in the shoes of your customer
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Compare what you do to other organisations and learn from the best
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Think about resources beyond the Council, within communities, businesses and partners
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Call out waste and suggest ideas to be more efficient
E mpowerment
What this means
Internally we want to empower our staff to find new solutions to our challenges. Looking outwards, empowerment is about working differently so that citizens and communities can play their part in tackling local challenges.
Key behaviours
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Recognise people’s capabilities and strengths rather than their challenges
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Trust your team, partners and communities to do the right thing
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Make it easier for people to share their ideas
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Seek out opportunities for growth and personal development
How the plan fits in with other plans
To ensure this plan drives action, it has a clear relationship with other strategic and operational plans across the borough
Sub-regional
plans
Local
Plan
Council
Plan
Employee
objectives
Cheshire
West Place
Plan
Medium Term
Financial Plan
Services
plans
Financial context
The story so far
At a national level, the Local Government Association has calculated that since central Government's austerity measures began in 2010 councils have lost 60p out of every £1 the Government had previously provided to spend on local services. Since 2010 we have received less funding every year and in cash terms have seen reductions of more than £330million. This has meant that we have had to make significant changes to the way we deliver services. We start from a challenging position and continue to face a significant financial challenge over the next four years.
With a limited budget it is essential that we are financially prudent and that all of our ideas are costed and affordable so that we can continue to provide a wide range of services to people across the borough. The Council works within strict rules that require us to set a balanced budget every year. We monitor our expenditure constantly to ensure that it is focused on what we are trying to achieve. Resources for each of the six challenges are set out in the plan.
Locally raised funding from Council Tax and Business Rates is not enough to meet all the Council's current responsibilities. Our services therefore depend critically on announcements made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Spending Reviews. We had hoped that the government would announce a long term financial settlement, allowing us to plan services over several years with more certainty. Unfortunately the Chancellor has only announced funding for one financial year (2020-21) at the time of developing this document.
Schools aside, the Council's biggest area of expenditure is the £168 million that we spend on supporting vulnerable adults who need social care, and a further £69 million that goes towards supporting children and young people. The average cost of the services that this expenditure funds is increasing significantly. Since 2013-14 the annual cost of a child being in care has increased from £26,000 to £40,000 a year; the weekly cost of an adult care at home package has increased from £110 to £202.
Total cost of looked after children (£ million)
Total cost of Adult Social Care packages (£ million)
How the plan was developed
The Plan was developed by fully considering the views of local people.
An extensive public engagement exercise took place between October and early December 2019. Following the announcement of the 2019 General Election, this engagement continued but had to be scaled back to adhere to pre-election rules. Nevertheless, we provided a variety of ways for people to take part from an interactive website, surveys, toolkits that people could use to run their own sessions, focus groups, and a range of events. 3,200 people took part in the residents' survey. The Council's new engagement website received over 3,100 visits with people making more than 600 contributions with their views, or the views of the organisations and groups that they represent, on the Council's proposed plans. In addition, we have engaged with over 175 representatives of community and interest groups, representing people from all ages and from across the borough, including local community action groups, business groups, voluntary groups, schools, carers, trade unions, equality groups and so on.
We have also built on the feedback that local people have already provided through ongoing customer feedback, the recent Place Plan consultation, the Adult Social Care survey and consultations on specific topics such as homelessness and supporting carers. We will continue to engage with people and shape our plans through forthcoming engagement on the Council's approach to areas such as commissioning, the provision of community transport and developing a new industrial strategy.
Our priorities
1. We will all play our part to tackle the climate emergency
2. We will all play our part to grow our local economy and deliver good jobs with fair wages for our residents
3. We will all play our part to support children and young people to get the best start in life and achieve their full potential
4, We will all play our part so more adults live longer, healthier and happier lives
5. We will all play our part to make our neighbourhoods even better places to call home
6. We will all play our part to be an efficient and empowering council
Council Budget 2020-21 allocated to challenges
This plan has been developed alongside the Council's budget for the next four years. We have mapped the Council’s 2020-21 budgets against our priorities to provide a transparent overview of the resources we currently have available and how we are planning to distribute them.
As a result of the considerable uncertainty regarding funding for 2021-24, budget plans for this period will continue to be developed to bridge the estimated budget gap of between £22m and £31m and to align to the Council Plan.
Priority
We will play our part to tackle the climate emergency
Revenue budget allocation
This priority cuts across all budget areas. All available council resources will be marshalled to tackle the climate emergency.
Capital expenditure to 2024
£16.2 million
Priority
We will play our part to grow our local economy and deliver good jobs with fair wages to our residents.
Revenue budget allocation
In 2020-21 we are planning to deliver a surplus of £4.5 million on this priority which will be reinvested into services.
Capital expenditure to 2024
£94.6 million
Priority
We will play our part to support children and young people to get the best start in life and achieve their full potential.
Revenue budget allocation
In 2020-21 we are planning to spend £66.6 million on this priority (20.7 per cent of our net budget).
Capital expenditure to 2024
£29.3 million
Priority
We will play our part so more adults live longer, healthier and happier lives
Revenue budget allocation
In 2020-21 we are planning to spend £124.9 million on this priority (38.8 per cent of our net budget).
Capital expenditure to 2024
£13.7 million
Priority
We will play our part to make our neighbourhoods even better places to call home.
Revenue budget allocation
In 2020-21 we are planning to spend £53.6 million on this priority (16.7 per cent of our net budget).
Capital expenditure to 2024
£180.5 million
Priority
We will play our part to be an efficient and empowering council.
Revenue budget allocation
In 2020-21 we are planning to spend £81.4 million on this priority (25.3 per cent of our net budget.)
This includes both the provision of corporate services (£36.1 million) as well as budgets held centrally on behalf of all Council services to support the delivery of all Council priorities (£45.3 million).
Capital expenditure to 2024
£71.8 million
