(Leader of Council) To verbally present the Council’s corporate priorities.
Minutes:
The Leader, Councillor C Whitbread, presented an overview of the Council’s corporate priorities for 2022/23 at the Committee’s first meeting in the new municipal year.
Priorities – to maintain our sound finances, as the Council was facing challenging times with the rising cost of living and interest rates, in addition to maintaining low council tax and essential services for residents. The Council was working with its partners across a range of services, such as Biffa who had experienced staffing issues. The Council supported three contracted Essex Police constables. It welcomed Qualis, which was running council house repairs and developing sites in Epping etc. Fundamental to the Council was how these services were delivered and how it had transformed to deliver services and look forwards.
Local Plan – adoption of this was key to investment in the District and about creating jobs. The North Weald masterplan would be a major employment area, but the Council was waiting on the Local Plan Inspector to finalise matters.
Recovery – following the Covid pandemic, staff were working from home with hybrid working and it had changed local democracy, but communications needed to be in place. Councillor A Lion would lead on this as the Customer Services portfolio holder, and Councillor K Williamson’s portfolio would be focussing on services in planning processes and how to shape the Council’s plans for the future. Council tax had only been raised when necessary. The community hub in the refurbished Civic Offices had moved through some initial teething problems but was now being welcomed by our community partners.
Devolution – it was very important that the Council liaised with its partners in the health services and in local government (East Herts, Harlow and Broxbourne local authorities) across all areas to search out those of common interest, but the Council’s ambitions would change as the year progressed.
Councillor S Murray agreed with the Leader’s focus on sound finances. In respect of Councillor L Burrows’ portfolio covering reviews and efficiency, it would be useful to look at any work proposals where money could be saved as long as the Council was not cutting costs unnecessarily. Qualis must be one of the areas this Committee scrutinised. With the Leader’s portfolio incorporating Council partnerships, there should be more support for the Epping Forest Foodbank in this current climate where things could deteriorate. Furthermore, in view of the Council’s constant transformation and looking at new ideas, the staff did need stability. Members needed to be able to analyse what had worked, so the steps should be – change, evaluation and analysis. The Leader replied that the Council had changed over the years. Leisure services was a transformation at its best with a new sports centre at Waltham Abbey and one to come in Epping to provide services residents cared about and at prices they could afford. The Council had returned and revisited policies. Progress on Council housebuilding was one such area, which was transformational across Essex and the development of the wellbeing hub’s partnership working should be applauded. Transformation was only good if the Council learnt from it and changed positively. On sound finances, he was proud council tax was only raised when it was necessary, but Councillor L Burrows would look at services carefully.
It was felt the Council could make improvements in communicating better with residents, as some had to phone several times to speak to a staff member. The Leader replied it was not the fault of the staff, but the Council did need to ensure it had the ability and flexibility to continue to help residents and the Council was prepared for change and had made improvements.
Was working from home the best option when people were not receiving replies to their queries, which was not helping? The Leader clarified that the Council had planned for a decade for the transformation of the Civic Offices, and it had happened during the Covid pandemic when it had moved to hybrid working. This had improved the quality of life for staff especially those with families. The Government had told its staff to return to offices in London and Council staff were returning to the office. The Council needed to ensure customers were getting the services they wanted, so it was important telephone communications and digital services were right in order to facilitate this. High streets though were benefitting from people working from home. It was a new era that had required change.
Councillor J McIvor had experienced first-hand earlier today, the good processes the Council had in place. In relation to the economic strategy of the District’s high streets, how important would our high streets be in future? The Leader replied they were vital and the life blood of communities. While some larger towns had struggled, the Council had a waiting list for premises in the District’s smaller towns. Coffee shops and bakeries were opening up in our vibrant high streets, which were all different with lots of independent retailers as well as larger stores. Councillor N Bedford thought our high streets would be a key focus over the next nine months because of the high fuel/petrol prices, as this would boost the local economy with consumers shopping locally and was key to helping residents.
RESOLVED:
That the Committee reviewed the Leader’s corporate priorities for 2022/23.