The Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change presented a report seeking approval of the Council’s Corporate Plan 2018 to 2023 reviewed for 2022-23. The revised plan was attached at Appendix A to the report.

The Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change explained that the Corporate Plan for the period 2018 to 2023 described the council's vision for Bridgend County Borough Council, the three well-being objectives and organisational values and principles that underpinned how they would work to deliver the priorities. The plan represented the contribution to achieving the seven national well-being goals as set out in the Well-being of Future Generations Wales Act and improvement objectives under the performance duties of the Local Government and Election Wales Act 2021. The latter piece of legislation placed new performance and governance duties on local authorities. Evaluation of performance was now a continuous organisation wide self-assessment of how effectively a council was operating, not only in terms of meeting well-being objectives, but how it was delivering its functions, using its resources and governing itself.

The Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change added that the Local Government and Elections Wales Act sought to establish a more regularised performance and governance system that put the onus on the Council to take ownership of its own improvement. Accordingly, each council was now required to undertake an annual review of the extent it was exercising its functions effectively and whether it was using its resources efficiently. A report on the Council’s performance had to be published and sent to Welsh Government, Audit Wales and other regulators. As part of these new requirements the Council would have to consult with residents, businesses and council staff about its performance. The Council was also required to make arrangements for an external panel appointed by the Council to assess its performance. The review should take place at least once every five years.

The Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change explained that between October and November 2021 the Corporate Plan had been refreshed for the coming financial year and had been discussed with Corporate Directors and Heads of Service throughout the authority. This had enabled officers to consider any emerging priorities as part of the Covid 19 recovery and renewal work, to take account of any external regulator feedback and to streamline the commitments and performance indicators to ensure a strategic focus on achieving the well-being objectives. In addition, the outcome of the ‘Fit for the Future’ consultation undertaken in December 2021, helped to shape where efforts should be concentrated going forward. Residents of the Borough had placed importance on recycling and waste, highways and infrastructure improvement and community facilities, including parks and being outdoors over the last 12 months. Priority areas identified included support for older people, tackling food poverty and homelessness. Further actions identified included continuing to streamline processes, rationalise the number of offices and encourage citizens to take more responsibility themselves.

The Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change explained that the well-being objectives, aims and strategic priorities within the plan remained unchanged. However, some commitments had been revised and performance indicators to measure outcomes had been agreed. Targets had been set for 2022-23 where possible although the ongoing pandemic continued to impact on the availability of data to set some meaningful targets.

The Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change explained that the draft plan was considered by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee in January and on the 22nd of February Cabinet considered the Corporate Plan 2018 to 2023 - revised for 2022 -23 and endorsed it. This document replaced the current Corporate Plan. Progress against the plan would be monitored through the corporate performance assessment process. Performance challenge would also take place at Directorate Management Team meetings and twice yearly at the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee. She added that in accordance with the performance duty of the Local Government and Elections Act, the Governance and Audit Committee now had a role in the assessment of performance which would include, among other areas, the Corporate Plan.

The Leader thanked the Chief Officer – Finance, Performance and Change and her colleagues for their work on the plan which was a significant plan for the authority to be agreed by all members.  He welcomed the comments from colleagues in overview and scrutiny and reported that some of the comments and suggestions made, had been taken on board. The plan fully reflected the priorities and well-being objectives and outlined the huge ambition for the county borough. The economic benefit and impact would be seen when the redevelopment and extension of Maesteg Town Hall as an arts and cultural hub was completed. There were exciting plans for the waterfront regeneration in Porthcawl and for relocating the Bridgend College Campus from Cowbridge Road to the town centre. This dovetailed with the other key objective of improving educational outcomes. State of the art further and higher education facilities in the town centre would not only improve education outcomes but it would also deliver a boost to the town centre by bringing in students, staff and visitors. He added that they would continue to support businesses as they had in the past.

The Leader explained that with regard to the second well-being objective, keeping people healthy and resilient, the pandemic had tested services and communities. Included in this plan was the authority’s vision of how it would continue to support people including the homeless and those threatened with homelessness. Bridgend County Borough was experiencing a record level of homelessness sadly, an experience that was repeated across the country with between 200 and 300 applications each month. Plans were progressing at pace to develop more accommodation for people who were sleeping rough and for more permanent housing solutions. The plan also included details of how the authority would invest and sustain social services and early help functions which were under huge pressure.

The Leader reported that when it came to the smarter use of resources, the climate change emergency discussed at length in Glasgow, had not gone away. This authority was working on a climate emergency response a long time before that and would continue working on it along time after. This included objectives around record investment in active travel, continuing to improve recycling rates and undertaking multi-million pound improvements to reduce the carbon footprint. He was very pleased to recommend the Corporate Plan which underpinned and dovetailed the Medium Term Financial strategy.

RESOLVED:     Council approved and adopted the Corporate Plan 2018- 2023 reviewed for 2022-23.