The Chief Executive presented to Council for approval the Corporate Plan which set out the Council’s priorities for 2016-2020. 

At its meeting on 17 June 2015, Council approved the revised priorities for consultation which were:

1.         Supporting a successful economy – taking steps to make the county a good place to do business and ensure that our schools are focused on raising the skills, qualifications and ambitions of all people in the county.

2.         Helping people to be more self-reliant – taking early steps to reduce or prevent people from becoming vulnerable or dependent on the Council and its services.

3.         Smarter use of resources –  ensuring that all its resources (financial, physical, human and technological) are used as effectively and efficiently as possible; and supporting the development of resources throughout the community that can help deliver its vision.

He advised Members that a public consultation on the Council’s corporate priorities and proposed budget reductions to 2019-2020 was undertaken over an eight week period from 28 September 2015 and 22 November 2015. The consultation received 1,819 responses from a combination of the consultation survey, 15 engagement events held across the county borough, social media interactions and by using the authority’s Citizens’ Panel. The response rate (13 per 1000) was considered in statistical terms to be a valid sample size. 

The Chief Executive added that the Authority recognised the financial constraints and it was continually looking at ways to become more sustainable and continued to support the local communities and the third sector.  He added that as Local Government re-organisation was also on the horizon, the Authority was looking at ways to transform and work as one Council. 

A Member referred to page 39 of the report and asked for an idea of what opportunities the Council were looking at to generate income in the Commercialisation Programme.  The Corporate Director Resources stated that whilst the Budget identified a lot of reductions it was also looking at ways it could generate income.  She added that the Authority were looking at increasing income from the Commercial estate through increasing rent and identifying new commercial property to generate new income streams. She advised that the Authority were also looking at opportunities in corporate services for selling services onto other public bodies. She added that the Commercialisation Programme would also look at fees and charges in the coming months across the whole of the Authority, as a way of securing increased income. The Corporate Director Resources further added that the Authority would be looking at how other Authorities in England and Wales use legislation in areas such Adult Social Services and Children’s Services to generate income.

A Member referred to the Welsh Language training that would be on offer to staff and asked if it was basic, advanced or refresher training and if there was an opportunity within the Authority for staff that already had Welsh Language skills to share their knowledge with their colleagues. The Corporate Director Resources advised that there would be an audit undertaken to assess the skillset of the welsh language amongst staff and various e-learning and face to face training packages offered to staff who wish to develop their welsh language skills.  Another Member echoed the comments regarding utilising staff that had advanced welsh language skills to share these language skills with members of staff that wished to learn the language.

A Member referred to the table “Aim – to create successful Town Centres” on page 32 of the report and asked why Maesteg Town had been omitted from the footfall count figures.  The Corporate Director Communities advised that he would check with the relevant department but as he understood the footfall count was conducted using CCTV footage but was not the case for Maesteg.

RESOLVED:       Council approved and adopted the Corporate Plan 2016-2020