Agenda item - Brighton & Hove City Council Corporate Plan 2011-15

Extract from the proceedings of the Cabinet meeting held on the 22^nd September 2011, together with a Report of the Strategic Director; Resources (copies attached).

29.1         Councillor Randall introduced the report and stated that he believed it was a critical document for the Council, which formalised the five priorities for the council to achieve and to give the city the council it deserved.  The Corporate Plan had been produced with wider engagement than ever before and had taken on board the comments from that process.  He intended to keep it under review and to bring it back to the Full Council each year.  The plan outlined both short-term and long-term challenges that had to be met and he hoped these could be achieved with the support of partner organisations, agencies and residents across the city.

29.2         Councillor G. Theobald questioned the content of the plan and asked where the radicalism proposed in the Green Party’s manifesto had gone.  He failed to see where there had been any consultation on the proposals and questioned how the priorities would be delivered, bearing in mind that it appeared the commissioning process had stalled and asked which services had been commissioned to date.

29.3         Councillor Mitchell stated that she found the plan to be underwhelming and noted that partnership working would be key to achieving the aims of the plan.  She intended to watch carefully to ensure that the aspirational ideas did not remove services or resources.  In regard to part two of the plan, she felt there was a cause for concern as it was unclear what the organisational structure of the council was or its direction.  She  had no evidence that intelligent commissioning was taking place and had expected clear evidence that services were going through the commissioning process.  She believed the new structure was costing between £1-2m more to sustain with continued departmental restructures driven by costs.

29.4         Councillor A. Norman stated that she was disappointed by the negative approach of the Administration to business retention system proposed by the Government, which she believed would encourage economic growth and boost local businesses and the local economy.

29.5         Councillor Hamilton stated that in his view the mid-term financial strategy held too many imponderables to be effective and failed to take advantage of the benefits that were available.  He felt that a more meaningful strategy was required.

29.6         Councillor K. Norman stated that he welcomed the retention of the extra care item for vulnerable adults, which had been previously argued against when the administration had been in opposition.

29.7         Councillor Randall noted the comments and stated that the imposition of cuts by the government had not helped the budgeting process and noted that the pilot schemes under the intelligent commissioning process were being reported on and taken forward.  He believed the Corporate Plan would see changes achieved for the benefit of the city and therefore recommended it to the council.

29.8         The Mayor noted that the report had been moved and put the recommendation to the vote.

29.9         RESOLVED: That the Corporate Plan for 2011-15 be approved and adopted.