Agenda item

The Executive Member for Corporate Policy and Resources.

Councillor J King, Executive Member for Corporate Policy and Resources explained that this report was the annual report on the Council’s progress in delivering the Corporate Plan. It also included an update on delivery of the Council’s Equality Objectives. Both reports covered the year from April 2022 to March 2023.

The Corporate Plan Annual Report was at Annex 1 to the report and included updates on the work undertaken by services across the Council. Successes worth highlighting included:

·        The delivery of new affordable homes and a range of support for vulnerable residents including those facing cost of living issues;

·        Ongoing place delivery projects to deliver improvements in Redhill, Horley and Merstham, more benefits secured via the Community Infrastructure Levy and continuing provision of very high quality neighbourhood services; and

·       Positive outcomes from the first year of the financial sustainability programme and progress on securing more income from fees and charges and the Council’s commercial lettings.

The report also sets out some of the challenges faced over the past year. These have included the impact of the rising cost of living on residents (and therefore council services), and a continuing need to do more with less given the financial challenges facing the local government sector.  It also included a range of contextual indicators, which provided some background about the environment in which the Council has operated and the situation within the borough.

Annex 2 to the report highlighted the Council’s four agreed equality objectives. Information was provided about the work that has been undertaken in 2022/23, to progress each of the objectives. This ranges from the use of data though to supporting good community relations and making sure that the Council was a fair employer.

The Council’s current Equality Objectives covered the period 2020 to 2024. The report recommended that the objectives be continued for an additional year, so that they and the Corporate Plan can be reviewed at the same time, allowing future work on both to be fully aligned and coordinated.

The reports highlighted the wide range of excellent work being done by this organisation to support residents, in sometimes challenging times.

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered these reports at their meeting on 6 July 2023, and a made a number of observations for Executive Members to consider.

An Addendum with the draft minutes were circulated prior to the meeting and covered the following points:

·       Drawing on a range of data sources to inform the annual reporting process. Committee members expressed an interest in enhancing this supporting data in future, potentially through a residents’ survey.

·       The importance of working with partners to provide a joined up services to residents and a coordinated response to any concerns.

·       Ensuring that the report’s structure supports Members to effectively consider the work of the Council, including around reporting on outcomes and future plans and responses to changing circumstances.

·       The Council being ambitious in considering equality matters, including wider aspects that may sit outside legally set ‘protected characteristics.

It was noted that, a small section of text on page 28 of the annex was missing and would be added to confirm that the Council approved a balanced budget this year.

The Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee made the following additional comments:

·       The Committee had felt that despite officers having access to various sources of information from residents, that a thorough residents survey was considered by some committee members to have value;

·       The Committee had discussed GLL and the leisure centres;

·       It would be advantageous if the vacancy rate for commercial properties in the town centres was monitored;

·        Further to the contextual indicators included, it would be useful to consider additional issues raised by these requiring action; and

·        In relation to the equalities objectives, the Committee felt that tackling autism, dementia and income inequality as areas of equality/inequality could be investigated further.

The of Head of Corporate Policy, Projects & Performance acknowledged the comments regarding the structure and content of the reports. KPIs and other contextual indicators would be reviewed when the updated Corporate Plan for 2025-30 was being formulated.

A member explained that the description of an award noted in the report as a Local Authority Building Control Award was named online as the Best Large Social Housing Development Award; it was felt that this was a more accurate description.

A member suggested whether additional equality considerations should be made for looked after children and care leavers. It was also suggested that reports be restructured, and this was outlined. It was felt that this would allow members to give commentary on how well the Council was doing and what members felt needed to be undertaken moving forward.

Concern was also raised regarding the number of larger houses that were required as it felt there was a mismatch between what was being built and what was needed.

The following responses were given to member questions:

·        Page 66 of the report gave some clarification regarding why there appeared to be a high percentage of crimes relating to violence against the person.

·        There were a number of larger properties (4 and 5 bed) that were being built in Westvale Park.

·        In respect of the need for larger properties there was a disproportionate demand for properties that were 3 bedrooms and larger. It was acknowledged there were a number of larger properties that were under occupied. The downsizer project aimed to assist people to move to smaller properties, thus freeing up some larger properties.

·       The Council had contributed to a development in the north of the borough which was for larger houses.

·        Funding from Government targeting larger properties for the Afghan cohort had been undertaken and as these families moved out, these properties would become part of the Council’s general housing stock.

Officers were thanked for their work on these reports.

Taking account of the reports presented, and the observations of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Executive Members were asked to approve these reports for publication. Following an agreement on the recommendations, the reports would be formatted to include supporting images and published on the website.

RESOLVED – that the Executive:

(i)           Agrees the Reigate & Banstead 2025 Annual Report for 2022/23 for publication.

(ii)          Agrees the Equality Objectives Progress Report for 2022/23 for publication.

(iii)        Agrees the continuation of the Council’s current Equality Objectives to 2025.