E.15/20
The
Leader introduced the report and drew attention to the fact that
this was the first time that the Executive had had the opportunity
to review the draft Plan, and, as outlined in the report presented
to the Joint Meeting of the Overview & Scrutiny (O&S) Panel
and Development Management Committee, work would continue to be led
by Members of the Executive under the themes set out in the current
strategic framework.
Therefore, the Leader requested that the Chairmen of the O&S
Panel and Development Management (DM) Committee consider
withdrawing recommendation 6 from
the Recommendations to Council as the establishment of a Working
Group was not considered appropriate.
Regarding recommendation 7, the Leader also clarified that it would
not be possible to request that a member of Team Devon provide a
Member Briefing, as Team Devon was a concept and not a specific
group. The Leader confirmed that Team Devon had long existed but
had strengthened during the pandemic and included other Local
Authorities and stakeholders from across Devon, excepting Plymouth
City Council and Torbay Council. The
Leader asked officers to provide an enhanced explanation of this in
the internal Members’ Bulletin publication this
week. It was hoped that this
explanation would result in the recommendation to Full Council on
24th September 2020 being withdrawn at that
meeting. The Executive thanked the
O&S Panel and DM Committee Members for their input to reach
this point.
Under Paragraph 13 of the presented agenda report, the Executive
then laid out their priorities:
The
Leader commented that improving the Council’s reputation was
key to the Recovery Plan as was ensuring that the Council worked at
all times for the well-being of residents and businesses in the
District.
The
Deputy Leader then stated his belief that the priorities for the
Business and Economy Theme were to understand and represent key
business sectors in South Hams to facilitate better business for
all to create business to business links to further best practice,
to provide a channel to lobby and influence, and to improve access
to Central Government and other support where the District Council
was best placed to help. The Council
should also wish to align its commercial strategy and land assets
to deliver projects with multiple objectives, such as regeneration,
revenue, housing and employment. In
addition, the Council should take an active role in promoting
tourism, working with partners and stakeholders across
Devon. Work with partners to support
the evolution of the ‘High Street’ creating place,
fostering change and putting the community first. This priority was added as a response to how
village shops had supported their communities through the
Covid pandemic. The Deputy Leader concluded that his final
objective was to work with partners to support green recovery and
the principle of building back better.
Theme 2 Place and Environment Lead Member, the Leader, stated
her view that the objectives under this theme should be to protect
and enhance the beauty and character of the built and natural
environment in South Hams. A further
priority she considered was that the Council sustained and
supported the vibrant towns and villages through the delivery of
the Joint Local Plan, and by providing housing for the community,
and that the Council should support a sustainable and resilient
South Hams in line with the Council’s commitments on climate
change, including the identification of nature corridors and land
use strategies to support the Council’s biodiversity
objectives.
The
Lead Member for communication and service delivery then gave her
objectives: Following the Council’s ‘Transformation 18
Programme’, officers were perfectly set to be able to work
from home with no detrimental impact on services, first with the
‘Beast from the East’ storm in 2019, then when the
Covid Pandemic crisis. Members were also introduced to remote working
arising from the Pandemic lockdown and all had responded
well. The Member was strongly of the
view that the Council now needed to concentrate on communication
with its partners and communities, ensuring greater connection with
those who use our services. Any future
role of the Follaton House, Totnes site needed to be explored,
whilst the Council continued to work remotely with some Council
meetings being taken around the District, with venues reflecting
the agenda. Council communications
needed to be more relevant to our residents, with the reinstatement
of the Residents Forum being investigated. The Member was also convinced that the use of
social media had to be enhanced, increasing communication of daily
tasks, for example letting a community know when their play park
was being inspected, or their streets cleaned: simple messaging that was engaging and tackling
real issues. The Council provided many
great services that were not known of by residents and of which the
Council could be justifiably proud. The
Council should also build on the community groups that either grew
out of Covid-19 and those that existed prior to the pandemic
– mapping the groups to help the Council to identify and
support the most vulnerable to achieve better outcomes and ensure
that work was not duplicated. The
Member stated that this recovery plan was the start of modernising
the Council and ensuring it was an outward facing
organisation. From this, therefore, it
was apparent that the Council required a new strategy to collate
all learning achieved over the last months with the momentum and
community spirit within South Hams captured and built on. The
Member felt these were exciting times, improving communication and
building on relationships with all residents and partners in South
Hams.
The
Lead Member for Health and Well-being began by thanking staff and
residents for all the hard work that had been put in during the
pandemic: he considered that the speed
of response to the pandemic had been remarkable. The Member acknowledged the advances made in
technological use by Members to enable working from
home. Whilst he felt that the
reputation of the Council had been dented by the aforementioned
‘T18 Programme’ and needed to be enhanced
again. The Council needed to be
supportive to all of its residents and communities ensuring that
services were available when needed, and were quick, efficient, and
easy to access. The Member outlined the
main objective that South Hams District Council needed to be there
for its local residents. To do this, he
was of the view that there was a need to establish a Health &
Well Being forum to build on the support developed recently, and
thus ensuring sustainability for any future events, including a
potential second wave of the pandemic.
The Council needed to work with local Towns and Parish Councils to
build community sustainability and self-help. Health and Well Being was the central thread to
all services: housing, leisure, etc.
For any residents facing unemployment, benefits and grants needed
to be sourced quickly, efficiently, and as stress free as
possible. The Member was looking
forward to working with stakeholders, our community groups, and
fellow Members irrespective of their political group.
The
Leader of the Opposition, Lead Member for waste and environment,
echoed the viewpoint that the response of residents during the
pandemic had been tremendous. The Member thanked officers and
Members for their input into the recent workshops and the resultant
draft Plan. The ongoing Localities
review needed to be finalised. The
Member felt it was important to consider those working from home to
ensure that anyone who was not able to do so easily could still be
accommodated in alternative ways where it was operationally
possible, although as a general rule remote working was the way
forward. The Member felt it was important to enhance the condition
of the beach and street scenes, for residents, businesses and
visitors. Clearing of waste had been an
issue this summer, therefore the efficient delivery of refuse and
recycling changes were part of his objectives with a wish to
increase recycling rates across the District.
The
Leader then spoke on the governance theme, which included the way
the Council worked and how services were delivered. The Leader felt it was now imperative that a
review of the Constitution was undertaken to ensure it was more
accessible and user friendly both to Members and members of the
public, to reflect current and future practice. The Council must ensure it provided good service
at good value, at all times. The Leader
also identified wider joint working and collaborative opportunities
as important, but that they should not require structural
changes. The Leader reiterated that
there was no possibility of a merger with West Devon Borough
Council, but, in the spirit of Team Devon and working better, any
collaborative opportunities to save money and increase efficiency
would be fully explored.
The
final theme being financial stability, the Leader outlined one
objective which was to ensure the future financial stability and
sustainability of the Council as this was key to everything that
the Council delivered. The Leader
concluded by acknowledging the huge debt of gratitude owed to the
Section 151 Officer, her team, and all the staff, for their work
through the pandemic.
Following the objectives outlined above, the Leader added two
further proposals to the report (recommendations 8 and
9). These were reviewed and explained
that the officers would start working on developing a new corporate
strategy to be taken to Council in May 2021, and the Governance
theme be initially covered by the Leader working with officers,
with changes being dealt with through the appropriate decision
making process. The current strategy
was acknowledged as having been developed by officers for the
previous Council so it was agreed it was useful to have a new
strategy for the new Council. The
Strategy would cover the last two years of this Council and the
first of the next, to allow the next administration to bed down and
have time to develop its own strategy.
It was then RESOLVED that the Executive:
1.
Note the Council’s continuing response to the
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic;
2.
Note the outputs of the Member Workshops as detailed
in Appendix 1 of the presented agenda report;
3.
Note progress on the development of the Recovery and
Renewal Action Plan (‘the Plan’);
4.
Take into account the conclusions of the Joint
Meeting on the Plan (that are set at Item 7b on this agenda (Minute
OSDM.11/20 refers) and reflected in the updated Plan);
5.
Request that an update on progress against
development of the Plan be brought back to an additional Joint
Meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel / Development Management
Committee to be arranged to take place at 2.00pm on 19 November
2020;
6.
Note that the Joint Meeting has RECOMMENDED to Full Council that a Member Working Group be
formed to oversee the work of the Responsible Team/Group/Strategy
(as set out at Appendix 1 of the presented agenda report)
specifically the Recovery Management Team. The remit of this
Working Group being to set priorities and direct officers
accordingly, with this Group to become effective immediately
following the Full Council meeting to be held on 24 September
2020;
7.
Note that the Joint Meeting has requested that a
representative and relevant officer be invited from Team Devon to
an informal meeting of all Members to set out its plans and actions
in respect of all those items set out in Appendix 1 to the
presented agenda report as being its initial responsibility for
instigation;
8.
Instruct officers to start working on the
development of a new Corporate Strategy with a view to adoption by
Full Council in May 2021; and
9.
Request that, for the Governance theme, it initially
be covered by the Leader of Council working with officers, with
changes being dealt with through the appropriate decision making
process.