The Council’s strategic direction is set out in its Corporate Plan which is a fundamental element of the Council’s Policy Framework. The Corporate Plan (‘Our Vision’) was adopted unanimously by Council on 28 November 2023 (Minute 76 refers) and covers the period 2024-28. A key element of delivering against the adopted Corporate Plan is through annual highlight priority actions approved by the Cabinet.

The 2025/26 initial proposals for highlight priorities are set out at Appendix B to this report. Through this report, Cabinet is invited to adopt these for consultation purposes before finalising its highlight priorities for 2025/26; which will involve consideration of the outcome of the consultation undertaken.

RESOLVED that -

(a)    the initial highlight priorities for 2025/26, as set out at Appendix B to the report (A.3), be approved for consultation;

(b)    all Councillors, other partners and the public be invited to consider the initial priorities referred to in (a) above; and

(c)    the outcome of the consultation referred to in (b) above be reported to Cabinet on 21 February 2025 in order that Cabinet can formally adopt its finalised highlight priority actions for 2025/26 with relevant milestones during that year.

Cabinet considered a detailed report of the Leader of the Council (A.3) which reminded it that the Council’s Corporate Plan 2024-28 (‘Our Vision’) set out the Council’s strategic direction. That strategic direction itself sought to reflect the issues that mattered most to local people, the national requirements from Government and the challenges that faced the District over the time period of the Plan. The national requirements from Government were themselves changing following the UK Parliamentary General Election held earlier in the year.

The themes of the 2024-28 Corporate Plan (‘Our Vision’) were:

• Pride in our Area and Services to Residents
• Raising Aspirations and Creating Opportunities
• Championing our Local Environment
• Working with Partners to Improve Quality of Life
• Promoting our heritage offer, attracting visitors and encouraging them to stay longer
• Financial Sustainability and Openness

The infographic for the Corporate Plan (‘Our Vision’) itself was set out at Appendix A to the Leader’s report (A.3). It identified that across all its Corporate Plan Themes the Council would look to listen to the residents and businesses in the District and undertake Community Leadership to deliver and enable improvements for those residents and businesses.

Cabinet was aware that it established each year its highlight priority actions to deliver against the Corporate Plan and thereby ensure that the ambition of that Plan was central to its work. The highlight priority actions did not cover every separate element of the ambition of the four-year Corporate Plan; nor were they intended to indicate that other projects, schemes or activities were not being pursued. They were though intended to reflect imperatives across the Council and for the District and actions that it was right to focus on in 2025/26.

At Appendix B to the Leader’s report (A.3) were the initial thoughts for the highlight priorities for 2025/26 and through this report it was hoped that they could be adopted to support an engagement with residents, businesses and partners on those priorities. The outcome of that consultation would be reported to a future meeting of Cabinet when finalised proposals would be considered having regard for the outcome of the consultation.

In developing highlight proposals, reviewing the outcome of consultation and finally approving the highlight priorities for 2025/26, there would need to be a robust challenge to all proposals to ensure that the capacity to deliver the priority was in place or would be in place and that the highlight priorities did not undermine the key commitment of the Council to deliver sustainable budgets.

In order to set out openly for all concerned the initial proposals for highlight priorities for 2025/26 and in order to support the openness agenda of the Council and provide an opportunity for engagement with the public, businesses and partners on those initial proposals:-

It was moved by Councillor M E Stephenson, seconded by Councillor I J Henderson and:-

RESOLVED that –

(a)    the initial highlight priorities for 2025/26, as set out at Appendix B to the report (A.3), be approved for consultation;

(b)    all Councillors, other partners and the public be invited to consider the initial priorities referred to in (a) above; and

(c)    the outcome of the consultation referred to in (b) above be reported to Cabinet on 21 February 2025 in order that Cabinet can formally adopt its finalised highlight priority actions for 2025/26 with relevant milestones during that year.