To provide the Cabinet with the positive progress over the first six months with the Highlight Priority Actions adopted for 2025/26 towards the Council’s Corporate Plan Themes 2024/28.  In view of the need to refocus the Council’s priorities for the remaining 28 months, until a new unitary council takes on delivery of functions and services currently delivered by Essex County Council and this Council, this report invites the Cabinet to establish those new priorities.

One of the proposed priorities concerns the Clacton Town Board’s emerging 10-Year Vision and 4-Year Investment Plan.  Further text on these is set out in the Executive Summary and Recommendations in respect of the Council’s ‘in principle’ approach to those emerging Vision and Plan.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)     notes the six-month progress report on the current adopted highlight priorities, as set out at Appendix A to the Leader of the Council’s report (A.3);

(b)     approves a re-alignment of the highlight priorities for the Council for the period until new Unitaries take on local government services in Greater Essex as set out in Appendix B to the report (A.3);

(c)     directs Officers to undertake the necessary work to develop those items set out in (b) above for consideration as part of the proposed two year ‘work programme’; and

(d)     endorses that the Leader of the Council, in consultation with the Council’s statutory officers, will determine the Council’s ‘in principle’ support for those measures to be included in the Clacton Town Board’s 10-year Vision and 4-year Investment Plan with the UK Government’s Pride in Place Programme that may, in turn, be submitted to this Council as specific projects for delivery (subject to the Council’s own governance arrangements at the time they are submitted and subsequently).

Cabinet considered a report of the Leader of the Council (A.3) which provided the Cabinet with the positive progress over the first six months with the Highlight Priority Actions adopted for 2025/26 towards the Council’s Corporate Plan Themes 2024/28.  In view of the need to refocus the Council’s priorities for the remaining 28 months, until a new unitary council took on delivery of functions and services currently delivered by Essex County Council and this Council, this report also invited the Cabinet to establish those new priorities.

It was reported that one of the proposed priorities concerned the Clacton Town Board’s emerging 10-Year Vision and 4-Year Investment Plan.

Cabinet recognised that the progress made against those priorities in this first six months, including the transfer of Careline Services to the Colchester Helpline Service, the publication of a draft new Housing Strategy, approval of the Community Safety Strategy for the Council, had led to a point of reflection on the priorities going forward.  This, in turn had provided an opportunity to consider the focus of the Council in a number of areas across a range of functions and services for the period to 31 March 2028 and to leave Tendring in the best possible position upon unitarisation in Greater Essex.

As considered earlier in the meeting, this work fitted with the intended development of a fully funded financial ‘work programme’ for the Council for the period until 31 March 2028 when the delivery of local government functions and services in the area were expected to be transferred to a new Unitary Council across Tendring District and other existing District Council areas in north Essex.

Members recognised that, one of the proposed priorities related to the UK Government’s Pride in Place Programme for which the Clacton Town Board would submit its 10-year Vision and 4-year Investment Plan to Government to secure the release of the £2M funding per year under that Programme for the Clacton-on-Sea designated area.  The Board was on track to submit those Plans by the 28 November 2025 deadline set by the UK Government. The Board’s emerging Vision and Investment Plan include measures that complemented and built on the other UK Government Community Regeneration Programmes which the Council had committed to delivering.  The Clacton Town Board was not a body corporate with the infrastructure to directly deliver its Vision and Plan.  As such, MHCLG through their guidance on Plan for Neighbourhoods, required the local authority as the accountable body to provide assurances on delivery.  There were several of the measures in the emerging Plans that were likely to be referred to the Council to enable them to be delivered. Following submission of the Vision and Plan by the Board, the UK Government would consider and, hopefully, confirm that it was satisfied with them to release the funding from 1 April 2026.  All matters to be delivered by Council would be separately subject to individual governance processes of the Council.  However, it was helpful to the process for a high level ‘in principle’ decision to be taken by the Council once the Board’s Vision and Investment Plans had been finalised, to set out its position in respect of the projects that might be directed to the Council for delivery.  Should MHCLG approve the Plans further governance would be required capturing delivery requirements and more generally as referenced in the MHCLG guidance for the Pride in Place Programme.

In considering this report, Cabinet was also reminded that this first half year of 2025/26 had seen the following significant matters:

(1)     Consultation launched for women’s safety charter;

(2)     Hosting groundbreaking Sports and Activity Conference;

(3)     Seven beaches awarded Blue Flags and/or Seaside Awards for summer 2025;

(4)     Four of Tendring’s green spaces once again given ‘Green Flags’;

(5)     Eleven car parks across Tendring granted National Safety Award;

(6)     New joined-up Housing and Corporate complaints policy adopted;

(7)     Tendring District Council achieved double RSPCA PawPrints win;

(8)     Older Persons Crucial Crew - free safety event in Clacton to help older residents to stay safe and well.

In order to (i) review the highlight priorities and provide a focus for the Council over the 2 ¼ years envisaged for this Council ahead of new Unitaries in the area; (ii) enable funds to be allocated to those projects/activities as part of the stated two year financial ‘work programme’ to secure front line services and key actions across the Council within its available resources; and (iii) ensure that there was a clear collaborative understanding between the Council and the Clacton Town Board on the principle of the Council delivering a number of the projects to be set out in the Board’s 10-Year Vision and 4-Year Investment Plan for the Town:-

It was moved by Councillor Stephenson, seconded by Councillor Baker and:-

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)     notes the six-month progress report on the current adopted highlight priorities, as set out at Appendix A to the Leader of the Council’s report (A.3);

(b)     approves a re-alignment of the highlight priorities for the Council for the period until new Unitaries take on local government services in Greater Essex as set out in Appendix B to the report (A.3);

(c)     directs Officers to undertake the necessary work to develop those items set out in (b) above for consideration as part of the proposed two year ‘work programme’; and

(d)     endorses that the Leader of the Council, in consultation with the Council’s statutory officers, will determine the Council’s ‘in principle’ support for those measures to be included in the Clacton Town Board’s 10-year Vision and 4-year Investment Plan with the UK Government’s Pride in Place Programme that may, in turn, be submitted to this Council as specific projects for delivery (subject to the Council’s own governance arrangements at the time they are submitted and subsequently).