The Council will receive the annual State of the Tendring District Statement from the Leader of the Council.
Minutes:
The Council received the Annual State of the Tendring District Statement from the Leader of the Council (Councillor Stock) as follows:-
“Madam Chairman, Councillors, members of the public, I am proud to present to you this year’s State of Tendring address. This statement is intended to give you a summary of the Council’s achievements over the past year; to reflect on the journey we have travelled, and to consider the challenges that lie ahead.
We now approach the mid-term point of the electoral cycle, following the 2015 Election, and quite frankly, we should all be extremely proud of what we have achieved and the progress that has been made. Our success has continued despite the year-on-year financial challenges.
We continue to demonstrate strong community leadership through all aspects of our work. We are an integral part of local, regional and national partnership working, we lead the way with innovative solutions to local challenges, all the time aiming to improve the lives of our local Tendring residents.
Here are a few examples:
Starting with our Coastal projects and festivals following the completion of the £36million coast defence and regeneration project, we are now embarking on a new £5million scheme to stabilise the cliffs along the Clacton to Holland coastline. This project has come about due to the outstanding success of the previous coastal work completed in October 2015, which was completed on time and under budget.
We have had a second Beach Festival in 2016 with 50,000 people attending, and there are plans progressing to make the most of our beach economy, developing a series of Tendring Festivals, with the jewel in the crown, the Clacton Air Show.
The 25th Clacton Air Show gave us another fantastic two days, as well as evening flights. An estimated 250,000 enjoyed the event. The evening flights ensured that more people stayed in the District enjoying Tendring and boosting the local economy. The Air Show team were also delighted to be recognised at a national level, receiving the national award for the Event of the Year by the National Outdoor Events Association (NOEA).
Other outdoor events during 2016 included the Beat the Street programme attracting over 10,000 participants and of course, the ever-popular Tour de Tendring.
Progress across different areas of the District includes developing the unique tourism offer of Harwich and Dovercourt; and we have forged strong and positive relationships with a wide range of partners. This collaborative working has led to a number of achievements such as an ‘Historic Harwich’ brand, which is now being proudly displayed in the windows of local businesses, together with a tourism website and a soon to be released promotional film. And as the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower to America approaches, we are working with national partners to ensure the integral part which Harwich played in this iconic story is recognised world-wide and we take full advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime tourism opportunity that 2020 brings.
Progress also continues to be made in Jaywick Sands. Residents have seen road improvements through the District’s joint work with Essex County Council. We have purchased 28 hectares of land (that’s 69 acres) and plans are being developed to deliver new homes, business and infrastructure. We are now starting to see real investments and plans taking shape within the area. Three very exciting planning proposals have recently been agreed, showcasing Art Deco designs. Changes are taking place in close collaboration with the community. We are a Council that listens and works with our residents.
Further to the success in Jaywick, we successfully applied for Coastal Community Team status for Harwich and Dovercourt, resulting in Tendring being the only Local Authority in the country with two CCTs.
As a Council, we like to be dynamic and at the cutting edge. The revolutionary work developing Garden Communities continues to take shape, with the ambition to build infrastructure and create sustainable jobs alongside new homes. Our partnership working with Essex, Braintree and Colchester goes from strength to strength and central government has now made £1.2 million available to support the work. Local Delivery Vehicles are being formed to bring forward development quickly and to a high quality and Tendring will have Officers leading and working within those Local Delivery Vehicles. The plans are innovative, they are ambitious and they are a superb example of how Tendring District Council collaborates successfully with partners to deliver housing outcomes based on Garden City principles. This project, the most significant of its kind in the UK, is not simply about building new homes; it is about creating fantastic new communities with industry and commerce providing jobs and employment, with health and education facilities tailored to meet local needs and with IT and transport infrastructure that is fit for the future.
The local plan continues to be developed which will guide development within the District to 2033 and beyond. There is of course always a difficult balance to be struck between the requirement for significant new development and the protection of the status quo, but all sane commentators agree that until the Local Plan is finalised and approved we will continue to be at risk of unwanted development. Getting the local plan agreed, swiftly and without delay, will ensure that this district is not subject to speculative planning applications that win on appeal despite this Council’s strong objections; Getting the local plan agreed, swiftly and without delay, will also ensure that we can start to deliver the housing that is needed for our own residents as families grow and expand and as people attempt to get their foot onto the property ladder. And getting the local plan agreed, swiftly and without delay, will ensure that we can start to attract new businesses and employers to the district to create new jobs and employment and to give the economy of Tendring a much-needed boost. Madam Chairman, we really do need to get the new Local Plan agreed, swiftly and without delay!
Just last week The Housing and Finance Institute formally recognised our work across several different measures, awarding us “Housing Business Ready” status and commenting that “Tendring Council is amongst the very best in the country for understanding the importance of housing to its locality. Tendring Council creates housing opportunities that support its residents and strengthens local communities.”
We are proud to work with a range of partners and the Tendring Community Safety Hub is a great model of partnership working which has been highly praised through an LGA Peer Review. Tendring has 42 agencies signed up to the Hub and all agencies are working together to tackle crime and disorder across the District. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary recognises the importance of the role of the Hubs in Essex. In the recent HMIC inspection of policing across Essex the standards for the extent to which the force is effective at keeping people safe and reducing crime have improved from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘Good’ in the past year, and that huge improvement is, in part, specifically down to the work of the ground-breaking Tendring Hubs.
The data shows that Tendring has seen decreases in the following crimes:
However, our work does not stop here. The statistics show that and there have been increases in other crimes, such as domestic abuse and motor vehicle thefts.
Our priorities for 2017/18 include:
Looking at success, the Tendring Community Policing team recently raided a suspected brothel in Clacton Town Centre. Arrests were made for brothel keeping, money laundering and immigration offences.
We continue to work alongside partners to keep residents safe and improve our community.
Community leadership is all about strengthening the community, removing any obstacles so that together we can improve public services for all, whether you live, work or visit Tendring we have something that we can offer to all. No one individual can bring new business to the District, build new roads or equip children for the future, now more than ever we must do these things together, as one Council and one Tendring.
We continue to work with those that need us most and we must continue to care for the vulnerable and protect people from life’s worst hazards and misfortunes. We do this through our work with Family Solutions, supporting families that need us most, as well as supporting the Tendring Mental Health Hub and the local Citizen’s Advice Bureau to ensure that members of our community receive appropriate and timely support and interventions.
We support the development of Skills and Education across Tendring. The Tendring Jobs and Careers’ Fair continues to go from strength to strength, attracting over 2,000 job seekers. In 2016, 700 jobs were available on the day with 55 exhibitors attending. The 5th Jobs and Career’s fair, is taking place on Tuesday 3rd October 2017.
We are supporting schools within Tendring, through our partnership working with the Tendring Education Improvement Group and local Universities. This work has led to a £1.2 million investment in a new Education centre within Tendring which aims to support children reaching their full potential and aspirations, whether this is going to University or through further vocational training.
There are Memorandums of Understanding with both local universities, which strengthen our commitment to partnership working and our influencing role.
We are proud of our own Tendring Learning provider, Career Track, which is constantly delivering between 65 to 70 apprenticeships at any one time and supporting many local young people and businesses throughout Tendring.
All of this is happening despite saving £12 million from our revenue budget since 2011/12, and we are well aware that a further £5 million in savings still has to be found over the next 3 years. £1.56 million savings being required in 2017/18 alone. We know this will mean that in some cases we may now have to stop doing certain things, but we are ready for this challenge and responding to what our residents want and expect from a modern, forward-thinking Council.
We have agreed a new Customer-focussed strategy, where we are improving digital access to our residents; this is the first time we have seen that residents are asking for more Council forms to be available electronically and we are responding to our residents. This also enables our Officers to give our most vulnerable residents more time, offering an enhanced service to our most needy.
We are rationalising our offices, looking at moving from three to two main sites, becoming a more flexible and responsive Council to ensure better service delivery and wherever possible saving money.
We will take every opportunity to become leaner and be increasingly more self-sufficient, we are looking at rationalising our public conveniences, keeping those in tourist areas and essential locations but where they are underutilised looking at different options. We are not an asset rich Council but we are reviewing our assets to determine what we need going forward and making the most of investment opportunities.
We are acknowledged as a Council that demonstrates excellence and we can proudly celebrate obtaining the highly prestigious Investors In People Gold Standard. This sits alongside many other accolades such as the Clacton Air Show, Event of the Year by the National Outdoor Events Association. These awards celebrate our initiative and enterprise, our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility; these are the constants within the character of Tendring. We also held our second Tendring STARS event for staff, recognising the exceptional contributions from staff right across the Council. This year the event was held in the Prince’s theatre and it was also a pleasure to see that the event also included volunteers and partners who work alongside of the Council contributing to the success of everything that we do.
But Madam Chairman, there is still so much more to do and to this end we have identified some key priorities to deliver improvement for our District.
We have a new Corporate Plan for 2016-2020 which has Community Leadership at its heart. Our residents expect the Council to represent and support them with their issues, whether it is services delivered by Tendring District Council or a host of other issues where we can offer support and represent their views. These include health, education and community safety. We have worked closely with representatives on these issues and I believe that this work has had a real impact and a positive effect on improvement.
For example, we are supporting a primary school, opening a Mental Health Hub. Our staff have supported this school through training school staff, creating a model for the hub in partnership with the Head teacher. Plans are in place to up-scale this project, to support other schools across the District. This is an example of us not only bringing partners together but also providing tangible evidence of our direct work, supporting health and education.
We will ensure that this ethos to both influence improvements and where possible provide tangible support will continue to be part of our work.
Madam Chairman, we will continue to focus on key priorities:
Our Council/Our Community working with our communities and effectively with partners providing high quality affordable services. Alongside transferring and managing our assets, within a balanced budget.
Health and housing – providing quality living environments and local regeneration to promote wellbeing and healthier lifestyles, including the introduction of the Park Run in Clacton with an average of 100 participants each week, Dig4Jaywick and working with partners to raise awareness of the impact of housing on health.
Employment and Enjoyment, supporting business growth and making the most of opportunities, such as the Galloper wind farm and influencing plans for the Superfast Essex programme, rolling out broadband across the whole District.
And Madam Chairman, I want to take a moment to thank all Members of this Authority for the hard work you do on behalf of the residents of Tendring. I want to thank my Cabinet members for their dedication and hard work and for working together to deliver many of the things I have highlighted and to scrutiny members who have really helped to shape the Council’s work and budget. There has also been some excellent cross party working together in scrutiny and other committees, such as the Local Plan Committee. Through working together, we can achieve so much more for residents within our District. At the end of the day, despite whatever political differences we may all have, I am sure we are all here to make a difference to our community and the lives of residents within Tendring.
A great example of Councillors coming together includes the work being undertaken to review ward boundaries. The Member Working Party which had cross party representation included many constructive and helpful suggestions. The work of that group has enabled the Council to submit a proposal to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England to reduce from 60 to 48 Councillors. I appreciate that this was not an easy task but I thank you all for your ideas, pragmatism and support.
I would also like to thank our Chief Executive and his Officers, we are very fortunate to have such commitment, hard work and talent within Tendring, delivering quality services across the District and constantly striving to improve and respond to residents. We really do have the very best local government officers working for us here in Tendring; there are none better and without them I really don’t know where we would be.
And so Madam Chairman, to conclude:
We face many challenges in the forthcoming year, so I urge all Members to carry on contributing positively to address issues and problems that the Council faces. There will be difficult decisions to make; it is likely that we will have to look at different ways of delivering some services and stopping other services completely; that will not be easy.
We face uncertain times ahead both nationally and internationally, not least with Article 50 about to be invoked bringing about the official start of Brexit; nobody knows what that will look like or how it will affect us and meanwhile the cuts imposed upon us by Government continue to bite, but at least we can be reassured that:
So I urge us all to be responsible, fair and take a consistent approach to making big decisions irrespective of political persuasions and to continue to build upon the support of strong partnerships developed locally and regionally.
Madam Chairman, I urge all members to carry on contributing positively, to addressing problems and issues the Council faces in the coming year. It will be difficult; some decisions will challenge us but we cannot shy away from them. This Council has always been at its best when facing its most challenging circumstances; if we continue to think big, be resolute in the face of adversity and never stop believing in what we are doing, then I have no doubt that this Council will continue to go from strength to strength.”
Members expressed their appreciation of Councillor Stock’s speech with a round of applause.
Councillors I J Henderson, Scott, Miles, Calver, Land, Broderick, Porter and Bray all addressed the Council during the debate on the Leader’s Statement.