Nottingham City Council has produced a refreshed Council Plan to set out its renewed priorities and direction for the next two years.
The council has taken stock in light of the Covid pandemic and a non-statutory review of its financial and governance arrangements on behalf of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, to look afresh at its 2019-2023 Council Plan.
This is the document that sets out a vision for the council, its key aims and ambitions and how it intends to deliver services and meet its targets. It outlines its commitment to improving Nottingham for everyone who lives, works, studies, invests and visits here, while keeping citizens at the heart of everything it does, within a value framework of equality, fairness, and inclusivity.
The council remains committed to those values and its overall ambition for the city and local people – but the context in which it is operating has changed dramatically since its Council Plan was adopted in 2019. In response to the non-statutory review, the council has produced a Recovery and Improvement Plan in which it has committed to refresh the council’s ambitions in the Council Plan, to reflect its renewed thinking on what it does and how it does it.
The refreshed Strategic Council Plan 21-23 is still full of ambition, and previous commitments have been reviewed to ensure they continue to be relevant and deliverable. It will also ensure that the council’s finances are sustainable over the medium to long term, so that modern, effective and value-for-money public services can continue to be delivered. The plan outlines a set of eleven high level outcomes that are key to delivering its ambitions for Nottingham:
- Clean and Connected Communities
- Keeping Nottingham Working
- Carbon Neutral by 2028
- Safer Nottingham
- Child-Friendly Nottingham
- Healthy and Inclusive
- Keeping Nottingham Moving
- Improve the City Centre
- Better Housing
- Financial Stability
- Serving People Well.
City Council Deputy Leader, Cllr Sally Longford, said: “We set out our Council Plan for this period in 2019 but a lot has changed since then, including a global pandemic and a Government review of the council, so it was important for us to look again at it.
“Our Recovery and Improvement Plan is clear that if we are to achieve our aims and live up to our aspirations for Nottingham, we must be prepared to rethink what we do and how we do it. This refreshed Council Plan does that and helps us to plot a new course for the council which remains ambitious for Nottingham and its people while ensuring our finances are sustainable so we can continue delivering the modern, efficient services that local people deserve.”
The plan is still in draft and will be agreed at Full Council in September, following a public consultation. People can provide their feedback via an online survey here.
To get involved further, a public Question and Answer session takes place on Tuesday 20 July. Complete our online survey or email engage@nottinghamcity.gov.uk for further details of the session.