The Committee received a report that set out the approach so far to refreshing the Community Plan for 2015 onwards and proposed next steps. It proposed that, through the new Community Plan, the Partnership focuses on a number of high level and crosscutting priorities, complementing the range of priorities already being progressed by the existing Community Plan Delivery Group structure. The report outlined the potential cross-cutting priorities and asked the Committee to comment on these.

The Committee:

• Felt that the Plan needs to reflect the scale of pace and change within the Borough, especially regarding the built environment, and energise partners to rise to the current challenges faced in LBTH.
• Wanted to ensure that LBTH community/faith groups and charities are also involved in the development of the Plan.
• Recognised the importance of the preservation of the Borough’s heritage.
• Requested that the Plan acknowledged the role that creative industries play as employers.
• Acknowledged the need to improve the level of adult literacy and the reach of the Council’s consultation mechanisms (e.g. development of a dialogue within schools), and to engage the older residents and utilise their particular skill sets.
• Felt that economic and population growth would require the Council to play a more proactive role with regard to planning and development issues, to ensure sufficient infrastructure to cope with this.
• Wanted to see engagement with all businesses and harnessing their potential to drive economic growth.
• Felt that consultation should reach a wide range of people, and that the Plan needed to make use of all available formats (e.g. to engage the younger population).

As a result of discussions on this item the Chair Moved and it was:-

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

Action by:

Louise Russell (Service Head Corporate Strategy and Equality, Law Probity & Governance)