MIDDLESBROUGH COUNCIL
REGENERATION
DEPARTMENT
SERVICE PLAN
2004/05
VERSION 2.1
27
CONTENTS
Page1 / Introduction and purpose / 3
2 / Council’s overall vision and priority contribution to community strategy themes / 4
3 / Department priorities / 7
4 / Underlying principles / 9
5 / Department structure / 11
6 / Department resources / 12
7 / Key achievements in 2003/04 / 14
8 / Key performance measures / 16
9 / Performance management arrangements / 20
10 / Risk management / 21
Appendix A – Key performance measures / 22
Appendix B – Strategic Risk Register / 24
1. INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE
Since 2000 the Council has been through a period of extensive organisational change at both political and managerial levels. Improvements introduced by the restructured leadership were aimed at ensuring the Council:
§ is internally focused, properly resourced and fit for purpose;
§ delivers quality services which meet community needs and aspirations;
§ operates as an effective community leader, in partnership with other agencies and stakeholders, to deliver community strategy objectives.
This resulted in the formation of the Regeneration Department. The key contribution of the Regeneration Department to the community strategy themes and the corporate performance plan is detailed in this Service Plan.
The purpose of this Plan is to:
§ identify Regeneration’s priorities and how they contribute to delivering the Community Strategy Themes and the Mayor’s agenda;
§ provide a link between the Corporate Performance Plan and individual service Plans;
§ outline cross-cutting activities undertaken across all service groups within Regeneration;
§ communicate Regeneration’s priorities and improvement agenda to staff, partners and other interested bodies;
§ meet the minimum standard for performance management.
2. COUNCIL’S OVERALL VISION AND PRIORITY CONTRIBUTION TO COMMUNITY STRATEGY THEMES
The Council is a lead partner in delivering the aspirations of the Middlesbrough Community Strategy, which is, in turn, based on the national/local shared government priorities. The Community Strategy themes are:
§ supporting children and learning;
§ promoting healthier communities and effective social care for adults;
§ creating safer and stronger communities;
§ transforming our local environment;
§ meeting local transport needs more efficiently;
§ promoting the economic vitality of Middlesbrough.
The Council’s priority contributions to the delivery of the Community Strategy themes are based upon the Raising Hope agenda set by its directly elected Mayor and supported by the Council’s executive and non-executive councillors.
The Mayor’s Raising Hope agenda is built on four pillars:
§ a clean, safe environment, in which people can go about their business without fear of crime and anti-social behaviour;
§ physical regeneration of the town’s run-down sites and buildings;
§ a business-friendly enterprise culture which welcomes would-be investors;
§ a transport network which can meet the needs of a town on its way up.
Education and care of young people and support to vulnerable people in the town provide a foundation for these pillars.
This agenda has been developed to respond to Middlesbrough’s historical and geographical circumstances and exploit its potential. It complements the national/local priorities, which underpin the Community Strategy. The Council’s managerial and political structures have also been reviewed and revised to provide for a clear focus on its priorities.
In addition the Council has an overarching ‘Fit for Purpose’ theme. This theme identifies the Council’s organisational commitments and objectives which help to ensure the Council is organisationally ‘fit for purpose’ to act as community leader and contribute effectively to the achievement of the Community Strategy themes.
The diagram below shows how these elements come together.
The Council’s Corporate Performance Plan 2004/05 identified the Council’s priority contributions to each Community Strategy theme.
Priority Contributions to Community Strategy Themes
Supporting children and learning· Improving performance at all stages of learning
· Maximising life chances of vulnerable children
· Ensuring a co-ordinated approach to early years learning
· Developing a pattern of high quality education provision that meet local needs
Promoting healthier communities and effective social care for adults
· Modernise older people’s services and maximise people’s independence and choice to remain in their own homes
· Improve social care for vulnerable adults
· Encourage healthier lifestyles
Creating safer and stronger communities
§ Reduce domestic burglary§ Reduce vehicle crime
§ Combat anti-social behaviour and reduce fear of crime
§ Achieve harmonious, violence free and more tolerant living.
§ Improve planning for civil contingencies
Transforming our local environment
· Improve street cleanliness· Increase recycling
· Improve access to Environmental Services
· Adapt to future changes in climate
· Promote urban renaissance of green spaces
Meeting local transport needs more efficiently
· Improve access to bus and other forms of local transport
· Secure better access to jobs and services
· Improve highway maintenance
· Improve road safety
Promoting the economic vitality of Middlesbrough
· Support the growth of indigenous business and provide a positive environment for inward investment
· Regenerate the key economic locations in the town
· Ensure local people and particularly those from the most disadvantaged communities, have the skills and opportunities to successfully compete for jobs
· Extend quality and choice in the housing market
· Promote regeneration through arts, culture and learning
3. DEPARTMENT PRIORITIES
Regeneration’s key priorities linked to the Council’s priority contributions to the Community strategy themes are drawn from the Mayor’s Raising Hope agenda and are clearly linked to the Community Strategy theme – promoting the economic vitality of Middlesbrough
Promoting the Economic Vitality of Middlesbrough
This theme aims to support business improvements, provide positive conditions for growth and employment, supporting the improvement of adult skills by identifying present and future skills needs, helping the hardest to reach into work, addressing housing market failure, extending the quality and choice in the housing market and promoting cultural and arts development.
The re-structuring of the Council has strengthened Regeneration’s contribution to this theme by bringing together key services in one department including Business Support, Economic Development, Planning and Cultural services. This re-structure aimed to ensure that sufficient capacity existed to allow the council to deliver its priorities in relation to this theme.
The Department’s priority contributions to this theme are:
§ support the growth of indigenous business and provide a positive environment for inward investment
§ regenerate the key economic locations in the town
§ ensure that local people, and particularly those from the most disadvantaged communities, have the skills and opportunities to compete for jobs successfully
§ extend quality and choice in the housing market, and
§ promote regeneration through culture arts and learning.
The focus of the Regeneration Department’s priorities is on promoting the economic vitality of Middlesbrough. However the Department also has priorities which link to the following Community Strategy themes and the council’s overarching fit for purpose theme:
§ Supporting Children & Learning
§ Creating Safer and Stronger Communities
§ Fit for Purpose
Details of the priority contribution to other themes are set out below against the relevant themes.
Supporting Children and Learning
This theme aims to promote citizenship and raise the aspirations, hopes and confidence of young people. This is promoted through a number of partnerships, including Middlesbrough Learning Partnership and Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership. The foundations of the Mayor’s Raising Hope agenda include education and the care of young people and it is recognised that young people are the foundation upon which success will be built.
Regeneration contributes to this theme through the priority action ‘Ensure a diverse programme of opportunities to participate in events, festivals and the arts’ by:
§ running a ‘pop school’;
§ establishing theatrical events for / by children and young people;
§ encouraging children and young people to participate in arts and visit museums.
Contributions to this theme are also made through the ‘Improving literacy, play and study-support facilities for young people and their families’ priority action by:
§ establishing young peoples librarians;
§ establishing the primary link project;
§ providing study support sessions;
§ organising ‘bookstart’ a day aimed at encouraging very young children to use the library.
Creating Safer and Stronger Communities
This theme aims to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour, increase safety, promote the use of leisure services, strengthen community cohesion and promote drug enforcement.
To strengthen the Council’s role in combating crime, anti-social behaviour and the fear of crime, key services have been brought together within the environment service group. Whilst the Regeneration Department’s priority is to support regeneration through the development of cultural services this work also contributes to creating safer and stronger communities through diversionary work with young people for example Boro Buzz and participation in cultural events.
Fit for Purpose
There are a number of organisational commitments and objectives that help ensure that the overall health and general performance of the council is organisationally fit for purpose. Regeneration’s priorities within this theme are:
§ absence management;
§ staff development;
§ diversity in employment;
§ establishment of the Regeneration Service Group;
§ structure agreed and implement and key vacancies filled;
§ draft People Strategy supported, staff appraisals being introduced, IiP and Graduate support scheme being developed;
§ management processes developed and put in place;
§ a communications map developed;
§ staff involvement and can do culture being established;
§ training ethos being re-established, senior managers have received attendance management training and it is being cascaded down the management structure;
The approach taken by each service, to delivering these organisational commitments and objectives, naturally varies to suit the particular requirements of each area.
4.0 UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES
There are a number of crosscutting corporate strategies and objectives that set out key principles essential to the Council in its role as community leader and contribute effectively to the achievement of the community strategy themes.
The Regeneration Department covers a range of different services. However all services should be delivered in a consistent manner and whilst the details of service delivery may vary, the principles underpinning them should be consistently applied across the Regeneration Department.
The main crosscutting strategies and objectives are set out below:
§ Diversity and community cohesion
Regeneration is committed to equal opportunities and seeks to avoid all forms of discrimination both within the service group and in the delivery of its services. This is achieved by the creation of an environment in which there is respect for every individual and recognition that no employee, potential employee or service user will be discriminated against on the ground of their race, colour, religion, belief, ethnicity, gender, family status, sexuality, disability or age.
Regeneration aims to ensure that the services it provides are non-discriminatory and free from prejudice. Details of how Regeneration ensure equality of opportunity and embrace the principles of diversity can be found in the Regeneration Service groups Diversity Action Plan.
§ Consultation
Regeneration uses a variety of consultation mechanisms to ensure that the local community can influence and inform the way in which services are delivered. Regeneration ensures that all consultation exercises are designed to meet the corporate aims of consultation:
- effective
- appropriate
- inclusive
- co-ordinated
Regeneration uses the following consultation exercises to ensure that its services meet the needs of the community.
- Statement of Community Involvement
- local steering groups
- direct consultation to statutory consultees and interested parties
- Community Councils and ad hoc meetings
- feedback questionnaires
- Voiceover
- Middlesbrough Neighbourhood Survey
§ Accessibility ( including electronic access to services)
Regeneration strives to ensure that its services are accessible to all and that service access is cost-effective, readily available to all residents and community stakeholders, including hard to reach groups. Regeneration seeks to deliver these aspirations through its mainstream service delivery. Specific examples include:
- all planning applications are published on the Councils website
- facility to comment on-line about current planning applications
- key documents such as the Local Development Framework available on-line
§ Sustainability
Sustainable development is identified as the statutory purpose for planning, therefore achieving sustainable development should underpin all our development activities. The four aims of sustainable development are:
- maintenance of high and stable levels of economic growth and employment;
- social progress which recognises the needs of everyone;
- effective protection of the environment; and,
- the prudent use of natural resources.
The current Middlesbrough Local Plan (adopted 1999) which is the basis for decisions on planning applications is based on the principles of achieving sustainable development. Achieving sustainable development involves locating development in sustainable locations close to facilities thereby reducing the need to travel. One further indicator of achieving sustainable development is the re-use of land (known as brownfield) for housing. There is a national target of building 60% of new houses on brownfield land.
Further to this, preparation is underway on a replacement for the Local Plan which will be known as a Local Development Framework (LDF). As part of the production of the LDF, it must undergo a combined Strategic Environmental Assessment and Sustainability Appraisal to assess the soundness of the plan. Consultants have been engaged to carry out this work.
Work is also ongoing in relation to the use of sustainable energy sources for example assessing the potential for the use of renewable energy and the promotion of a sustainable energy system at Middlehaven.
5.0 DEPARTMENT STRUCTURE
The Department is structured to focus more clearly on delivering quality services that meet the community needs and aspirations and assist in the achievement of the Department’s priorities and ultimately the Community Strategy Theme.
The diagram below illustrates how each service area within Regeneration links to its key Community Strategy theme, although it is accepted that the service areas contribute, to a lesser degree, to other community strategy themes.
Assistant Chief Executive – RegenerationPromoting the Economic Vitality
of Middlesbrough
Planning & Regeneration Programmes / Economic & Community Development / Cultural Services / Library & Information Service / Museums & Galleries Service
Urban Policy & Implementation
Development Control
Building Control
Regeneration Programmes
Strategic Housing / Community Strategy
Middlesbrough Partnership
Economic Development
Community Regeneration / Entertainment & Events
Tourism
Resources & Arts / Library Operations
Information & Monitoring
Young People
ICT Development / Museums
Project Development
Galleries
Marketing & Development
Education & Audience
6.0 DEPARTMENT Resources
The medium term financial plan (MTFP) projects levels of resources and commitments across a three year period, and is used to support strategic policy and service planning across the council. Over the three-year period, provision has been made for the fall-out of specific grant funding for the warden service (£1m) and economic development activities (£0.4m) from 2006/2007. The potential increase in employer pension contribution rates (estimated cost £1.2m) has also been provided for from 2005/2006.