HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
CORPORATE PLAN 2005/08
CONTENTS
Introduction
The County Council’s Ambition (including Community Leadership)
The County Council’s Challenges
Plans and Budget Process
The Improvement Plan and Performance
Appendices:
1. Improvement Plan
2. Best Value Performance Plan 2005/06
Introduction
This is Hertfordshire County Council’s first Corporate Plan. The County Council is the democratically elected body for Hertfordshire and as such has a key leadership role. The Council's responsibilities are wide-ranging and this Plan shows how we intend to address the key challenges. It begins by introducing our ambition and then covers the challenges facing the Council. The process of identifying the focus for the County Council, setting budgets and developing specific plans for services is then outlined in the “Plans and Budget Process” section.
Finally, there is a short summary of key improvement areas and issues, with the appendices acting as signposts to our Improvement Plan and Best Value Performance Plan on our website.
The County Council’sAmbition
The Council has one ambition - to make Hertfordshire an even better place to live and work, with the best public services in the country.
There are more than a million people living in Hertfordshire and the County Council must represent the interests of all of them.
So that theambition does not become just a slogan the Council has researched carefully to find out what matters most to people. We have also looked at what is already known about Hertfordshire and used that knowledge to predict where resources will be most needed in the future.
These two strands of research have helped the Council to draw up a list of our most important challenges for the next few years.
People want to live in pleasant, safe surroundings, with good roads and reliable public transport. They want good schools and hospitals. They want everyone, from babies to the most senior citizens, to have the support they need. They also want this provided in anefficient and cost-effective way. Hertfordshire is already a good place to live. It is attractive and prosperous with beautiful countryside and historic market towns. It is convenient for London and major motorways and airports but retains its own character.
The Council will make the most of these assets and protect Hertfordshire’s countryside from unnecessary development.It will focus on keeping Hertfordshire’s traffic moving and making our roads safer.
Hertfordshire is one of the safest places to live but anti-social behaviour makes people feel unsafe. The Council will act to reduce the fear of crime and improve the quality of life for local people.
The County Council was the first to integrate education and children’s social services to provide a better service for children and their families. Most Hertfordshire children are doing well .The Councilwill ensure that every child has the opportunities they need and deserve.
All children in Hertfordshire - whatever their backgrounds, whatever their abilities, wherever they live - deserve the same chances in life. The Councilcan make sure this happens by ensuring that everyone providing services to children shares information and works together.
As part of the implementation of the 2004 Children Act all local authorities are required to have children’s trusts in place by 2008. Hertfordshire is at the leading edge of these developments. The Councilrecognises that all our services and all our challenges have an impact on the lives of children and young people.
Hertfordshire has increasing numbers of elderly people, especially those over 75. Many older people live alone and do not have family to care for them. Those people will have the Council’s help to keep their independence and have a good quality of life.
Good services are dependent on good employees. The Council works hard to attract the right people and keep them, in order to provide consistently high quality services.
The County Councilalso has a crucial role working with partners to deliver some services, in areas such as health and community safety.
Hertfordshire has a countywide Local Strategic Partnership, Hertfordshire Forward, which brings together the public sector, business and the voluntary and community sector to drive forward their shared priorities for Hertfordshire and aims to act as the voice of Hertfordshire to promote the interests of its residents, businesses and communities.
The County Council’s Challenges
Leading Councillors and officers have identified the challenges for the County Council by:
- listening to what the public have been saying consistently over recent years about priorities and our services;
- assessing robust evidence from performance and demographic information;
- taking account of national and local policy directives.
The Challenges are the key issues for the County Council that we cannot tackle either in the short term or without working closely with partners and stakeholders. They, along with major service issues, are the focus for budget decisions and Service Plans. Accordingly, the Cabinet and the Strategic Management Board are responsible for tackling the Challenges together.
The Council’s challenges are:
- To help people feel safe and secure
- To tackle the causes and impact of congestion
- Deal with worn out roads and pavements
- Reduce the impact of new development on the environment
- Maximise opportunities for all children and young people
- Support the independence of the growing number of older people
- Maximise efficiency savings to help keep Council tax at an acceptable level
Help people feel safe and secure
Why the challenge?
The Council believes our residents have the right to feel safe and secure at home and at work and that Hertfordshire should not only be one of the safest places to live, it should feel that way too.
Hertfordshire is a safe place to live and since 1997 crime levels have steadily fallen. But whilst crime figures are below the national average, local public perception suggests that concerns around the ‘fear of crime’ remain disproportionate to actual crime levels in Hertfordshire.
Annual public consultation undertaken by the Council repeatedly confirms that reducing crime and disorder in our communities should be a priority for the Council to tackle in partnership with other agencies.
The presence of low level crime, defined as anti-social behaviour (vandalism, graffiti, rowdy behaviour, littering)contributes to that perception and adversely affects the quality of life for our communities.
There has been some success in dealing with deliberate fires and hoax calls, but such crimes remain a problem in some parts of the county and are an integral part of this challenge. If not tackled, then these issues contribute adversely to crime levels and public perception.
What it means
- Ensure that Hertfordshire continues to be a safer place in which to live, work and travel
- Break the cycle of offending between criminal activity and substance misuse
- Understand more clearly the impact that alcohol misuse has on our communities, how it contributes to criminal activity and to seek ways in which it can be reduced.
- Allow everyone who livesand works in Hertfordshire to do so safely and securely
- Increase public confidence by reassurance
- Continue to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on roads in Hertfordshire
Policy implications
The Council has a ‘statutory’ responsibility to work towards safer and more secure communities. The Crime & Drugs Strategy Unit assumes the lead responsibility for this area of work and coordinates the efforts and expertise of other Council services.
A range of Council services, fire safety, road safety, child protection, adult protection, drug treatment, trading standards, emergency planning are all areas of service where there are policy implications to meet this challenge.
What success will be like
People will feel safer and more secure. Crime levels will be reduced against the baselines set by the national targets, and perceptions of quality of life in local areas will have improved.
Key actions
- Ensure that the work and achievements of Police Community Support Officerscan be properly measured and identified to reassure communities
- Improve public reassurance and confidence as measured by the British Crime Survey.
- Implement the Alcohol Harm Reduction Action Plan so that the impacts of alcohol misuse can be minimised.
- Implement the Drugs & Alcohol Strategy.
- Deliver the Drug Interventions Programme, by increasing the numbers of drug misusing offenders entering treatment with an overarching aim to reduce crime, breaking both the cycle of drug misuse & criminal activity.
- Provide a range of things for young people to do to ensure that they can channel their skills and enthusiasm into more constructive activities
- Continue our expansion of the Home Security Service ( which provides advice on home safety and security measures) by developing the business plan which could include commercial sponsorship.
- Identify socially isolated groups and devise ways by which these groups could become more involved in, and able to influence our area of work.
- To increase the reporting of domestic violence incidents and to deal with cases in a more effective manner.
- All agencies to continue to participate in the Environmental Action Days
- Reduce the number of deliberate fires
- Continue to operate the call challenge policy to reduce the number of hoax fire calls
- Implement the Road Safety Plan 2006-2010, including safety engineering, education and training and enforcement measures.
The Hertfordshire Forwardpartner work programme for ‘creating safer communities’, once agreed, will add value to existing activity given the wide spread of proposed initiatives contained in the programme.
How the Council will measure performance
Performance Indicator / Performance / Targets2004/05 / 2005/06 / 2006/07 / 2007/08
% residents who expressed an opinion and believe the County Council has been successful in helping people feel safe and secure over the past year (from Annual tracking survey) / 62% / 64% / 66% / 68%
The number of properties secured by the Hertfordshire Home Security Service / 2,664 / 3,196 / 3,835 / 4,602
The amount of time spent by a PCSO ‘out of station’ / 67% / 80% / 80% / 80%
The number of licensed premises visited during multi-agency test purchase operations, to combat the illegal sale of alcohol to young people / Baseline to be determined / Increase by 15% / Increase by 20% / Increase by 20%
Number of persistent Offenders and other drug misusing offenders, case managed, referred into and engaged with the Hertfordshire Drugs Intervention Project (DIP) / Service not yet provided / 450 Generic DIP clients 150 PPO clients / 470 Generic DIP clients 150 PPO clients / No uplift in 06/07 on PPOs as these are identified by CDRPs and not DIP
Number of deliberate fires (excluding vehicles) / 342 / 325 / 309 / 293
The numbers of people killed or seriously injured on the roads(excl motorways) / 584 / 600 (This is the road safety target to achieve by 2010) / 600 / 600
Tackle the causes and impact of congestion
Why the challenge?
The Council believes that keeping the traffic on Hertfordshire’s roads moving is vital for the future of the county. All road users, including businesses, need to have consistently reliable journey times and not live with the threat of gridlock.
Congestion is seen by the public as one of the most pressing environmental issues facing Hertfordshire: 80% of people feel that congestion has got worse over the last three years.
Traffic flows in Hertfordshire are 35% higher than the national average, a result of several factors, including high levels of car ownership,and a population of more than a million people, living in thirty towns, near London.
The local road network is frequently at, or near, capacity, compounded by any difficulties or failures on the busy national routes which cross the county. The rate of wear and tear on the infrastructure is considerable.
The Road Traffic Reduction Act (1997) requires the County Council to tackle traffic growth. The County Council is also required to deal with congestion under the Traffic Management Act (2004).
What it means
Ensure consistently reliable reasonable journeytimes and minimise the impact of congestion on the travelling public. This is not a challenge for the County Council alone; congestion can only be tackled effectively if others, from individual citizens to central government, play a part.
Policy implications
Tackling Congestion is one of four shared priorities that the County Council has to deliver in Local Transport Plan 2.
The government's Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) provides an opportunity to finance new ways of tackling congestion, with the level of funding available rising to £2.5 billion by 2014/15. However, funding will be linked to some form of demand management, with the government preferring local road pricing schemes. TIF bids will also need to show that they can help improve the Gross Domestic Product of the area.
A congestion Topic Group was established in April 2003 following the CPA report which noted that “residents recognise few plans to reduce congestion on the roads”. The resulting Congestion Action Plan is being reported on a regular basis to the Highways and Transport Panel.
What success will be like
Hertfordshire’s roads will be safer and easier to use. Road users will have more consistently reliable reasonable journey times and more people will use public transport.
Key actions
A. Managing / co-ordinating
- Enforcement / oversight of all activity on the network.
- Integration of maintenance works.
- Transport Plans for major settlements devised and agreed.
B. Influencing and informing
- Getting the right development plan policies in place.
- Strengthening and sharpening the TravelWise Campaign.
- Publicising information about works on the network and changes to the network.
- Liaising with the Highways Agency to minimise the impact of their activity on our roads.
- Encouraging alternative means to travel, whether bus, rail, cycle or walking, exploiting opportunities such as the rights of way network.
- Promoting travel plans for schools and work-places.
- Demonstrating good practice by having travel plans for all HCC premises.
C. Securing infrastructure improvement
- Maximising external funding to deliver improvements.
- Ensuring that developers contribute to easing congestion by helping to pay for changes, and getting their plans right, so they don’t make the traffic worse.
- Providing real-time information for motorists at strategic points.
How the Council will measure performance
Performance Indicator / Performance / Targets2004/05 / 2005/06 / 2006/07 / 2007/08
% residents who expressed an opinion and believe the County Council has been successful in tackling levels of road congestion over the past year (from Annual tracking survey) / 38% / 40% / 42% / 44%
% of schools with approved travel plans (LTP220) / 40% / 53% / 59% / 76%
Number of passenger journeys made annually on local buses (BVPI 102) / 30,700,000 / 33,200,000 / 33,200,000 / 33,200,000
Integrated Works Programme monitoring. / Under development
LTP2 average vehicle delay indicator
new congestion indicator as part of Congestion Action Plan
Business TravelWise
To effectively measure and manage progress on this challenge, a number of indicators are being investigated and developed. This work will be completed so that monitoring can be undertaken against them by April 2006.
Deal with worn out roads and pavements
Why the challenge?
The Council believes that prevention is better than cure. Hertfordshire’s roads and pavements take more of a pounding than other areas and the Councilmust ensure that our residents have a well-maintained road network.
Consistent results from public surveys show high levels of concern over the condition of roads and pavements.
Best Value Performance Indicator results show that high volumes of traffic on Hertfordshire’s roads cause significant wear and tear and make it harder to maintain the road network to acceptable standards.
Based on current standards the road and pavement network will deteriorate more each year. Hertfordshire’s performance in relation to national and regional benchmarks will further decline, putting at risk external funding streams.
The latest predictions show a continuing and significant fall in the asset value of the highway network.
What it means
Through a combination of investment and targeting of resources, halt the deterioration of key parts of the roadand pavement network.
Policy implications
Transport Asset Management Plan projections are under review in order to determine whether current investment levels and their application need to be adjusted.
What success will be like
The county’s roads will not deteriorate further. The Councilwill have a five year investment plan agreed by Government and the public will have confidence that the roads and pavements are being maintained properly.
Key actions
- Developthe Transport Asset Management Plan to co-ordinate and integrate all activity on the road and pavement network,including maintenance works.
- Explore potential for increased investment in structural maintenance.
- Establish SMART performance indicators, in negotiation with the Government, to better monitor in the long term the condition of the highway asset.
- Raise awareness of and publicise information about changes to the network.
How the Council will measure performance
Performance Indicator / Performance / Targets2004/05 / 2005/06 / 2006/07 / 2007/08
% residents who expressed an opinionand believe the County Council has been successful in dealing with deteriorating roads and pavements over the past year (from Annual tracking survey) / 36% / 38% / 40% / 42%
Non-principal road network where structural maintenance should be considered (BVPI 224a) / 19.44% (was BVPI 097a) / 12% / 12% / 12%
unclassified road network where structural maintenance should be considered (BVPI 224b) / 19.29% (was BVPI 097b) / 11% / 11% / 11%
Footway network where structural maintenance should be considered (BVPI 187) / 45% / 52% / 52% / 52%
Principal road network where structural maintenance should be considered (BVPI 223) / Not available due to measuring issues / To be developed when baseline is available
WGA indicator / Yet to be established
Reduce the impact of new development on the environment