Issue - meetings

The report submitted sets out – through its attached appendix – the final draft of the proposed Brent Borough Plan for 2015 - 2019.  The Borough Plan constitutes a community strategy for Brent and sets out how the Council, its partner services, local residents, local business and the voluntary and community sector will, working together, improve the quality of life for local people. The priorities and the promised outcomes identified are firmly rooted in what local people have told us they believe to be the most important things to be achieved.

The Borough Plan constitutes a community strategy for Brent and sets out how the Council, its partner services, local residents, local business and the voluntary and community sector will, working together, improve the quality of life locally. The Cabinet had considered the Draft Borough Plan at its meeting on 15 December 2014 and since then the draft document had been the subject of detailed discussion with partners in the statutory and voluntary sectors.  Members were now being asked to agree the plan.

RESOLVED:

            that the Borough Plan for 2015-2019 be agreed and the Chief Executive be authorised to make any minor changes before publication.

This report sets out – through its attached appendix – the first draft of the proposed Brent Borough Plan for 2015 - 2019.  The Borough Plan constitutes a community strategy for Brent and sets out how the Council, its partner services, local residents, local business and the voluntary and community sector – will, working together, improve the quality of life for local people. The priorities and the promised outcomes identified are firmly rooted in what local people have told us they believe to be the most most important things to be achieved. Nevertheless, the Plan was drafted before the closing date for responses and these all need to be considered before finalising the Plan.

i) that the progress made in developing the Borough Plan be noted;

ii) that the draft plan and the borough plan consultation findings be utilised as the basis for further discussion with partners between now and the formal adoption of the plan by Council in March 2015.

The Cabinet received a report from the Chief Executive. The report set out the first draft of the proposed Brent Borough Plan for 2015 to 2019. The Borough Plan constituted a community strategy for Brent and detailed how the council, its partner services, local residents, local business and the voluntary and community sector would work together to improve the quality of life for local people. The priorities and targets contained within the plan had been informed by an extensive programme of consultation which had been conducted over the past three months. The Brent Borough Plan provided a shared vision for the borough, detailed the priorities through which the vision could be achieved, as well as the promises and specific outcomes that would be focused on over the period April 2015 to January 2019. The plan would be reviewed and revised each year in light of the achievements made. With the agreement of the Cabinet, the draft plan would be used as the basis for further discussion with the council’s partners and the final Borough Plan would be submitted to Full Council for approval in March 2015.

Members sought further details of the consultation conducted and queried how it compared with the activities of other local authorities. Christine Gilbert (Chief Executive) explained that exhaustive engagement had been held to a degree far more comprehensive than was usual for local authorities. Several different tactics had been employed to ensure the widest possible audience was reached including small focus groups and a residents’ survey. The Leader added that responses to the consultation had been received via the website and local businesses had been engaged. The Chief Executive further explained that the draft plan had been discussed at the recent Partners for Brent meeting and very positive feedback had been received. It was felt that the plan had captured the key aims for the borough and illustrated the added value of working together with partner agencies.  Councillor Hirani welcomed the focus on partnership and emphasised the increasing importance of this for the council in coming years.

Councillor Warren, with the permission of the Chair, expressed the view that the priorities set out in the plan were as anticipated and questioned whether an extensive consultation had been necessary.

RESOLVED:

    (i)        that the progress made in developing the Borough Plan be noted;

   (ii)        that the draft plan and the borough plan consultation findings be utilised as the basis for further discussion with partners between now and the formal adoption of the plan by Council in March 2015.