Welcome to Trafford Council

Candidates Application Pack

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Content Page

Welcome Letter 3 Our Priorities and Values 4 About the Council 5 Political Composition 5 Leadership Team 6 The Executive 6 About the Area 6 Economic Growth 7 Place Shaping 8 Skills & Employment 9 Health & Wellbeing 10 Sport & Physical Activity 11

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Dear Candidate,

I am delighted that you are interested in our Social Work vacancy opportunities here at Trafford Council.

Our vision is all about our People and our Place and I’m totally committed to making Trafford a place that all residents can feel proud of. We want everyone in the borough to feel safe and welcome here and for businesses and communities to thrive. Our absolute priority is to address the stark inequalities in health and life chances and ensure that every child and young person has a fair start in life and families can prosper.

We have excellent parks and green spaces, thriving town centres and major cultural and leisure destinations including a dedicated arts centre, theatre and the Intu Trafford Centre – one of the UK’s largest shopping destinations. We are also at the heart of the commuter belt with Manchester Airport, and major UK motorway and rail networks on our doorstep.

Our sporting heritage in Trafford is an incredibly important part of our long history as is being the birthplace of the NHS. Our focus on improving the health and well-being of our people is directly linked to our Sports and Physical Activity Strategy to get every resident in Trafford moving more to aid healthier lifestyles.

We are also working closely with NHS Trafford CCG and with Providers to ensure that the totality of our resources are aligned to a clear and cohesive commissioning strategy that maximises the Trafford pound.

As a Council, we are open, collaborative and forward-thinking, exploring every opportunity to innovate and regenerate. Shaping our future communities with our partners through direct investment and collaboration, it is heartening to see that in the context of such significant funding challenges, our aspirations remain so high.

We already have a good story to tell and we are incredibly proud of what we do.

I hope that you will be enthused by the opportunity to join us and thank you again for your interest.

Yours Sincerely,

Cllr Andrew Western Leader of Trafford Council

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Our Priorities and Values

Delivering our promises: Bringing Trafford's priorities to life

Our Corporate Strategy sets out the seven main priorities we are working towards to help make Trafford a great place to live, learn, work and relax.

Our Values

Our EPIC values - Empowering, People Centred, Inclusive and Collaborative will act as a cornerstone for how we work with each other, our partners and our residents to deliver our corporate plan, priorities and ultimately our vision: “Working together to build the best future for all our communities/everyone in Trafford”

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About the Council

We are a vibrant forward-thinking council that puts ‘People and Place’ at the heart of everything we do.

We are involved with a range of exciting and innovative projects with private and public sector partners to ensure the borough remains a great place to live and work. These include the creation of the UA92 University and Civic Quarter regenerations. On a sporting level, the Cricket World Cup is coming to Lancashire CCC’s Emirates Old Trafford ground and we are also a host venue for the Rugby League World Cup.

The outstanding recent GCSE results in Trafford make our schools one of the best in the UK and are another reason why Trafford is one of the most sought-after areas of the country in which to live.

In addition, our One Trafford Partnership with Amey PLC provides a broad range of council services such as domestic and business waste collection, highway management and maintenance, parks and green space maintenance, facilities and estates management and a range of technical consultancy services. Since 2010, we have continued to provide high quality services across the borough – despite central government budget cuts. We have successfully reduced expenditure by £161.47m over this period, while having one of the lowest council tax levels in the country. This has been no easy challenge for a low funded, low tax authority like Trafford and has only been achieved by a strong culture of innovation and robust financial management.

Political Composition

Following the elections on 2 May 2019, Labour has majority control. We have an elected Leader and Cabinet structure. The full council is made up of 63 locally elected councillors representing 21 wards who make decisions on how to improve local services on behalf of residents. Political composition for 2019/2020: Party Seats Labour 36 Conservative 20 Liberal Dems 4 Green Party 3

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Leadership Team

We have a very talented and dedicated workforce across our seven new directorates. The day-to-day management of the council and its services is carried out by the Corporate Leadership Team.

 Sara Todd, Chief Executive  Sarah Saleh, Corporate Director of People  Richard Roe, Corporate Director of Place  Jill McGregor, Corporate Director of Children’s Services  Diane Eaton, Corporate Director of Adult and Wellbeing Services  Nikki Bishop, Corporate Director of Finance & Systems  Jane Le Fevre, Corporate Director of Governance & Community Strategy

The Executive

The Executive is responsible for all key decisions and the strategic management of services, and acts in line with the policy framework and budget of The Council. It consists of the Leader of the Council and nine other Executive Councillors, each of whom holds an Executive Portfolio. Most of the important decisions are made by the Executive collectively, although Executive Councillors can take some decisions individually within their area of responsibility.

About the Area

Trafford is a thriving, diverse, prosperous, and culturally vibrant borough at the heart of Greater Manchester.

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The borough is world famous for, and proud to be, home to the internationally renowned cultural and sporting attraction of Manchester United Football Club, Lancashire Cricket Club, Intu Trafford Centre, the famous cobbles of Coronation Street and the remarkable Imperial War Museum. We also boast Trafford Park, one of Europe’s biggest business parks, in our portfolio and have 14,000 businesses in the region.

We have huge plans and fantastic opportunities for investors and developers. Through our development plans, as part of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework, our ambition is to grow our housing stock, regenerate our towns, drive footfall into our town centres and further improve the local environment for our growing and young population.

Trafford has much to be proud of. Our council tax is one of the lowest in the North West and we are also renowned as the safest borough in Greater Manchester. Our schools are among the highest performing in the UK and we are the birthplace of the National Health Service.

Our borough is recognised as an economic powerhouse and, as a key player on the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, we continue to influence decision making, investment and future planning across the region. We are a key asset to the region, contributing more than £7.1bn to the Greater Manchester economy.

We are at the heart of the global internet infrastructure, due to our close proximity to the only internet exchange in the UK outside London. This unparalleled digital infrastructure has already attracted a multitude of digitally connected businesses to locate in Trafford – including Equinix Telecity’s acclaimed £25m data centre. Trafford has bold ambitions and plans to rethink the traditional problems faced by local authorities and respond positively to the challenges we face. With all this in mind, and much more, we are excited about what the future holds.

Economic Growth

With around 14,000 businesses, ranging from cutting edge digital and creative companies to advanced manufacturing and green technology, Trafford is the most economically competitive area with the most talented labour pool in the North West. It is economically diverse, hosting international businesses such as Kellogg’s, L’Oreal, Adidas, Unilever, and Procter and Gamble within Trafford Park – the first business park in Europe and still one of the largest and most successful.

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Excellent transport and motorway links are just one of the many attractions for businesses. Trafford is near Manchester International Airport, major national motorways and a proposed high-speed rail link which will connect it to the rest of the country in less than two hours. The development of HS2 on our doorstep, with the Manchester Airport station located within Trafford, will only make us more appealing. The borough is already served by the Metrolink and a £350m extension through Trafford Park is due to be completed by 2020. This will be vital for investment and employment, opening up greater commuter links in the area. This infrastructure will provide a further boost to the vibrant local economy, while respecting the outstanding natural and historical assets.

Our plan is to build 23,000 homes by 2035 and create 1.12m square metres of new employment space. Trafford is home to 14,000 businesses employing 163,000 people. Trafford Park is one of the largest and most successful industrial estates in Europe and employs around 38,000 people. We are one of the most economically competitive areas in the North of England with £7.1bn of economic output per annum.

Place Shaping

Trafford is just a stone’s throw away from Manchester city centre, making it ideally positioned for the millions of visitors it receives each year.

The Council plays an important strategic role in shaping the future communities with our partners, through our influence and our direct investment. This has seen significant investment in Old Trafford and Stretford, with the council being a key partner and investor in bringing forward an exciting new university.

University Academy 92, (UA92) is a game-changing initiative to establish a new model of Higher Education institution which brings together the best of academia, business, media and sport. UA92 is the brainchild of former Manchester United legends headed up by Gary Neville (the Class of 92) and is a unique partnership between Trafford Council, Lancaster University, Bruntwood and Microsoft, along with the Class of 92. UA92 will open to the first cohort of students in September 2019 and ultimately bring an investment of £170m into Old Trafford/Stretford and create over 600 new jobs. This will be the catalyst for the regeneration of Stretford and Old Trafford and will reshape the Civic Quarter adjacent to Trafford Town Hall and Lancashire cricket ground.

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Recent investment in the four town centres has provided great opportunities for new retailers and leisure operators as well as office based businesses and property developers. The town centres are great places not only to invest and work but also to live and enjoy, offering high quality housing, schools, parks and open spaces to provide for all our residents’ recreational needs.

We are investing commercially to help to secure new sources of revenue streams that will make us more sustainable and less at risk of central funding cuts in future so as to protect vital services that are valued and needed by our residents.

Our environment is also important to us; we are one of the greenest boroughs in the UK with 10 green flag parks and are the only local authority based in the North of England to be in the top 10 nationally for recycling. This supports delivery of our sustainability agenda, while also keeping the council tax down

Skills & Employment

We are extremely proud that our schools are among the best in the country and our young people achieve the best exam results – 52% of our population is educated to degree level or equivalent compared to the Greater Manchester average of 35%.

More than 94% of our young people attend good or excellent schools and we will continue to support and champion our schools so that they continue to thrive.

We’re acutely aware of the need for a skilled and available workforce and are making strides supporting employers and potential investors with the skills they need for their workforce. Through the ‘Trafford Pledge’ we help them to recruit the people they need locally and we work closely with Trafford College and other providers to ensure we have effective apprenticeship opportunities and support in place. We are also working with businesses by providing opportunities and access to resources to help them to establish and grow, with our town centres being revitalised.

Staff on our Business Relationship Programme proactively meets with strategic businesses in Trafford on a regular basis to ensure they are provided with the support they need. In partnership with the Business Growth Hub we are delivering the Start Smart programme through a dedicated advisor providing support for pre- start and newly established businesses

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Health and Wellbeing

Health and Social Care Devolution in Greater Manchester provides a landmark opportunity for Trafford to take control of decision making. We are currently in the process of developing a fully integrated health and social care system that will focus its precious and finite resources where they will ultimately have the biggest impact, through prevention.

Trafford’s early adoption of the Greater Manchester Population Health Plan is ensuring effective prevention services are in place and will be accessible for the borough’s most vulnerable population. We are embracing ambitious GM health targets such as the reduction of smoking by a third and to increase the proportion of residents who are active or fairly active to 75%.

Addressing inequalities are a key priority for the Council and outlined in the Health and Wellbeing Strategy. Healthy life expectancy in the most deprived areas in Trafford is around 16 years lower than in the least deprived. We recognise the opportunities to address these inequalities through action on the social determinants of health and are working with our partners to improve early child development, reduce poverty, support older persons to be independent and socially connected, and take action on air quality.

Our integration with the CCG, as well as our strong partnerships with public health providers, will enable us to take on these challenges with confidence.

Sport and Physical Activity

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Our sporting heritage in Trafford is an incredibly important part of our long history. Some of the world’s biggest sporting events have been witnessed at the home of Manchester United and Lancashire Cricket Ground, both iconic venues in Old Trafford. Next year, the area will also be home to an Ashes Test and the Cricket World Cup, while a bid has been prepared to become a venue for the Rugby League World Cup in 2021. This has brought local and international recognition that Trafford is one of the best sporting destinations in the world.

Trafford’s top class facilities and leading professional clubs help to maximise the economic benefit to the region and provide a catalyst for the 175 local sports clubs and associations to thrive in the borough, and support our residents and schools to enjoy outstanding access to a rich variety of sporting opportunities.

In April 2018, we launched our new Sports and Physical Activity Strategy which sets out our bold ambition to get every resident in Trafford moving more, every day. Physical activity has a direct and positive impact on health and wellbeing and will help to reduce the strain on our valuable health and social care services.

Underpinning the Physical Activity Strategy is a clear intent to support all those sports clubs to grow participation and community engagement so that more people can access opportunities to become physically active. We also have an ambitious investment strategy that will see more than £50m invested in modernising our leisure centres to ensure they serve a greater proportion of our communities and help to ease the strain on our health and social care services. This investment in facilities will see the imminent refurbishment of Urmston Leisure Centre into a state-of-the-art facility, and new leisure centres in Stretford, Altrincham and Sale to replace the existing facilities.

Our overarching aim is to make Trafford a place where residents start well, live well and age well by being more active.

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