Gedling Plan 2016-2019 Serving people Improving lives www.gedling.gov.uk Contents 01 3 Introduction 02 4 The people and the place we serve 03 5-6 The services we provide 04 7 What matters most to our residents 05 8 What we’re here for 06 9-10 How we’re organised How we’re doing 07 11-12 08 13-14 Financial Position 09 15- 31 Our Priorities for 2016/2019 and how we plan to address them PEOPLE PERFORMANCE PLACE 32 10 How we manage our performance 11 33 Contact us 2 01 Introduction 01 Welcome to our latest Gedling Plan, covering the Although we retain a positive outlook, continued period 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2019. The plan sets reductions in our funding make it increasingly difficult out how the Council working with its partners intend to maintain service standards and invest in new to:- developments. By the time we reach the end of this plan, Gedling’s Government grant will have been reduced by £4.3 million or 49% over a period of • Improve the lives of people who live in Gedling ten years. So as well as ensuring that we focus on the things that matter most to local people, we’re • Support local businesses also becoming increasingly commercial in order to generate new sources of income, for example, by • Provide high quality and excellent value for providing services to other public bodies. money public services We hope you find the plan of interest. We rely heavily on the support of a wide range of public and private sector partners and also on the excellent but often As we look ahead to the next three years, there are a under-valued contributions of numerous individuals number of exciting initiatives we will be progressing. and community organisations that give so much to These include delivery of the long-awaited Gedling make Gedling such a great place. Access Road, providing hundreds of new homes, improving Arnold Market and Carlton Square and If you have any comments, questions or ideas, please creating visitor attractions and facilities on our new get in touch. We’d love to hear from you. We’ll be Gedling Country Park. reviewing and publicising our progress on a regular basis and you can keep up to date with this through Tackling loneliness and isolation will also be a key our website www.gedling.gov.uk feature of our work over the next three years, having become one the top challenges of our time. It will form part of a much wider programme of activity to create an even more compassionate Gedling, an attribute that we’re aiming to nurture and develop such that it becomes something that our Council and community is known for and proud of. John Clarke John Robinson Leader Chief Executive 3 About Gedling Borough The people and the 02 place that we serve Gedling borough lies on the outskirts of Nottingham City and covers 120 km2 Latest estimated population is 115,638 Just under 9% of our population is from black/ minority ethnic groups Just over 53,000 Increasingly ageing households population – 23,000 people are aged 20,600 young over 65 - 45% of people aged these are aged 0-15 years over 75 51% of our residents are female Life expectancy is higher than the national average at 79.5 Around years for males 2,000 and 83 years for businesses females are based in Gedling 4 About Gedling Borough The services we 03 provide At Gedling Borough Council we: Manage an Empty 60,000 annual budget of bins and £12.6 million 13,000 glass recycling boxes each week Manage 35 Handle just over parks and 32 9,000 play areas Housing Benefit claims each year Clean 578 km of roads Collect over 1,383Kg of litter from our streets each year 5 We also... The services we 03 provide Welcome just under 950,000 Provide visitors to our leisure centres 1,115 public each year car parking Help around 250 individuals spaces at risk of becoming homeless resolve their situation each year Deal with around 630 planning applications each year Carry out around 450 environmental health inspections of food premises each year Handle Have over 800 approximately licenced taxi 180,000 drivers telephone calls to our contact centre each year Issue approximately 105 disabled facilities Assist 29,000 customers each grants each year through the Council’s year customer services team 6 About Gedling Borough What matters most 04 to our residents In the 2015 Gedling Conversation our residents told us that these are the most important things to them: Condition Access to of roads and quality and of health pavements services Appearance and cleanliness of the environment Feeling safe Activities and services for residents aged 65+ Quality and Standard range of of local shops schools 7 What we’re 05 here for Although we are responsible for a large number and wide range of local services, many of the things that matter to residents are the responsibility of others. Things like GP waiting times, the condition of roads and pavements and the quality of local schools. Therefore, we do not limit our interest to only those services we are directly accountable for but rather seek to make a difference in all aspects of community life. In other words, at the centre of what we do is: “Serving People, Improving Lives” Our Vision What we’re aiming to create We aspire to be regarded as a great Council by the people and businesses we serve and the staff we employ, by making a positive difference to people’s lives and creating opportunities for everyone to achieve their full potential. What we stand for and the way we go about our business A competent Council that delivers on its achieving value for money promises, acts professionally and can be A compassionate Council that reaches trusted to provide good quality out to the lonely and marginalised and A co-operative Council that listens to encourages others to do the same and involves its citizens, partners and A considerate Council that recognises employees in playing an active part in and respects difference and is sensitive creating a prosperous future to the impact of its actions on others A commercial Council that is innovative in its use of resources and focused on Our Values 8 Labour 25 Conservative How we’re50 Liberal06 Democratorganised1 Our Councillors We have 41 Councillors representing 19 wards 25 Labour 15 Labour Conservative Conservative Liberal Democrat1 Liberal democrat The Cabinet Our Cabinet has a Leader and six Cabinet members. They are all members of the majority Labour Group. Each Cabinet member has responsibility for a portfolio of services and activities and has the authority to make decisions within their area of responsibility. The Leader of the opposition group attends Cabinet meetings. He/she can participate in discussions but can’t vote. Full Council and other Committees A number of committees deal with specific business areas of the Council such as Planning and Licensing. Overview and Scrutiny Committee holds the Cabinet to account, the Audit Committee oversees financial propriety and the Standards Committee promotes high standards of conduct by Councillors. Council, Cabinet and committee meetings are held at the Civic Centre and almost all are open to the public. You can find the dates of all the meetings at www.gedling. gov.uk/councillorsmeetings. Other representatives There are also 2 MPs and 10 County Councillors representing our residents. 9 How we’re 06 organised Our Staff Planning & Economic Growth Chief Executive • Legal Director of We employ • Elections & Organisational 509 staff Director of • Leisure Members’ Development Health & • Public Services & Democratic Community Protection Services Wellbeing • Organisational • Housing Development • Community • Customer Relations Services & Communications Deputy Chief Executive & Director of Finance • Financial Services • Parks & Street Care • Waste • Transport • Revenues & Benefits • Audit & Asset Management Our Partners Key partners from across the public, private and voluntary sectors come together at the We want the best for our residents but we can’t Gedling Leaders’ Forum and a number of other achieve this on our own. The things that make partnerships exist to ensure a co-ordinated for a good quality of life – like decent housing, approach to the provision of services. These good schools, a safe environment and healthy include the Employment and Skills group, South lifestyles – are things the Council looks to Nottinghamshire Crime and Disorder Partnership secure in partnership with others such as Parish and the Developers’ and Landlords’ Forums. Councils, Nottinghamshire Police, Gedling Homes and Nottingham North and East Clinical We also work with Gedling Youth Council to help Commissioning Group. us and our partners develop services that affect young people. 10 07 How we’re doing In the 2015 Gedling Conversation we asked residents’ opinions on how we’re doing 79%of households who 64% of households who responded responded are satisfied are satisfied with the way with their local area as a Gedling Borough Council runs place to live things 82% 68% of households who responded of households who responded are satisfied with our waste and feel well informed about recycling service Gedling Borough Council and what we do When asked to describe Gedling Borough Council the top three things residents said were they thought we were accessible, fair and responsive 11 07 How we’re doing Overall crime Recorded anti-social behaviour dropped rate reduced by 75% since 2010 by 23% since 2010 We see over 80% of our one stop customers within 15 Membership of DNA fitness mins scheme increased by 19% since 2012 Just under 21,300 of our residents exercise regularly We collect over 98% of Council Tax and Business Rates We collect over We reuse, recycle and 540kg of waste from compost over 38% of each household each year household waste Number of days taken to process new Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit claims has reduced from 8.3 days to 4.3 days since 2010 12 08 Financial Position What we spend and how we spend it We spend around £12.6 million a year on an ongoing basis on a wide range of services.