Priority: Reducing Poverty
Priority: Reducing Poverty
Project Title / Start date / Target end date / Project Executive / Comment on progress / Q1 BRAG / Q2 BRAG / Q3 BRAG / Q4 BRAG /Implement Reducing Poverty Strategy / Apr 2014 / Mar 2015 / Andrew Seekings / The current action plan was refreshed to show current priorities that tie into the new Council Plan. The action plan was considered by Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee March and is due to go to Executive in June for approval.
Current socio economic data shows that there are issues around NEET young people within Allerdale with lack of opportunities for those in deprived areas. This has a knock on effect to other service areas such as housing and benefits. Cuts to public service budgets mean that some NEETs are slipping through the net and we need to look at enhancing the service for the youngsters within Allerdale through partner organisations and through commissioning. / G / G / G / G
Use Council assets to support the provision of affordable homes across the borough / May 2014 / Mar 2016 / Graeme Wilson / Banks Court Toilets has now been sold to Keswick Community Housing Trust (KCHT). KCHT will be converting the former toilet block into four self-contained one bedroom flats that will be let at an affordable rate. Works commenced in March 2015. The estimated completion date is summer 2015.
Positive publicity around this project will take place including press releases and BBC1 coverage on the Housing Enforcers documentary.
Draft costings for the Westfield Drive site have been submitted for final comment. Work will continue to finalise the exact details of the development prior to any release of land by the Council. / G / G / G / G
Support the formation of community land trusts to develop affordable housing across the borough / Apr 2014 / Mar 2016 / Graeme Wilson / Various meetings and discussions have taken place to identify community groups that may be interested in becoming a Community Land Trust (CLT). More work needs to be done to raise the awareness in other parishes across the Borough. With the start of the Housing Development Manager it is anticipated that more time can be spent driving the project forward.
To date there are five groups where encouraging discussions have taken place. However only one of these groups has requested more information / meetings (in Cockermouth).
The Cumbria Rural Housing Trust are leading on the promotion of Community Land Trusts and it has been decided that the CLT will write to The Cockermouth Town Council to establish if they are interested in becoming involved in the project or finding out more about CLT.
The team are working with Keswick Community Housing Trust (KCHT) where discussions are taking place to look at ways in which support can be offered for a planned larger scale housing development in the Keswick area. / G / G / G / G
Organise and deliver an a ‘building truly affordable homes’ competition / May 2014 / Mar 2016 / Graeme Wilson / Project is in development phase. / G / G / G / G
Bring empty properties back into life to provide more affordable homes across the borough / Apr 2014 / Mar 2016 / Graeme Wilson / There are currently 1046 long term empty homes in the Borough and to ensure the team prioritise the worst empty homes, work is being done to pull together those that have been empty the longest and using the priority scoring mechanism already developed, a "top 10" will be selected to target our attention for this project.
The team will engage with the owners of the "top 10" empty homes, develop action plans which may include possible purchase, grants, deadlines for bringing back into use and/or possible enforcement action.
Where funding is used to help bring the homes back into use, the homes will be brought back into use as affordable homes. The detail around this is to be developed over the next couple of months. / G / G / G / G
Priority: Economic Development
Develop Employment Strategy / Mar 2014 / Jan 2017 / Kevin Kerrigan / Issues and options stage has now been successfully completed.
Good progress has been made on site visits and initial assessment of employment sites.
Employment sites have now been sent off for evaluation by statutory consultees. / G / G / G / G
Use Allerdale Investment Partnership to make better use of Council assets for job creation and economic growth across the borough / Apr 2014 / Mar 2017 / Paul Shackley / Conditional contract in place for site in Maryport. Masterplanning project nearing completion for towns in Allerdale. Year 2 Investment Plan being prepared. / G / G / G / G
Develop Environment Strategy to support economic growth in a sustainable manner (Local Plan Part 1) / Apr 2014 / Dec 2015 / Kevin Kerrigan / Publication of the Annual Monitoring Report is on track – the Annual Monitoring Report has been published.
Work is progressing on the Developer Contributions Supplementary Planning Document. A working draft should be available by the end of June. / G / G / G / G
Develop (with partners) business start-up units and business support to SMEs and new start-ups / Apr 2014 / Mar 2015 / Nik Hardy / The feasibility study did not suggest immediately moving forward with any project to develop the business incubator units without further evidence and work to ensure that there is a waiting list and that this would not just be displacement of existing offer.
The next stage of this project if it is to be taken forward is to determine that there is sufficient evidence to make this a viable project. This would be required to enable us to access further funding.
BEC has agreed to sharing of information between ABC and BEC to help to identify need. It has been noted that land agents do not quantify need, only availability, which may make gaining a full picture challenging.
Pilot project (Fusion Go) in progress. / G / G / A / B
Support the development of the Port of Workington as a key strategic site / Mar 2014 / Jul 2015 / Kevin Kerrigan / The scope of this project has evolved in response to changing circumstances and it is no longer intended to adopt a development brief in line with the timescales envisaged. The land to the north of the Port of Workington will be included as a specific employment allocation within the Allerdale Local Plan – Part 2 taking into account ongoing discussions with potential end users wishing to develop land in this area.
Consideration will be given to the development of a wider masterplan/prospectus to include the land to the north of the Port of Workington as part of a wider employment corridor to include sites affected by the recent closures at Indoraman, Eastman Chemicals and Evonik Goldshmidt. / G / G / G / A
Priority: Town Centres
Develop a Commercial Retail Strategy / May 2014 / Sep 2014 / Paul Shackley / B
Take a proactive approach on derelict and empty properties across the borough / Jan 2014 / Dec 2014 / Kevin Kerrigan / 37 untidy sites dealt with in 2014. 14 sites dealt with without the need for formal action. Others are being progressed and could result in formal enforcement action should communications with the property owners not resolve the issues of concern. 12 untidy site notices served in 2014. 1 fully complied with, other 11 ongoing and continue to be monitored with communications with the property owners.
5 untidy sites dealt with in 2015. One of these sites is presently being renovated. 3 untidy site notices (section 215 notice) have been served to end March 2015. These 3 sites have been targeted following pro-active joint quarterly ‘walk-arounds’ of the town centres.
Continue to liaise with Housing regarding derelict and untidy properties and list of all properties to form a shared work base is still planned to be implemented.
Two untidy site notices which remain uncomplied with and to be recommended for direct action in accordance with agreed procedures.
Pro-active quarterly reviews of town centres ongoing. / G / G / G / B
Develop and promote the unique identities and assets of our towns / April 2014 / March 2015 / Nik Hardy / Allerdale Visitor Guide published and distribution of 10,000 copies underway. The Guide was serialised in the Times and Star newspaper.
Banner Sites - planning consent obtained for Cockermouth Main Street and local design competition underway. 2 banners have been put up to celebrate and promote Keswick market voted as 'best large market' at the 2015 Great British Market Awards. Sites have been identified for Workington and Maryport, with planning consent for Workington approved. Maryport application is under discussion with the Planning Officer.
Wigton Heritage Trail booklet produced in April in conjunction with Wigton Town Team. / G / A / A / B
Develop initiatives to support local markets / April 2014 / March 2015 / Nik Hardy / At a meeting of the Executive on the 15 April Members approved the appointment of Geraud Markets Ltd. to manage and operate markets on behalf of the Council for a period of 5 years. The new contract will come into force 1 June. Following a consultation exercise the Council will work with Geraud to create a new Markets Strategy and promotional plan to review and improve the markets offer across Allerdale.
Some excellent publicity has been achieved following Keswick being named Market of the Year in the ‘Best Large Outdoor Market’ category of the 2015 Great British Market Awards organised by NABMA (National Association of British Market Authorities). / G / A / A / B
Priority: Sports, Arts and Leisure
New leisure centre for Workington / Apr 2013 / March 2016 / Paul Shackley / Project currently on schedule and on budget. The build remains on target to contract completion date. / G / G / G / G
Run a series of sporting events leading up to opening of the new leisure centre / Apr 2014 / Mar 2016 / Charles Holmes / 2 of 4 GOTRI (community triatholon) events have taken place. Exploring linking in with Wigton Spring Fling in May and mini Maryport Olympics in the summer. These will be delivered as part of the Cumbria Sport Action Fund (£246,000) project which has been commissioned to the Cumbrian Sport and Physical Activity Alliance Foundation (SPAAF). Also currently exploring option for a Festival of Running in conjunction with the SPAAF and CN Group that will provide a large scale event and leave a legacy of running routes. / G / G / G / G
Develop an Allerdale Leisure Strategy leading to improved leisure provision across the borough / Jun 2014 / March 2015 / Charles Holmes / The Leisure Strategy has been approved by Executive and is now live. The project is now moving into Closure Phase. / G / A / A / B
Secure investment in the Helena Thompson Museum as a heritage attraction / Apr 2014 / August 2015 / Charles Holmes / Workington Heritage Group’s Business Plan has been approved and the money allocated. An operational plan has been drawn up with the aim to open the new building by 1 September 2015. / G / A / A / G
Priority: Creating a sustainable business
Maximise income through commercial trading / Sep 2014 / Sep 2016 / Andrew Seekings / A suite of projects is being developed to form the Commissioning and Commercial Programme and governance arrangements for these are being explored. A Commercial Board is in place to examine current and future performance. / G / G / G / G
Reduce costs through strategic commissioning and procurement / Apr 2014 / Mar 2015 / Andrew Seekings / Commercial and Commissioning Strategy has been developed along with an approach to deliver commissioning. The interim commissioning manager is currently reviewing 3 large contracts.
The Commissioning Manager job description has been written and job evaluated. / G / G / G / G
Deliver Customer Transformation Programme / April 2013 / Mar 2015 / Andrew Seekings / The Customer Transformation Programme will close in June, with the remaining service improvement challenges continuing into 2015/16 as part of a new programme of work.
The programme has delivered some significant changes in the way we serve our customers. / G / G / G / B
Deliver a workforce development programme / May 2014 / May 2016 / Zoe Pluckrose / There has been slow but steady progress on this project. The new Leadership & Talent Manager has been in post since February providing resource to bring the action plan alive.
132 employees from across the Council have been involved in developing our behaviours framework, which has been internally facilitated. This framework has now been launched and all managers are to receive training on appraisals, the training will be provided by our internal facilitators.
Graduate trainee started with the Council on 2 year programme in October 2014 and 5 apprentices started with the Council on a one year contract in January 2015. / G / G / G / A
Develop locality plans to address local issues across the borough / Jan 2014 / Mar 2015 / Andrew Seekings / Locality Profile documents have been used as the basis of discussions with local ward and parish members in each of the seven areas about local priorities. Workshop/discussion sessions were held with groups of ward and parish members in localities in September/ October 2014 and followed up with additional sessions in Jan 2015. A number of queries were raised by local members at these sessions and officers have been working to give responses to those.
Progress has been slower than anticipated in part because officer time has been diverted on to other projects and tasks. Draft Locality Plan framework documents will not be produced to meet the original deadline date on 31 March 2015. Suggested new date for completion of this project is 31 July 2015. / G / G / G / A
BRAG definitions: