Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Karen Blundell, Andy Burford, Elise Davies, Andrew Eade, Thomas Janke, Janice Jones, Gilly Latham-Reynolds, Tim Nelson, Gemma Offland, Peter Scott, Paul Thomas, John Thompson, Bill Tomlinson, Karen Tomlinson and Rachel Tyrrell.

None.

RESOLVED – that the minutes of the meeting held on 16 June 2022 be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

The Leader and Chief Executive will present this item and invite questions from the Assembly.

The Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive presented the Council’s programme for 2023-2024.

The presentation set out the Council’s five priorities and vision to protect, care and invest to create a better Borough. The Leader also touched on the work that had been delivered so far for those living and working in Telford and Wrekin since the local elections in May 2023.

As an organisation, the five priorities underpin everything the local authority has done and continues to do. The Council’s 10 year vision was created with the support of external partners to build a more inclusive borough and tackle inequalities.

Every child, young person and adult lives well in their community:

The Council have worked to provide continued support to communities through the Cost of Living Crisis with 1,000s of residents taking part in free or low cost activities including free swimming for under 25s and free swimming lessons for children. The Council also provided support to 3,000 households with the cost of food and 35 warm and welcoming spaces during the last winter. Among the projects highlighted was the ’10 by 10’ initiative, a national first, which has seen 2,100 children encouraged to take part in ten life-enhancing activities before the age of 10.

Members were also informed of the £25m investment into the continued expansion of school capacities across the Borough including Holy Trinity Academy and the creation of a new primary school in Allscott to meet the increased demand of growing population.

The Council were continuing to work with partners to develop support for the Armed Forces community and recently hosted a visit by the Duke of Edinburgh around the Borough’s local veteran’s cafes and the opening of the Veteran Trail by Queen Camilia earlier in the year.

Everyone benefits from a thriving economy:

This priority was a major focus of the Council as a business supporting local authority. The Telford Land Deal was signed in 2015 and has continued to deliver 1,530 new homes with 684 being affordable and 2,250 new jobs with many in engineering and manufacturing. The Land Deal has also supported the establishment of the first regional high tech food park NiPark and has delivered 15 council-owned starter units at Leasowes Court.

The Growth Fund has invested £100m into Telford and Wrekin’s economy enabling the Council to own £1b in assets and delivering a further 1,450 new jobs. The Station Quarter development has been a strong example of a partnership model with support from the Government’s Towns Fund and Levelling Up Fund. The development will see a much needed extension of the town centre providing education facilities, hotels and housing.

In 2019, the Council had previously committed itself to improving the Borough’s high streets and has provided numerous grants through the Pride in Our High Streets Programme, introduced to enliven, modernise and diversify Telford and Wrekin’s high street offer.

More recently, the Council have delivered a new Work Express bus link, providing affordable, direct and fast routes between South Telford  ...  view the full minutes text for item SA4

To provide Members with an update on the scrutiny work programme for the current municipal year.

The Director: The Director: Policy & Governance provided a brief overview of the work undertaken so far as part of the two year Scrutiny work programme. In particular, the Council’s scrutiny committees had looked at:

·         Elections Review

·         Corporate Catering

·         Equality and Diversity Strategy

·         Fly Tipping

·         Annual Safeguarding Partnership Report

·         Cost of Living

The programme allows for a degree of flexibility and could be adjusted to adapt to unforeseen priorities. Members were advised that the work programme is discussed at each scrutiny committee meeting and is available as part of the agenda pack.