Issue - meetings

Report of the Executive Director for People

The Cabinet considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources, which set out progress made since February 2015 on the Council’s commitment to keep Council facilities like libraries open during 2015/16 and proposed a period of consultation on proposals to deliver the Medium Term Financial Strategy target of £1m proposed by the City Centre First programme.

Since 2010 the Council had seen a huge and unprecedented reduction in its resources as Government Policy to balance the public sector budget led to massive grant cuts to Councils.  In 2016/17 the Council’s grants would be £94m per annum less than in 2010/11 and by 2020 this was predicted to rise to a reduction of £140m per annum.

It was clear that the Council needed to take a new approach to delivering and enabling services in the new and challenging financial context.  The new approach would ensure that the best possible services were delivered within the resources available.  Closer partnership working with statutory and voluntary agencies and the community would need to be part of this approach.

The Connecting Communities Programme was an ambitious and wide reaching programme focussed on a radical redesign of Council services so they were delivered together in one place in the communities and neighbourhoods where there was most need and within the resources available.  It replaced the City Centre First Programme and had been renamed to reflect more effectively the need for communities and other organisations to connect with the Council and others to deliver services.  Council service included within the scope of this programme included libraries, youth centres and services, children’s centres, play centres, community centres, public conveniences and adult education.

The Cabinet noted that the new approach presented an opportunity to trial more collaborative and participatory ways of working with Coventry people to strengthen relationships across communities.  As the approach developed, it would become the major transformation change programme for the Council’s People Directorate, which delivered a wide range of key frontline series to the City’s residents.

The report submitted proposed a period of public consultation on a set of ten specific proposals relating to play centres, Arena Park Library, Willenhall Library, mobile library services, library media fund, Central Library opening hours, community library opening hours, you services commissioning budget, public conveniences and community centres, to deliver the Medium Term Financial Strategy target of £1m proposed in the original City Centre First programme for 2016/17 and exceed this target on a full year effect by an additional £0.2m.  Proposals to achieve a further £3.8m savings needed for 2017/18 would be developed following engagement and further consultation.  In addition, it was recommended that a wide-scale engagement programme using innovative engagement methods should take place with residents, community groups and partner organisations over the next six months.  The focus of this work would be to co-produce and develop detailed proposals on the future of public services in neighbourhoods.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:-

1.  Approve a period of consultation from 7^th December 2015 to 1^st February  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64