The Corporate Plan was adopted by the council in February 2016 and describes the key objectives that the council is seeking to achieve over the three years it covers, and the performance indicators that will show how much progress is being made.
The plan sets out what the council is aiming to achieve under seven priorities
1. Delivering sustainable prosperity for Cambridge and fair shares for all
2. Tackling the city’s housing crisis and delivering our planning objectives
3. Making Cambridge safer and more inclusive
4. Investing in improving transport
5. Protecting our city’s unique quality of life
6. Protecting essential services and transforming council delivery
7. Tackling climate change, and making Cambridge cleaner and greener.
The annual report has been published to make it easier for residents, businesses, partners and other stakeholders to see what has been achieved.
Some of the numbers that matter:
- The number of people facing homelessness increased last year but the council, through its proactive approach to the problem, was able to prevent 1,112 people from becoming homeless, compared with 787 in the previous year.
- The council improved the speed at which housing benefit claims are processed – reducing it to 13 days - at a time when some people are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.
- 415 new affordable homes were built in the city last year, through a combination of the council’s own house-building programme and delivery by other housing providers.
- More people from low income households attended the council’s community centres and leisure centres last year.
- The council did not achieve all the savings it had targeted from its transformation programme as quickly as it would have wanted.
- A shared waste collection service for Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire was established to reduce the waste team’s travel by up to 20,000 miles each year, cut traffic and emissions, and contribute to a £700k efficiency savings target over three years. Although most residents had a positive experience of this change, some residents suffered repeated missed bins.
Cllr Lewis Herbert, Leader of Cambridge City Council, said: “As the report shows, the council can be proud of the work it is doing to provide good quality services to residents and to support people who are struggling on low incomes in particular.
“Not everything has gone as well as we would have hoped. For example, I recognise that a number of residents were inconvenienced when we moved to a shared bin collection service. We are sorry that the changes did not go smoothly for everyone and we are determined to learn the lessons from that experience.”
Cllr Herbert added: “We are an ambitious council serving the needs of well-informed residents and it is our view that being transparent about our work is essential.
“Reporting numbers on issues that matter is a priority for councillors. Residents and others should all be able to access clear information about what we said we would do, what we have done and what more there is still to do. That’s the purpose of the annual report and I would encourage people to take a look at it.”
The annual report can be found at: https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/corporate-plan
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