Agenda item

Councillor Paul Davies, the Corporate Portfolio Holder, will set out his priorities for 2023-24.

Councillor Carol Pattison, the Cabinet Member with responsibility for the Learning, Aspiration and Communities Portfolio, was in attendance at the meeting. Her portfolio included crime and disorder and community safety, the scrutiny of which fell within the remit of the Committee.

She explained that her key priority in this area was working with women and local organisations and understanding their lived experience to drive culture change and ensure services respond appropriately. This tied in with the priority within the Communities Partnership Plan to tackle violence against women and was also a priority for the Mayor of West Yorkshire.

There was a desire to address the cause, rather than focussing on dealing with the symptoms or outcomes of the violence, and this would be supported by a number of programmes of work with partners, including the adoption of a pledge to encourage action in respect of the culture within their organisations.

Councillor Paul Davies, the Cabinet Member with responsibility for the Corporate Portfolio presented his priorities for 2023/24 as follows:

Finance –

·       Measures were being taken to address the current challenges facing the Authority and achieve financial stability, including plans to reduce the cost base and to increase income, but with the clear aim that the provision of the services and support that residents need will continue.

·       Prioritisation and consideration of need would be inevitable.

·       There were well-established structures for reporting and information was being shared with a cross-party group.

·       Reviews of targets, including the achievement of savings, were being undertaken, at a minimum, on a monthly basis.

·       More in-depth reviews, with input from scrutiny, would be undertaken into any specific areas of concern.

Cost of Living –

·       Continued to be a focus in light of continued pressures on local people, with a particular concern currently being food inflation.

·       Approaches would address the short, medium and longer term and would be integral to the Council’s work across all directorates.

·       Creation of resilience within communities was very important in order to establish sustainable solutions.

·       There was also a continued commitment to support and develop the local economy and regeneration.

Assets –

·       A core portfolio of retained assets would be developed with an understanding of what was needed to facilitate the provision of services and good working conditions within the financial constraints.

·       Capital receipts from disposal would be considered alongside measures to reduce revenue spend on maintenance.

·       Short and longer term solutions would be considered in each case.

·       Community asset transfers would be considered, where appropriate,

·       A focus on maximising the use of assets to ensure that they were being fully utilised.

Questions and comments were invited from Committee Members, with the following issues being covered:

·       In respect of the affordability of the regeneration plans for Huddersfield Town Centre, the risks had been carefully considered and it was believed that these investments were crucial to the creation of more economic wealth and the support of residents in maintaining a vision and hope for the future. Re-phasing of gateways had been undertaken and an assurance was given that the finances would continue to be reviewed. It was noted that the Growth and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel would be maintaining a detailed overview of the district’s major regeneration projects.

·       In addition to the economic and other factors, such as the impact of the pandemic, that would affect all local authorities, there was a whole range of key elements which varied across different authorities but which had a cumulative effect, these included the levels of reserves and levels of income (from business rates and Council Tax), the level of deprivation, pressures from demand continuing to rise in a number of services areas and the distribution of funding by central government. It would be helpful if this could be looked at retrospectively on a regional and national basis to understand how the current position for local authorities had been reached.

·       The Cost of Living Action Programme could be shared with Committee Members.

·       Where issues of sustainability were being experienced by groups that had been party to a community asset transfer, work was being undertaken to identify other community groups that might be able to take over.

·       The crucial role of the voluntary and community sector, and the importance of partnership working with the Council and the need to ensure sustainability and resilience was recognised.

·       Pre-decision scrutiny of the Asset Management Strategy was included within the Committee’s Work Programme.

·       The targeting of resources towards those with most need was supported.  More affluent areas tended to be more resilient than those in more deprived areas in terms of the voluntary and community groups and this should be taken into account.

·       It was noted that there could be pools of deprivation within otherwise affluent communities and also that the loss of key people within a community group could have a significant impact.