Every 4 years we develop a new Council Plan, refreshing it annually to take account of new developments, opportunities, risks and challenges, ensuring we are always on the front foot.
Our 2025 to 2029 Council Plan has been shaped by residents who gave us their views during a consultation last autumn and we are grateful to everyone who took the time to have their say.
Our clear vision is set out in our plan which will see us working as one council, with partners, residents, communities, businesses and other stakeholders, including the East Midlands Combined County Authority to improve lives across Derbyshire.
Well-documented challenges continue to face the council and others across the country, many of them beyond our control. These challenges are the backdrop to our new plan.
We continue to face extremely challenging financial pressures, which have stemmed from significantly higher costs due to inflation and the continuing rising demand for our crucial services, particularly adults’ and children’s social care.
However, coupled with demographic pressures, these challenges are likely to continue so it is essential that we align our available budget to our priorities and objectives, ensuring financial stability is maintained, while at the same time having the capacity to deliver.
This will mean making some tough decisions in the short-term regarding budget savings; and, over the medium to long-term, changing the way we work so we can deliver services which are more efficient and effective.
Despite our financial challenges we remain ambitious for Derbyshire, its people, communities and places and our plan sets out how we will deliver the best outcomes we can.
We will be looking to build on our strong service, which includes looking after 3,361 miles of roads, lending 2 million books and digital items via our library service, dealing with more than 40,000 requests for social care advice, information and assessments and looking after more than 1,000 children in our care. In addition, the council will continue working with the East Midlands Combined County Authority to maximise the opportunities presented by devolution for Derbyshire.
Our plan blends the delivery of good outcomes for residents with continued efforts to change the way we work, exploring new and innovative ways to mitigate challenging external factors and ensuring best value is a priority in all that we do. Our focus on delivering valued services for residents is why the drive for improved efficiency and effectiveness is at the heart of our new Council Plan.
While working on these longer-term changes, we are facing the immediate challenges head on, with a carefully planned savings programme of £98.6 million in place by the end of 2029 to 2030. This has inevitably led to difficult decisions affecting some of our services, but it is essential we live within our means.
Our plan sets out 3 key Outcomes that we are confident encompass all we hope to achieve for Derbyshire:
- people - empowered communities where people live safe, happy, healthy and independent lives
- place - prosperous, green and sustainable places with opportunities for all
- council - a resident focused, efficient and effective organisation delivering value for money
What we will do over the course of this plan is set out as strategic objectives and supporting actions. You will find these 24 strategic objectives, aligned to one of the 3 outcomes, in the plan from page 20.
Whilst we face significant financial challenges we believe our new Council Plan will enable local people to achieve their aspirations while also supporting each other within their communities, will ensure we modernise and transform how we operate and help us to use and continue to build effective networks internally, with local people, with partners and with the government.