Solid plans lie at the heart of all that we do and help us to steer a clear path to where we need to be over the course of the next 12 months, while identifying any challenges and opportunities along the way.
Rethinking the way we do our planning can be just as important, and as an enterprising council we are always looking to adapt and embrace new ways of thinking.
This year the council has changed the way it conducts strategic planning by implementing a new Integrated Strategic Planning approach.
As part of this new approach we have identified a set of strategic objectives and supporting actions, setting out key activities we must deliver in 2024-25.
You will find these 33 strategic objectives, all aligned to one of the 5 outcomes, in the refreshed plan from page 20.
This new approach supports the alignment of the budget to the council’s priorities, ensuring that our ambitions match our capacity to deliver.
This is hugely important due to the challenging financial situation that we, along with councils across the country, continue to face.
We have always been and remain a well-run and prudently managed council, but factors beyond our control, including higher than anticipated inflation, fuel and energy costs and a continuing increase in demand for adult social care and children’s services continue to put enormous strain on our budget.
In autumn 2023 we announced a number of strict cost-control measures after an in-year overspend of £46.4m was forecast. We acted quickly to put these measures in place and the forecast overspend reduced to just under £33m by November with work continuing to bring this down. The council is also considering a number of budget saving proposals in order to set a balanced budget for 2024-25.
However, this will not solve the issues in the longer term and we anticipate having to make tough decisions in the coming months.
We recognise that the high cost of living continues to affect Derbyshire households and businesses too, putting them under a great deal of pressure.
We are working hard to ensure support gets to those who need it most during these challenging times. We have again funded a warm spaces programme, making £150,000 available to groups to support people who are feeling lonely or struggling to heat their homes this winter. We continue to deliver Welfare Rights advice and have approved funding of nearly £400,000 to Rural Action Derbyshire to enable them to continue supporting affordable food projects across the county.
Despite these difficult times, it remains as important as ever to continue our climate change work, and we are committed to reducing the harmful levels of greenhouse gas emissions.
Locally, we have seen more frequent extreme weather including significant flooding in parts of the county, causing extreme disruption to residents, damage to homes, businesses and the county’s transport and highways infrastructure.
To achieve our ambitious target of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions generated by the council to net zero by 2032, or sooner, the council has been working hard to review and rationalise our land and building assets and reduce emissions from operations such as street lighting and travel for council business.
These and other actions have enabled the council to achieve a 70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from its own estate and operations since 2009-10.
And we’re delighted with the progress of our ambition to help facilitate the planting of one million trees across Derbyshire by 2030. Over 400,000 trees have already been planted, and this will be boosted following our successful bid to Defra to create a community forest – called Derbyshire’s Heartwood Community Forest.
What is very clear in our refreshed Council Plan is that we continue to be ambitious for Derbyshire and our aspirations are as strong as ever.
Good news has come in the shape of the proposed East Midlands Combined County Authority which has moved one step closer to reality after the granting of Royal Asset to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, paving the way for the creation of the EMCCA and the region’s first Mayoral elections in May 2024.
We are extremely proud of our county, and we are confident that by working with communities and partners we can achieve the objectives set out in our refreshed Council Plan and therefore support our residents and communities to thrive.
Our focus overall remains on delivering value for money and putting Derbyshire residents at the heart of all that we do.