To receive a verbal report from the Leader of the Council.

The Leader of the Council provided a summary overview of the presentation shared with the agenda. The previous Corporate Plan was running out in 2024 and the Leader outlined the former priorities which formed this plan. Following the issues caused by the pandemic, the Leader felt it pertinent to refresh and have a new plan which looked to the future. The new Corporate Plan now included five priorities, with two additional priorities added to the three from the former plan.

The first of these, providing the best start for children and young people, had been formed, in part, due to the impact felt by young people during the pandemic. The Leader felt that the youngest members of the Borough had given up the greatest sacrifice during the pandemic and were met with significant uncertainty growing up. The second new priority, the Leader outlined, was to celebrate the cultural power of the Borough of Trafford. The Leader highlighted the rich heritage within the borough, with several streams of work possible for the Council to operate as a key stakeholder.

The Leader noted the ‘we wills’ that sat behind each priority, adding that one additional ‘we will’ had been added to the children and young people priority, which was including the voice of the child.

Added further, the Leader recognised the journey the new Corporate Plan had been on, starting in Summer 2023, hoping that it would be signed off at the Council meeting on the 17^th July. Concluding, the Leader was pleased to recognise the consultation process, which had returned 77% of residents who responded, either strongly agreeing or agreeing with the priorities set out.

The Chair was pleased to see such a strong consensus to the plan and asked how the Council planned to assess and monitor the progress of the Corporate Plan. The Leader of the Council responded that the Council was looking to reflect the things that were within its control. Periodical updates were to come to the Executive on the performance of the plan, with a RAG rating being used to rate performance against the targets set.

Councillor Axford felt the plan was good and very clear. Councillor Axford was unsure how the Council could measure whether residents were happy, and asked how it would be. Councillor Axford was glad to see the culture, sport, and heritage priority. Finally, on climate change, Councillor Axford felt there was too much focus on ‘greening’ Trafford Park, suggesting that housing and transport emissions too, need to be looked at. Councillor Axford also felt there was too much focus on adaptation in the climate crisis priority, and felt the Council needed to be proactive rather than reactive.

The Leader recognised that there may be better ways of measuring wellbeing rather than the word happy, however, stressed that the Council wanted to ensure that people enjoyed living in the Borough, making wellbeing crucial to what the Council did.

On ‘greening’ Trafford Park, the Leader of the Council highlighted the difference of Trafford to other boroughs in Greater Manchester (GM), due to a significant level of the emissions coming from Trafford Park. The Leader recognised the importance of housing and other infrastructure yet felt that due to the significant emissions contribution of Trafford Park, it had to be prioritised.

Regarding adaptations, the Leader agreed the Council needed to become more proactive, however, due to the impact of the climate crisis on Victorian infrastructure in the Borough it resulted in the Council being more reactive. Looking for the future, the Leader added that things such as the design guide and the truly affordable net zero narrative coming out of GM, would create opportunities for the Council to be more proactive. 

Councillor Axford followed up by asking where information on what the Council was doing on youth provision could be found. Councillor Axford also asked whether Mental Health could be included in the healthy and independent lives priority.

On mental health, the Leader said this could be taken away. Regarding youth provision, the Leader highlighted the children and young people’s strategy which would be coming within the Municipal year. The Leader also referred Members to the youth service set up by the administration early on.

Councillor Hartley liked how the new priorities were positive and aspirational. Councillor Hartley queried the thinking around not having addressing poverty and destitution as a priority, as it had previously been and whether this was a change in focus from the Council or just a change in presentation. The Leader reassured Members that tackling poverty remained of significant importance to the authority. It was hoped that each priority addressed the issue individually. The Leader referred to the children’s, housing, and healthy lives priorities, and how these each made efforts to address poverty. A focus on ‘for everyone’ was the central thread throughout the five priorities, so the Leader felt this showed the plan wanted to break down barriers, so that people could enjoy and have access to all opportunities across Trafford.

Councillor Coggins referred to the flower diagram on slide seven of the presentation, suggesting that four of the priorities were a priority the Council was trying to achieve, whereas the climate crisis was an action and whether this was intentional, suggesting that if so, addressing was too gentle. Councillor Coggins added further that whilst recognising that the intention was there, she did not see inclusion and celebrating diversity within the priorities. The Leader of the Council felt comfortable about the climate crisis wording and had been agreed upon by the Executive and senior officers. On cohesion, the Leader felt this came through in each of the five priorities, such as building cohesion through culture, where the Leader referred to the new Director of Cultural Transformation. The Leader concluded by reassuring Members that these were five strategic priorities, which did not mean that other areas the Council had focused on were being dropped.

Regarding priority three, Councillor Hartley referred to final ‘we will’ which ensured accessibility for all by improving highways, streetlighting, footpaths and resurfacing, asking whether the administration was in a place to change anything on this approach or was it a statement of continuation. The Leader responded that there was significant work going on with accessible junctions in the Borough. The Leader recognised that issues such as pavement parking and width of pavements needed to be investigated. It was confirmed that work with partners from One Trafford and Transport for Greater Manchester would be taking place.

Councillor Coggins referred to the language in priority one and four, specifically the use of encouraging and promoting, highlighting discussions which had taken place in Public Health which had suggested that people know what they should be doing and rather should be being empowered, informed and supported. The Leader took the point and highlighted how he was proud of the Public Health team in Trafford, specifically their work on vaping with children and young people. As such, the Leader felt confident in the officers to support the Administration with what they would like to achieve.

Councillor Coggins finally referred to priority four and, similarly to Councillor Axford, felt there was a lot of talk about businesses, and less so around residents and housing energy. The Leader of the Council referred to the new five-year environment plan coming from Greater Manchester, which would be looking at what the wider population could do to support climate change over the next five years as well as the behaviour of the population. The Leader highlighted how the ‘we wills’ in the presentation were areas which were controllable by Trafford, with bigger projects coming at the GM level.

Councillor Axford saw the poverty point differently to Councillors Hartley and Coggins and felt that poverty was underlying in each of the priorities and took a positive slant throughout the presentation.

The Chair thanked the Leader of the Council for attending the meeting.

RESOLVED: That the presentation and update be noted.