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Cabinet considers the Council’s positive annual progress

Published: 18/05/2018

Cabinet Members will be asked to consider a report which covers performance and achievements against the measures, milestones and risks set out in the Council Plan for 2017/18 when they meet on Tuesday, 22 May. The Council Plan 2017/23 was adopted by the Council in September 2017. Flintshire County Council has performed well during the last financial year and proves once again that it is a high performing Council. This is another positive report with 83% of activities being assessed as having made good progress and 71% having achieved the desired outcome. Performance indicators show good progress with 57% meeting or near to period target. Risks are also being successfully managed with the large majority being assessed as moderate (63%), minor (8%) or insignificant (6%). Leader of the Council, Councillor Aaron Shotton, said: “Through the Council Plan, we prioritise areas and services that are important to our community. It is monitored throughout the year to assess whether we are going to hit our targets. Despite these unprecedented and challenging financial times, this Council continues to be a high performing organisation, and I am pleased that we have many achievements to be extremely proud of.” Some of those achievements include: · Successful establishment of an employee owned and charitable company, Aura, to manage leisure, libraries and heritage services in the county from 1 September 2017. Since that time, they have retained services and jobs while making a 10% efficiency in the budget in 2017/18 (full year impact of £0.574m). In addition, two major capital developments, at Mold Leisure Centre and the Jade Jones Pavilion in Flint, worth £2.4m will be completed this year funded by Aura at no cost to the Council or Flintshire residents. · Continuation of building new council homes by expanding the programme to Leeswood, Mold and Flint with 95 social and affordable homes built during 2017/18 with a further 31 units completed during April 2018. · Continuation of improvements to council houses with over £19m invested in 2017/18. The team installed 1,000 new kitchens, 1,500 new bathrooms, 100 central heating & boiler replacements and 250 homes received roofing other exterior improvements. · The 21st Century Schools programme continues with a major development of Connah’s Quay High School and a brand new junior school being built in Penyffordd to replace the current infant and junior schools. · Overall 2017/18 has seen 211 new business enquiries resulting in the creation of 2,341 jobs and five new social enterprises. 3,746 business people engaged with Flintshire in Business and Business Forums during the year. The proportion of business enquiries converting into investment continues to remain high at 89%, showing that Flintshire is a great place to do business. · Over 620 people completed programmes commissioned by the Council which deliver job and training outcomes. · Llys Raddington in Flint is nearing completion and will provide 72 units for extra care. · Universal Credit is one of the most significant welfare reforms introduced to date and Flintshire Connects have played a key part in the provision of support to those affected, dealing with 3,340 enquiries since its introduction in April 2017. · Securing funding for a new Household Recycling Centre (HRC) to serve Flint and Connah’s Quay and improvements made to other HRCs in the County. Resources continue to be challenging but, despite this, the Council has been able to set a balanced budget for 2018/19 by applying the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) solutions and taking a balanced risk approach to managing cost pressures and fluctuations during the year. Performance across the Council continues to be strong; over 57% of measures met or exceeded targets and half of all indicators which could be measured against last year remained stable or continued to improve. Flintshire County Council’s Chief Executive, Colin Everett, said: Despite intense funding pressures, and reductions in national funding, Flintshire has been creative and successful in achieving its aims for another year. Some projects are finished, some are on-going and will move into next year as Flintshire continues to reach and surpass its targets despite the continuing economic challenges.”