business plan 2016-17 - south northamptonshiremodgov.southnorthants.gov.uk/documents/s14983/appendix...

South Northamptonshire : a great place to live SouthNorthantsCouncil @SNorthantsC www.southnorthants.gov.uk

Business Plan 2016-17Serve | Protect | Grow

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Appendix 6

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South Northamptonshire : a great place to live

South Northamptonshire Council – Business Plan 2016-17

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Welcome to South Northamptonshire Council’s business plan for 2016-17. The plan sets out the Council’s three strategic priorities which form our overarching 5 year Business Strategy. Below these are the key actions for the year 2016/17. This is a plan which looks to the future taking into account the priorities and aspirations of the communities who live and work in the District.

There are many challenges and opportunities facing our District but our key aim over the next 5 years is to be a financially sound, self-sufficient council which is resilient to change. This means we can deliver our priorities, maximise the use of our assets, broaden our transformation initiatives and have a more commercial focus.

We have already been proactive working with our partner Cherwell District Council developing shared working and looking at new ways of delivering services for our communities. Financial savings have been made over the past years and we will continue to be as innovative as possible to ensure the Council manages its day to day business even more effectively and transparently.

We want to see:

• the regeneration of the Market Town Centres

• better leisure facilities

• innovative and cost effective housing schemes

• improved parking for our towns

• our heritage and environment protected

• the District as a great place where people want to live and work

• a Council open for business

These are all part of our long term plan and vision for the District. Each year we will set out in the annual Business Plan what we want to achieve in the next 12 months to meet our long term goals.

Foreword

Sue Smith

Joint Chief Executive, Cherwell District and South Northamptonshire Councils

Councillor Ian McCord

Leader of South Northamptonshire Council


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South Northamptonshire is a mainly rural District, covering an area of approximately 244.78 square miles (26.8% of the area of the county), and with a growing population. The District consists of two historic market towns – Brackley and Towcester, 96 villages and 78 parishes.

Halfway between London and Birmingham, with easy access to the M1 and M40 motorways and to a number of rail stations, South Northamptonshire is a great location for commuters and businesses.

Rolling countryside, the canal network, stately homes and other natural and cultural attractions have helped the District’s tourism industry to grow. The heritage of our historic towns and villages is nurtured and protected with 55 conservation areas in place. We have high employment, low unemployment and many small entrepreneurial businesses as well as major employers including the Silverstone Circuit with its high technology motor sport companies. As a reflection of this the District is in the top 15, for the 3rd year running, as one of the best places to live in the UK (Halifax Bank of Scotland Annual Survey).

Our challenge is to ensure the District grows in a sustainable way: one that delivers a prosperous economy and thriving communities and where people want to live, work and visit. The Local Plan which came into effect in 2015 will support this and while embracing growth we want to ensure the character of our towns, villages and landscapes is protected and enhanced.

About South Northamptonshire

Serve the Residents & Business:• Maintain high quality waste and recycling services

• Provide enhanced leisure facilities

• Run cost effective business friendly regulatory services

• Provide support for voluntary sector

• Safeguarding the vulnerable

Protect the District:• Ensure the character of the District

is preserved

• Protect the built heritage

• Preserve the environmental quality of the District

• Mitigate the effects of High Speed 2 construction

• Develop and sustain access to local services

• Community resilience as part of emergency planning

• Prevent homelessness

• Delivery of the welfare reform agenda

• Deliver affordable housing

Grow the District:• Reduce costs of services

• Increase commercial revenue

• Develop partnership working further

• Increase council tax revenue

• Increase business rate revenue

• Increase tourism in the District

• Deliver Brackley, Silverstone & Towcester Masterplans

• Increase employment in the District

• Increase return on assets


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Our strategic approach to Business Planning: Performance, accountability and transparency

The table below shows the five year business strategy which sets out our long term priorities for the District. This strategy sits alongside the medium term revenue

plan and together they ensure that our resources and activities are aligned to our long-term strategic priorities of Serve, Protect and Grow.

Five year business strategy - Priorities for the five year strategy

Serve | Protect | Grow


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Agree priorities and set budget

The five year business strategy is supported by an annual business plan. This plan outlines the key actions for the coming year along with any associated performance measures. We want to show that we align our resources to the delivery of the business plan in the most effective way possible, whilst also providing a clear direction of travel for the Council, its employees and for everyone in our District.

Our business planning cycle is underpinned by budget reviews aimed at identifying opportunities for increased efficiency and performance. This process is led by locally elected members and the Budget and Financial Strategy Committee.

Improvement and Innovation The Council has robust plans to deliver improvement and increased efficiency given the challenging national economic circumstances currently being faced.

We have progressed a transformation programme that delivers both financial savings and prepares us to be a leading and thriving Council. We continue to work with our suppliers to identify procurement savings, reduce our costs, increase the amount of services that can be accessed online and generally improve our business processes.

Managing our PerformanceThe overarching 5 year Business Strategy, medium term financial plan, annual business plan, service plans and the appraisal targets of individual employees all demonstrate that the Council has a clear and robust “golden thread” between resource availability and delivery of the Council’s agreed priorities. This approach helps us to provide effective community leadership, and will demonstrate that we are adopting a more mature and commercially aware approach to running our Council.

Performance management represents an essential part of our assurance and accountability process. It ensures that we are focused on the delivery of our strategic and operational objectives and provides an effective way of demonstrating our achievements to local residents whilst also being transparent about the issues or challenges that we are facing.

Reporting our Performance We report our performance on a quarterly basis and it is reviewed by the Cabinet. Where performance issues and challenges are identified the Joint Management Team and lead elected members work together to deliver improvement.

Details about our performance and expenditure are available at www.southnorthants.gov.uk

consult with business and

residents

Develop service plans and monitor

progress


New Homes Bonus

Community Grant

Maintain high quality waste and recycling services• develop a recycling scheme for commercial waste

• maintain a high quality, cost effective and easy to use recycling service for households in the district.

Provide enhanced leisure facilities• deliver a new swimming pool for Brackley in 2017

• deliver enhanced facilities at Towcester and Brackley Leisure Centres in 2017

• support local groups to provide community recreation facilities

Run cost effective business friendly regulatory services and ensure that all services meet the needs of local business• carry out surveys to measure customer satisfaction levels

with our services and improve services to businesses

• deliver an interactive on line business page to allow businesses to effectively and efficiently access business support

• identify the blockages to development and investigate a range of solutions, in consultation with planning agents

Provide support for the voluntary sector• maintain support to the Voluntary and Community

Sector through the Community Development Grants Scheme and New Homes Bonus Grants Scheme where affordable

Safeguarding the vulnerable• work with Northamptonshire partners to provide the

most effective safeguarding support to vulnerable residents

• work closely with other partners and agencies around the Housing and Health agenda

Serve the Residents and Business

In the year ahead we are proposing to target our resources in the following ways to support the delivery of the five year business strategy:

Business Plan Priorities and Actions for South Northamptonshire Council 2016-17


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Protect the District

Ensure the character of the District is preserved and built heritage protected• ensure the submission of Local Plan Part 2 in

February 2018 following the Local Plan regulations for consultation in February/March 2016, consultation on the draft plan in December 2016 and consultation on the Submission Plan in July 2017

• adopt new design planning guidance as a Supplementary Planning Document by October 2016

• deliver an agreed programme of 8 conservation reviews in 2016/17

• meet national planning targets

Preserve the environmental quality of the District• complete Development Briefs for Furtho Pitt, West of

Watling Street and West Brackley by end of 2017

• work with Highways England to secure improvements to the A43 including – Abthorpe Roundabout, improved access to Silverstone Circuit, Brackley Junctions and tackling the dangerous crossing points onto local roads

• work with Highways England to secure early delivery of the Towcester Relief Road

Mitigate the effects of HS2 • continue to secure the highest level of mitigation to

address the impacts of HS2

Develop and sustain access to local services• continue our work with Northamptonshire County

Council and BT on the roll out of superfast broadband to connect business parks

• identify and implement on line services for customers

Community resilience as part of emergency planning• support local parishes and communities in developing

improved local resilience to emergency incidents in conjunction with Northamptonshire County Council

Prevent homelessness and deliver the welfare reform agenda• through a Housing and Homelessness Strategy we will

focus on tenancy support and debt and money advice services

• continue to implement the phased roll out of Universal Credit

• implement Welfare Reform changes during 2016/17

Deliver innovative and effective housing schemes• establish a Housing Company by September 2016 to

provide greater housing choice

• identify sites to create self- build housing opportunities in the District using the knowledge and experience gained from self build initiatives delivered by our partner in Cherwell


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Reduce costs of service• continue to implement the Organisational

Transformation Programme including further joint working, identifying savings and efficiencies in both the back office and customer facing services

Increase commercial revenue through new, innovative and entrepreneurial initiatives• identify commercial opportunities including providing

our services to others, opportunities for trading services and developing new services that generate income

• explore opportunities to generate income through the development of assets such as housing

Develop Partnership working further• develop a multi-agency Health & Well-Being plan which

reflects the rural nature of the district

Increase Council revenue• increase the council tax base through housing growth

by land allocated through the Joint Core Strategy, Masterplans and Local Plan Part 2 including: Brackley North, Brackley East, Towcester South, Norwood Farm, Wootton Fields and Northampton West

• secure business investment on land allocated for employment through the Joint Core Strategy, Masterplans and Local Plan Part 2 at key sites including: Turweston Road North, Silverstone, Grange Park, Pineham extension and Junction 16 of M1

• strengthen the two town centres by promoting vacant retail units and commercial premises for new investment

• take all opportunities to ensure that retained and pooled business rates income is maximised through robust and efficient identification of liability for business rates. Implementing strategies to attract, retain and grow businesses in the District

Increase business rate revenue• securing investments for land release for employment

through Joint Core Strategy, Masterplans and Local Plan Part 2 Sites: Turweston Road North, Silverstone, Grange Park, Pineham extension and Junction 16 of M1

• take all opportunities to ensure the maximisation of retained and pooled business rates income through robust and efficient identification of liability for business rates. Implementing strategies to attract, retain and grow businesses in the district.

• introduce a Business Liaison event with local business rate payers to develop and improve relationships between them and the Council. If successful this could be an annual event.

Increase tourism in the District• work with key attractions in and around the District

(Racecourse, Silverstone, Stoke Bruerne, Sulgrave, Salcey Forest, Stowe and Canons Ashby) to promote the area with partners and national groups

Continue to deliver the adopted Brackley, Silverstone & Towcester Masterplans• agree and implement a parking strategy for the towns

and wider District

• complete the Moat Lane Development through partnership working

• invest in Town Centres through Town Funds and increase the promotion of the towns as places to visit

Increase employment at strategic employment sites• work with UKTI on targeting inward investment by

encouraging business to our new strategic employment sites including: Turweston Road North, Silverstone, Towcester South, Grange Park, Pineham extension and Junction 16 of M1

• promote available units on our 63 business parks to shorten the vacancy period

Increase return on assets• through identification of core and non-core assets

develop an Investment Strategy to achieve better outcomes and returns from assets owned by the Council

Grow the District


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www.southnorthants.gov.uk SouthNorthantsCouncil @SNorthantsC

The Forum, Moat Lane, Towcester, NN12 6AD


To find out more about the Council’s performance, plans and priorities contact:

[email protected]

Performance and Insight Team South Northamptonshire Council

Or check out the website www.southnorthants.gov.uk

For general enquiries check out our website or contact customer services.

www.southnorthants.gov.uk

[email protected]

01327 322322

Getting in touch


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