Three-year plan voted through as report lays bare city living in 'most challenging times' since WW2

Peterborough City Council will unveil its new three-year forward plan for a sustainable city council – after ‘Covid has caused untold tragedy and economic damage.’

The Sustainable Future City Council Strategy 2022-2025 will set out proposed plans for leadership, design and organisation at Peterborough City Council.

The three year strategy outlines how to deliver the administration’s long-term vision for the city and was revealed at the Extraordinary Cabinet Meeting at The Town Hall on 30 September.

‘Fiscal restraint’

The author of the report, Matt Gladstone, Peterborough City Council chief executive outlined in the proposed strategy: “We are living in arguably, the most challenging times facing Peterborough since the Second World War.

“Coronavirus has caused untold tragedy and economic damage and with a decade into austerity the city faces many more years of fiscal restraint.

“Meanwhile, a cost-of-living crisis, mainly driven by inflation and exponential price increases across all sectors is putting further demand on an already fragile support system and which is most felt by our communities.

“A different response, yet within the safety of a tried and tested model is required, one that builds on the huge opportunities presented to us by the city and do so in a way that empowers staff and partners to showcase their innovation and creativity.”

The proposal says that Peterborough City Council will require ‘detailed service delivery plans’ backed up by ‘outline business cases’.

Basically, it means, there are four outcomes the council wishes to achieve – and for every one of those goals, there will be an a dedicated officer to be held accountable for hitting or missing big milestones.

What are the four outcomes set out in the strategy?

Economy and Inclusive Growth - the council has said it wants to maximise economic growth and prosperity for Peterborough as a ‘City of Opportunity. It wants to do so in an ‘inclusive and environmentally sustainable way’, together with city partners and communities.

Peterborough Places & Communities – the local authority wants to create ‘healthy and safe environments’ where people want to live, work, visit and play, enabled by effective community engagement and strong partnerships.

Prevention, Independence & Resilience – the council aims to provide help and support for Peterborough residents early on in their lives, preventing them from slipping into crisis.

Supported by a Sustainable Future City Council – finally, this means adjusting how Peterborough City Council ‘works, serves and enables’, informed by strong data and insight capability, led by a culture of strong leadership.

Council needs to change

Co-author, Jens Gemmel von Döllinger, Sustainable Future City Council director went on to add: “We will then monitor our performance and improvements against a set of agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – and then we can measure our outcomes and the social progress we make in our city.

“Macro-economic circumstances and the pandemic have revealed characteristics that have been hidden in plain sight, but which now need to be tackled.

“These structural inequalities hold too many of our communities back and they drive the demand our services are struggling to afford to meet - understanding and then tackling the root causes of service demand is therefore absolutely key.

“We also need to change because what the council has done in the past is no longer good enough in meeting what our residents need and expect today.

“Our city residents are at the bottom of too many league tables - people in the city die earlier, have poorer health and lower levels of education and skills than in most other cities. Too many are insufficiently skilled, too many are in low paid work, too many struggle to find suitable accommodation to live in.”

Leader of Peterborough City Council, councillor Wayne Fitzgerald, said: "I understand that not everybody will 'buy into' our particular way of doing it, but we have a mandate through the people of Peterborough to improve their lives and tackle these challenges that we face.

"I think this document sets our clearly what we are trying to achieve and I call upon my fellow Cabinet members to endorse the ‘Sustainable Future City Council Strategy 2022-2025’."

Cabinet members unanimously voted to endorse the strategy.