Purpose

This report updates Cabinet on the progress made in delivering our Corporate Strategy 2023-27 in 2025-26. It also shares the key Local Government Association (LGA) Corporate Peer Review final report, following the council’s initial visit by the LGA in July 2025 and follow up in April 2026

Decision

That Cabinet:

1)  Notes the progress in delivering the Corporate Strategy during 2025-26 as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

2)  Notes the recommendations made in LGA Corporate Peer Challenge Progress Report in Appendix 2 to the report and progress toward these recommendations.

Reasons for the decision

Council adopted a new four-year Corporate Strategy at its meeting on 20 July 2023. The document set a new direction for the council, reflecting the aims of the administration elected in May 2023. It provides a clear approach to deliver the council’s activities and priorities.

The Corporate Strategy is the Council’s overarching strategic plan. It sets out what we plan to do, how we plan to do it, and how we will measure performance over the next four years. The Corporate Strategy framework is set out below:

1.  We have one overriding purpose - to improve people’s lives. This brings together everything we do, from cleaning the streets to caring for our older people. It is the foundation for our strategy, and we will ensure that it drives our commitments, spending, and service delivery.

2.  We have two core policies - tackling the climate and ecological emergency and giving people a bigger say. These will shape our work.

3.  To translate our purpose into commitments, we have identified three principles. We want to prepare for the future, deliver for residents and focus on prevention. These, in turn, help us to identify specific delivery commitments across our services.

On 20 July 2023, the council adopted an updated strategy which highlights a number of key priorities driven by our principles. These set out how we will improve people’s lives over the next four years:

Delivering for local residents

Focusing on prevention

Preparing for the future

• The right homes in the right places
• More travel choices
• Clean, safe and vibrant neighbourhoods

• Support for vulnerable adults and children
• Delivering for our children and young people
• Healthy lives and places

• Good jobs
• Skills to thrive
• Cultural life

The report brings together the work undertaken to deliver the Corporate Strategy in 2025-26, including reference to relevant performance indicators to measure progress as agreed by Cabinet in July 2024.

Performance reporting is conducted against the council’s strategic indicators, as approved by Cabinet on 11 July 2024. The indicator set provides a basis for assessing performance against the delivery of the Corporate Strategy 2023-2027. A new set of Strategic Indicators was agreed in July 2024 to give a better balance of performance across the key services.

Alternative options considered

None.