Agenda item

LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS AS REQUIRED BY LAW

(Papers relied on to write the report, which do not contain exempt information and which are not published elsewhere)

Decision

RESOLVED

To approve the Quality of Life Strategy 2022 – 2024 and Action Plan and the development of demonstrable outcomes to be included in Appendix 7 of the Strategy.

Reason for the decision:

The development and implementation of a Quality of Life Strategy is a key objective in the Council’s Corporate Delivery Plan. The Strategy has been developed and is presented for approval by Cabinet and adoption by Full Council. 

The Leader began by thanking the Assistant Director for People Services for her hard work in preparing the Strategy and accompanying Action Plan.

Cllr W Fredericks then read out the following statement from the Portfolio Holder for Wellbeing, Cllr V Gay, as she was unable to attend the meeting in person:

‘The Quality of Life strategy is the result of a good deal of work and thought and I recommend it to you. The strategy seeks to define quality of life. It analyses the research which underpins quality of life, it examines the various tables of comparison which measure accomplishment in this area. Perhaps most important of all, it suggests a profile for North Norfolk so that we may have an understanding of where our weaknesses may lie. A good District Council, such as ours is, does not simply work to pick up the rubbish, collect taxes or deliberate planning decisions. It has the competence to make life better for its residents. It can choose to provide safe and stimulating play areas for children, public conveniences, places to walk in the out of doors freely and easily, it can help people in getting to medical appointments, make it more likely that one may find a decent job, make it less likely that people are homeless. I might add many more things, but if you read the action plan you will see the picture. The strategy has now been studied within and without the District Council. It has received support from Councillor Blathwayt's Scrutiny Panel, from the members of the new Health and Well Being Partnership, Public Health and Norfolk Police. The action plan is a live document; it will alter as the situation changes and as we make further accomplishments. It is a foundation for future work rather than a blueprint. Finally, there's the matter of objective measurement. There are many measurements which we might apply - how many people went swimming last week? How many children under three were taken to one of our play areas? Is this number declining? How many hectares of woodland do we have? Do we have plans to increase this? What about allotments? But to do a good job in the future we must dig deeper? How would these measurements demonstrate that our residents had better lives? That is what we need to work on. Which things which lie within our power would be most helpful. That's the next step for us. In closing I would like to thank Karen, Sonia, Steve, for their work towards the strategy. I'd also like to thank Cllr. Dr. Holliday who has already made a very insightful contribution to the thinking about measurement. I hope that you can all support this.’

The Leader referred to the Engagement Strategy which was also being developed and asked how that was progressing. The Director for Communities replied that it was going to Overview & Scrutiny Committee on 12^th May and would then come through to Cabinet for approval.

Cllr J Toye said that a huge amount of work had gone into preparing the Quality of Life Strategy and a lot of interesting information was coming out of it. He referred to page 42 and asked about monitoring reports and the annual review and which committee would consider these. The Assistant Director for People Services replied that the quarterly monitoring reports would be provided via the Portfolio Holder’s report to Full Council.   The route for the Annual report had not been agreed yet but it was likely to go to Cabinet and Overview & Scrutiny Committee. She added that community engagement was key to the success of the strategy and that was why the Engagement Strategy was being developed in tandem with it. She said it was likely that the QoL Strategy would be reviewed in full after 4-5 years.

Cllr Toye said that transport ran as a thread through a lot of the services provided by the Council. He added that he had noticed that ‘transport and connectivity’ was listed in the Action Plan in a couple of places and he queried whether it would be better to see it strengthened and listed in one place. The Assistant Director for People Services replied that it was recognised that transport and connectivity cut across several areas, including sustainability as well as impacting on mental health. She said that it had been listed in the areas where it was felt that the Council could make a difference.

Cllr A Fitch-Tillett referred to additional stress levels in coastal erosion and flood risk zones. She asked whether this should be highlighted more in the strategy and action plan. The Assistant Director for People Services replied that the Thriving Places index was a national index so it didn’t recognise whether an area was a coastal area but focussed on rurality. It was for this reason that the strategy referenced the Health in Coastal Communities report, although it was acknowledged that this was more focussed on health and wellbeing rather than quality of life. She added that quality of life in coastal communities would be looked at in more detail as the action plan developed and her team would work with the Coastal team to explore these areas. It was felt that the action plan needed a robust evidence base, hence the initial focus on the Thriving Places index.

The Director for Communities said that the recently formed Shadow Health & Being Partnership provided an opportunity to work with partners on matters that affected the whole District but also on specific local issues.

Cllr L Shires said that quality of life underpinned her reasons for standing for election. She felt that it was a really exciting document and would help improve people’s lives. She referenced the mental health situation and said it was extremely disappointing to learn of the recent inspection of the region’s mental health trust. However, the work of primary care network were working very hard to bridge the mental health gap and this work should be applauded. She gave the example of Birchwood Medical Practice which showed how a local group could work closely with the community to achieve real change and benefits through the Healthier North Walsham programme. She concluded by saying that the District Council could provide support and guidance and this was where its strength lay.

Cllr Dixon sought clarification on whether the recommendations from the Scrutiny Panel had been accepted. The Director for Communities replied that he was happy to work with Cllr Dr Holliday to develop the outcomes further. He added that one of the complexities of quality of life and the accompanying indicators, was that so many things could influence the outcomes so it was important to be able to demonstrate NNDC’s contribution. He queried the use of the term ‘subject to’ and asked whether agreement to the Scrutiny Panel recommendation could potentially hold up the approval of the strategy if the measures were not developed. He wanted to be sure that it did not put a caveat on adoption of the Strategy. The Assistant Director for People Services suggested that an additional paragraph was inserted to state that work would be undertaken to develop the measures further.

Cllr J Toye commented that it was a living document and he supported the recommendation but it could not be agreed at the current time which measures and outcomes would be included. Cllr Dixon replied that there was no expectation that such detail would be agreed now.

Cllr W Fredericks said she welcomed the offer of help from Cllr Dr Holliday.

Cllr J Rest referred to page 60 and ‘Housing’ and the recent announcement from the Government regarding ‘right to buy’. He said that the Council should be mindful of this and the possible impact that it could have. The Chief Executive agreed and said this was a good example of an issue that was not within the gift of the District Council to being about change. The issues regarding mental health and the downgrading of the trust also fell into this category. The Council could work with partners to address such issued burt it must be recognised that there were some outcomes that could not be influenced.

It was proposed by Cllr W Fredericks, seconded by Cllr T Adams and

RESOLVED

To approve the Quality of Life Strategy 2022 – 2024 and Action Plan and the development of demonstrable outcomes to be included in Appendix 7 of the Strategy.

Reason for the decision:

The development and implementation of a Quality of Life Strategy is a key objective in the Council’s Corporate Delivery Plan. The Strategy has been developed and is presented for approval by Cabinet and adoption by Full Council.