Council business plan

What is the business plan?

The business plan is the document that sets the overall strategic and financial framework for the council's services and is updated annually.

This year, rather than the council plan being a published document, we have posted it onto the council's website enabling us to keep it up-to-date more easily and cost effectively.

Council Business Plan 2016-21(2018 Update) (pdf 684kb opens in new window)

What is the vision for the East Riding?

Despite the challenging financial climate, we continue to have high ambitions for the area and its significant opportunities and potential. We also continue to strive to remain one of the top councils in the country.

To focus on this aspiration we have established a simple and powerful vision for the East Riding:

Your East Riding... where everyone matters

What are the council's priorities?

With the increasing pressures on budgets, it is more important than ever that we focus on the things that matter most in the East Riding. We have five corporate priorities to ensure we gain the most use of our limited resources. 

The council's five corporate priorities are:

Growing The Economy - Working with others to support sustainable economic growth and strong communities, ensuring the East Riding is a great place to invest in, live, work and visit.

Valuing The Environment - Responding to climate change, developing our infrastructure and safeguarding our heritage.

Promoting Healthy Lifestyles- Helping people to stay healthy, strong and fit for the future.

Protecting The Vulnerable  - Supporting in times of need, protecting from harm and improving the quality of life.

Helping Children And Young People Achieve - Supporting and inspiring children to raise their aspirations and reach their potential.

How are we responding to change?

The public sector, and in particular local government, has experienced a period of unprecedented change and uncertainty, with no indication of when this period may end. The pressure on resources, brought about by the largest public sector budget cuts in history, is immense, and comes at a time of continuing increases in demand from vulnerable people, a substantial growth in the number of older people living in and moving to the East Riding, and an increase in extreme climate-related events.

Our ability to continue to deliver services and the key actions we plan to prioritise during the life of this plan is dependent on how well we address the enormous financial pressure the sector is facing. We have made savings of £158.3m since 2010 and need to find at least a further £40.3m from our base budget (i.e. permanent savings) over the next four years.  

Despite this pressure, the council is continuing to meet the challenges it faces head-on. Our approach to the reductions in public spending has been to take early action to reduce costs so that savings can be fully realised when the funding cuts are made. 

We began to make planned savings as early as 2009 and we have a strong track record of delivering both planned budget reductions and budget efficiencies through business transformation and sound management. However, this becomes increasingly difficult over time. 

How does the business plan fit into the bigger picture?

The planning framework ensures we use resources effectively and take into account how we are performing and the views and priorities of service users, residents and the wider priorities of national Government when developing our services.

The East Riding community plan 2016-2021 is a plan for the whole of the East Riding shared by all those working together to improve the quality of life in the area and driving what is done in each of our organisations - this has been renewed this year.

The local plan is the name for the collection of documents that together provide the framework for managing development and addressing the key planning issues within an area. The local plan reflects the aspirations of local communities, guides investment decisions, as well as the quality and appearance of towns and villages, coastline and countryside and is used to determine planning applications.

Linked closely to the business plan are more detailed strategies and plans often focused on specific groups of people or functions to drive the delivery of the council’s priorities. Increasingly, many of these strategies are jointly developed and monitored with partners, for example, the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

Service plans are a tool to enable services to turn plans into action, monitor performance and effectively manage their business. The service plans are updated annually in the spring.

How much do we spend on our corporate priorities?

The financial plan includes gross revenue spending of £740.1m for 2018 -19.

How do we manage our finances?

The financial strategy sets out how resources will be used to deliver our strategic key outcomes over the medium term, whilst taking account of developments in national priorities.  It reflects the financial implications of other corporate strategies and is key to managing the financial impact of the risks to which the Council is exposed.

The key considerations for the financial planning process are:

• council priorities
• corporate strategies
• national priorities
• transformation projects/service reviews
• risk strategy.

Once a draft budget is prepared each year, there is wide consultation with all of the council’s Members, the Schools’ Forum, local strategic partners, business ratepayers and trades unions.

Consultation is also undertaken with a variety of local people through our annual budget event.

How was the council tax level set this year?

For further information visit the council tax and what it pays for page.

What is our capital investment programme?

Our capital investment programme  covers such things as engineering works to highways, property maintenance and coastal protection. Despite the funding reductions, the council's capital programme is still significant, and is forecast to be in the region of £467m for 2018/19,  and future years. We will continue to seek external funding, but will need to prioritise future capital investment based on our corporate priorities.

How do we monitor our progress?

We manage our performance very closely through a comprehensive performance management framework which operates across the council. This ensures that Members and council officers are able to make informed decisions that will drive service improvement. This process is also closely linked to our planning framework which ensures that resources are used effectively in support of the council’s priorities.

Additionally, residents will be kept up-to-date with progress in Your East Riding  through stories about the real differences we are making to people in the community.