To agree to the current draft Corporate Plan for 2005-08 being used immediately as the basis for the preparation of the Council’s Annual Operating Plan and directorate and service plans for 2005-06.

THAT the new corporate planning process should be put into place with immediate effect and that the structure and broad content headings for the Corporate Plan for 2005-2008 should be as proposed in Appendix 2 to the report.

In publishing its updated current Corporate Plan at the end of June 2004, the Council declared its intention to review its corporate planning process so as to ensure clarity about priorities and that all the Council’s resources are deployed effectively and efficiently to achieve them.

There are numerous possible different approaches to a corporate planning process.  The principles of best practice are plain, however: clarity of purpose and priorities; directly related and meaningful performance indicators and targets; one process which links targets, actions, risk management and the resources to achieve them; and one which enables internal and external audiences to understand what an organisation is trying to do and whether it is succeeding.

These principles have to be applied in a way which makes sense for this Council at this time. Since there is no ideal model and that we need to learn by doing, what matters is making a start with a robust system that makes sense to the Council and making a commitment to its progressive review and improvement.