To approve the refresh of Herefordshire’s Sustainable Community Strategy for recommendation to Council.

The Head of Partnership Support presented the report which sought approval to the refresh of Herefordshire’s Sustainable Community Strategy for recommendation to Council.  Cabinet was reminded of the requirement to have a Sustainable Community Strategy and was advised that the current strategy, which covered the period up to March 2010, required refreshing in light of achievements to date and new challenges that Herefordshire was currently facing.

Cabinet was advised that the Herefordshire Partnership had agreed to undertake a substantial review of the Strategy during the coming year in order to reflect ‘place’ rather than the strategic themes as was currently the case.  The Partnership Board further proposed that the refreshed document would have a lifespan of a year from April 2010.

The Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny was invited to comment and referred Cabinet to the observations outlined within the report.  Specific emphasis was given to the need for the Strategy:

·         to address the critical issue of affordable housing, which was vital to the wider wellbeing of the public;

·         to emphasise the importance of continuing to improve educational standards and to provide opportunities for young people returning to the county

It was additionally highlighted that consideration needed to be given to limiting the cost of the publication by confining the use of colour reproduction to the front cover.  Concern was expressed that one part of the Strategy’s strapline ‘everyone is someone’ did not fully capture the previous wording of ‘everyone matters’.

The following points were raised by Cabinet:

• The importance of partner organisations owning the Strategy and ensuring the co-ordination and alignment of investments, ambitions and other strategic documents.
• The close connection between the Sustainable Community Strategy and the Local Development Framework (LDF) was highlighted and it was stated that the comments received from Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be captured for inclusion within the current LDF consultation. 
• The Cabinet Member Environment and Strategic Housing requested being involved in finalising the draft for recommendation to Council (outlined in recommendation b).

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

(a)     agreed the draft Sustainable Community Strategy, subject to amendments reflecting the views of Overview and Scrutiny Committee; and

(b)     agreed that the Leader in consultation with the Chief Executive, finalise the draft for recommendation to Council.