To review performance for Quarter 1 (Q1) 2024/25 and to report the performance position across all Directorates for this period.

The cabinet member for finance and corporate services introduced the report.   It was highlighted that this was the first report in respect to the new Council Plan 2024-28 and the associated Delivery Plan 2024-25.

It was highlighted that 88% of the 162 milestones had been completed or were on track. Key capital investment programmes were noted; planning permission had been received for the Museum and Art Gallery; the Shirehall, Library and Learning Centre remained on track for an opening in October 2026; five properties had been purchased for the Single Homelessness Accommodation programme; phase 1 of the road resurfacing programme was completed; £1.2m had been spent on maintenance on schools; new gritters were now on site in Rotherwas; the new waste collection vehicles had been purchased. 

It was noted that the Hereford City Centre improvement programme had ended which included; the Public Art across the City; Widemarsh street enhancement works; City greening projects; market stall gazebos; High Town improvements; shop front grants scheme and CCTV enhancements. The joint Autism Strategy for Herefordshire and Worcestershire was received positively by the Health and Wellbeing Board.

It was highlighted that 12 grants had been awarded through the Safer Communities Fund, investing over £900,000 in prevention-focused projects for children and families. Additionally, Herefordshire received £736,000 from Arts Council England for a three-year cultural development project. 

Regarding the Council Plan themes: 

People, it was highlighted that out of the 50 milestones 8 were completed, 37 were on target and 5 were at risk of missing their deadline.   In terms of successes, it was noted that the Good Mental Health strategy was updated, £200,000 was secured for a pilot Cardiovascular Disease Workplace Health Check project, ‘Street Tag’, was launched to increase physical activity among schools.  Workshops had also taken place with Primary Care Networks to improve partnership working and increase referrals to the Stop Smoking service and specialist training has been arranged with maternity services to improve support for pregnant women. It was highlighted that 26 providers had been awarded a contract for Supported Living and 13 providers awarded a contract for Community Activities.  The Children’s Improvement Plan for 2024-2025 was approved by the Improvement Board and a revised action plan was agreed with the Council’s Improvement Partner, Leeds.  Plans have been set out with partner agencies for implementation of the new Working Together 2023 and the bid to open a new Special Free School was successfully progressed. 

Regarding the Council Plan theme of Place, out of the 52 milestones in the Delivery Plan, 4 were completed, 39 were on target and 9 were at risk of missing a deadline. It was confirmed that as part of the Local Plan, the Regulation 18 consultation across the county had been completed and the responses were being reviewed. However, it was raised that this will be subject to ongoing discussions with central government. 

Noted that consultant procurement was progressing for the new road strategy regarding the design review of phase 1 (southern section of western bypass) and scheme review of phase 2 (western bypass).  It was highlighted that a land agent had been appointed and a programme agreed in respect of land acquisition for phase 1.

The public realm services operating model for the new contract had been approved by Cabinet and soft market engagement is due to commence in Quarter 2.

It was noted that in Quarter 1 the Luston Wetland project won the LGC Award in the Environmental Services category and the RTPI Award for Best Project. It was also awarded Highly Commended at the MJ Awards for Leadership in responding to the Climate Emergency and for Best Mitigation Project at the CIEEM Awards.

It was highlighted that progress had been made on the Leominster Heritage Action Zone Project following the successful procurement of a contractor. The council had also delivered the Nature Recovery Network mapping and developed guidance for the management of the council’s tree and hedgerow stock to enhance our environment.

It was noted that a new waste contract is due to start in the next quarter. In the meantime, improvement in recycling rates had been seen due to increased composting at household recycling centres. Furthermore, significant work had gone into the Carbon County Reduction activities which is a key priority within the new Council Plan.

In respect of the Council’s theme of Growth it was highlighted that out of the 39 milestones in the Delivery plan, 1 was completed, 32 were on target, 5 were at risk of missing a deadline and 1 was not on target.

Regarding the council’s objective to develop employment land across the county, it was confirmed that a multi-discipline design team had been appointed to develop designs for Ross Enterprise Park.  Additional employment land opportunities were being explored and £25k had been allocated to market towns to undertake feasibility studies.

The Herefordshire and Worcestershire Group Training Association were unable to secure the necessary financing for the construction and site acquisition to establish a new Centre of Excellence at Skylon Park. Therefore, the council are now evaluating alternative options by developing a Green Book business case to explore different funding models and solutions for this project.

It was confirmed that engagement with housing delivery partners were ongoing with work being undertaken through the Marches Forum to identify barriers and solutions to growth for high quality and affordable housing.  The council had tendered for masterplan architects to provide feasibility concepts around Merton Meadow, Essex Arms and Bus Station sites to form a multi-generational urban village.

It was noted that progress had been made in allocating UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Rural England Prosperity Funds. Applications for Community Infrastructure and Community Capacity grants exceeded available funding and were currently being appraised, with all funds expected to be allocated by the end of July (2025). It was confirmed that most of the Rural Enterprise and Rural Tourism funds had already been allocated, with the remaining funds being used for topping up community grant schemes.  Herefordshire had also been successful in securing Local Visitor Economy Partnership status.

Lastly, regarding the council theme of Transformation it was confirmed that out of the 21 milestones from the Delivery plan, 1 were completed and 20 were on target.

It was highlighted that significant transformation work was being undertaken in the digital sphere. Key projects were highlighted, notably implementation of OneDrive, data migration to Teams, and simplified login procedures as part of the Windows 11 upgrade, were all on track.  Also, improvements to the planning and regulatory, and HomePoint systems were underway. 

The new Workforce Strategy had been approved and launched and work was underway to improve and transform the way residents accessed council services.   Work was also progressing to procure a new telephony and website platform for the council. 

It was confirmed that the Office for Local Government (Oflog) has been established to provide information about the performance of local government to audiences in all levels of government and to the public.  Oflog will use the Local Authority Data Explorer to monitor local government performance.  It was confirmed that the Explorer covered six areas of performance: waste management, planning, adult social care, roads, adult skills, corporate and finance. However, due to some of the data being historic, the data published should be interpreted with caution. The key performance indicators selected by the council were outlined, along with the council’s targets and what was achieved for each.    

It was confirmed that Appendix A to the report provides the detailed status of all 162 milestones contained within the Delivery Plan 2024/25 across the four themes of people, place, growth and transformation.

There were comments from Cabinet members.

Regarding the percentage of children and young people’s social work assessments completed within 45 days, it was outlined that 3 members of staff were not at work.  It was explained that when this occurs factors would be considered such as reallocating the cases or holding the cases open on the basis the staff member will return imminently.  It was confirmed that lead social workers have a case load of 25 cases, when three social workers are absent 75 cases need to be reallocated.  It was confirmed that management action is in place to improve this going forward.

Group leaders gave the views of their groups. The report was welcomed, it was noted that good progress was being made on various fronts and the homeless accommodation purchase was received positively.  It was noted that the balance of the targets against the achievability were at the right level. 

It was raised that timescales for delivery should be considered and clarification regarding the ‘end points’ would be helpful.  It was also suggested that the council’s risk registers should be published with the performance reports to provide assurance that the registers are managed and have cabinet oversight. 

Concerns were raised that the council were holding back regarding no confirmation of government funding following the change in administration for the western bypass and southern link road.  It was suggested that the project should be paused until a new source of funding was identified and agreed with the Department of Transport.  However, it was highlighted that ‘phase 1 of the bypass’ (also known before as the southern link road) was cancelled at a cost of £22m.  It was also raised that consideration of active travel, walking, cycling and buses should be carried out before focusing on roads. It was raised that focusing on roads contradicts policies and plans already in place.

It was queried how the information could be reconciled regarding the thrive programme savings being marked ‘at risk of delivery’, when the relevant linked performance deliverables were marked as green (on target) in the report. 

It was raised that a performance measure for the KPI’s should specify the delay in being discharged due to no care package being in place at home, rather than the general delay in discharge to home. 

The shop fronts grant was raised, and it was queried if the threshold for the grant could be reviewed.

It was queried why booking slots were still needed at recycling centres. 

In response to the queries, it was noted that end points and risk registers would be considered when looking at how the reports could be improved. 

In response to ‘holding back’ (regarding the western bypass phase 1) it was confirmed that the council were determined to deliver the best for Herefordshire and will continue to engage with government regarding the necessity of the right infrastructure. 

In response to the query on recycling centre booking slots, it was advised that this query will be responded to specifically. 

Regarding the risk register, it was confirmed that this was being discussed at the Audit and Governance meeting (on 26 September in the afternoon).  It was further raised that the risk registers were not publicly considered by the administration that sets them.  In response it was noted that this would be considered. 

That Cabinet

a)    review performance for Q1 2024/25