Communities Directorate​ service plan for 2025 to 2026

What we do

The Communities Directorate covers a broad portfolio of services. These have a real impact on our customers, be those internal or external.​

This includes:

• leading on statutory services such as elections and waste collection
• managing key internal infrastructure, governance and processes such as legal services, digital and ICT
• leading on the delivery of the construction projects to create additional school places (100 school places) across 3 sites and to work in collaboration with the Department for Education to deliver the new 100 place autism provision as part of the Safety Valve Programme
• delivering corporate communications to safeguard and enhance the organisation's reputation
• coordinating the development of the council’s strategic plan, corporate policy, projects and performance management framework 
• taking action to maintain community cohesion, advance equity and inclusion and develop strong resilient communities

Service context​

The budget challenges are well known and will impact on service delivery in relation to the savings identified for the 2025 to 2026 financial year. The directorate risk register identifies the relevant risk areas for the year with mitigation where appropriate.

A focus on developing cohesive, resilient communities and climate change are high priorities for the directorate. This is threaded through the Council Plan and this service plan.

Current climate​

A corporate restructure has resulted in the property division moving into the Place directorate and Communities and Policy team moving into the directorate.

The merger of library services into the wider customer services offer has now taken place. By merging these functions, we can now move forward with the creation of Community Hub Libraries. These can serve as the primary access points to council services, fostering a more integrated and cohesive service offer. This approach:

• increases operational hours 
• makes sure that library spaces are used for a broader range of community activities and events
• allows for better use of digital technology, enhancing the overall customer experience and providing seamless interactions with all council services

This model promotes social bonds, addresses isolation and makes sure that the library remains a vital part of the community infrastructure.

Key drivers

Key drivers for this directorate are:

• new legislation as part of the Environment Act will need to be considered in 2025 to 2026 as implementation of some aspects of the Simpler Recycling element were due to be introduced from March 2026
• new legislation continues to be introduced in the Public Protection Partnership -  these additional duties tend to come with short term funding which then create pressures once funding is withdrawn - in 2025 to 2026 this will include:
  • product safety and metrology
  • tobacco and vapes
  • renters rights
  • crime and policing and terrorism
• changes to legislation from the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill and the  government launch of a digitisation plan to overhaul artificial intelligence (AI) use in the public sector, aiming to save £45 billion annually by improving productivity and efficiency

The team will be working with partners to develop a Communities Strategy in 2025 to 2026, supporting our ambition for working directly and jointly with residents, developing resilient and cohesive communities.

The Community Engagement and Equalities team annually publish equality information on our services and workforce and publishing equality objectives at least every 4 years. A new set of equality objectives will be adopted in 2025 to 2026.