East Hants launches new green corporate strategy
| East Hampshire District Council has launched its new corporate strategy and agreed its budget for the next financial year. The council has re-emphasised its dedication to wellbeing and welfare as well as stepping up its game in relation to the green agenda and doing everything it can to tackle climate change. This includes putting the necessary resources in place to ensure that the council can reach net zero carbon in its operations by 2050. The council is also striking out and challenging central government thinking about the planning system and pushing to ensure the highest possible environmental standards can be achieved through the planning process. Its new Local Plan will therefore challenge the boundaries set by government to deliver a far reaching, innovative plan that delivers zero-carbon homes in the right places. To drive these ambitions a two per cent Council Tax increase has been agreed. This represents £139.13 at Band D, about 5p a week. An increase of two per cent is about half of that permitted to the council without triggering a referendum and councillors believe it is the best way to safeguard the council’s existing services and deliver its bold ambitions. The council’s property investments continue to perform well, despite the pandemic, and it has made savings across all services of around £977,000. The council will focus on the following priorities over the next three years: A fit for purpose council A safer, healthier and more active East Hampshire A thriving local economy with infrastructure to support its ambitions An environmentally aware and cleaner East Hampshire The council is determined to get its own house running as smoothly and as efficiently as possible so that it is fit for purpose and can ensure that it is delivering the very best for its residents, businesses and communities. This will see it move from a generic service provider approach to a resident demand approach by better understanding the real needs of its residents so that it can deliver positive outcomes which have tangible impacts on its communities and improve the day to day lives of its residents. The organisation will realign its resources to its new political priorities so that it can tackle demand early and shift capacity towards prevention and enable it to be more focused around the real and demonstrable needs in the community. Cllr Richard Millard, Leader of EHDC, said: “This strategy sets out how we will focus on what really matters to our residents – based on insight and evidence. “We are all about wellbeing and doing everything we possibly can to create a district where our residents have the best possible quality of life. “We will focus on our residents and plough our energy into those who most need us. Last year we put £1 million into funding community projects dedicated to our most vulnerable residents over the next three years and this year welfare remains an absolutely key focus of our work. “Our green plans are bold because we have a lot to do to improve our environmental performance – so we have earmarked £300,000 to support our Climate and Environmental Strategy – which shows that we’re putting our money where our mouth is. “I really want our Local Plan to influence the design and sustainability of new developments across the district, and we plan to launch a Green Team to look at the council’s own work and see where improvements can be made on a day-to-day basis. “This budget puts aside £250,000 for Planning Services to help us deliver our greenest ever Local Plan which we hope will see developers building zero carbon homes. “We are also investing £150,000 in planning enforcement to ensure developers stick to the rules and so that we have the teeth to see it through.” |