Council chiefs hail ‘early progress on Council Plan’

City of York Council Executive members have fired the starting pistol on a wide range of council activity as the authority starts to deliver on its new Council Plan.

The Council launched its new 4-year Council Plan earlier this month, following its adoption by the full council meeting on Thursday 21 September.

The new plan lays out seven priority areas for the authority’s work against four key commitments - Equalities and Human Rights, Affordability, Climate and Health (EACH).

The Council Executive meeting last night, which can be viewed online, considered a range of topics for decisions, including the development of a new ‘York Local Transport Strategy’, delivering the Vision for the City Centre, upcoming Capital Projects and city centre access.

Cllr Claire Douglas, Leader of City of York Council said:

“Now that the commitments on which we were elected have been formalised in the new Council Plan and endorsed by full council, we are getting on with the work our plan prioritised. 

"This busy agenda, and these critical decisions demonstrate our ambition for the city, and the pace with which we are now moving to deliver for the people of York. We know there are some financial challenges in front of us, and some hard decisions, but we will be making progress on the Council Plan from the earliest possible moment.”

The details of all the decisions agreed at the meeting is available online, within the Executive agenda the topics covered included:

In Equalities and Human Rights

• Blue badge access – taking into account the new council plan, and city centre strategy, the decision was made that Hostile Vehicle Mitigation Measures will continue to operate, but that Blue Badge access will be permitted to Blake Street, Lendal, St Helen’s Square, Goodramgate (between Deangate and King’s Square), Church Street, Kings’ Square and Colliergate.
• Youth Justice Plan

In Affordability

• York Community Fund – the decision was made to establish a permanent community fund (the York Community Fund) to deliver community projects and growth, providing the city with the ability to raise funds to support future projects.
• A new Vision for the city centre – the ‘Vision’ for the city centre sets out an inclusive vision for residents and businesses in York. Officers will now work with other organisations within the Economic Partnership to collaborate and deliver the new Vision.
• UK Shared Prosperity Fund

In Climate

• Biodiversity Net Gain – including information on Local Nature Recover Strategy
• Development of a new ‘York Local Transport Strategy’ – the executive agreed the basis of the upcoming consultation (and the process it will take) that will be taking place from November. The outcomes of the consultation will be used to shape a strategy, which will be shared with Full Council in March 2024, before being presented to the Mayoral Combined Authority (and newly elected Mayor).

In Health

• Recommissioning of the Reablement Service in York
• York Approved Provider List (APL) Framework
• Capital Projects for Children, Young People and Education – multiple budgets were agreed to deliver future capital projects including £3m for school maintenance works and a total of £4.2m to improve existing spaces and build additional classrooms in schools in the city.

Cllr Pete Kilbane, Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Economy & Transport added:

"The new City Plan - "One City, for all" - is a coherent, strategic approach. It embeds the ‘EACH’ principles - our four commitments to the people of York that we will work to improve Equalities and Human Rights, Affordability, Climate and Health in the city. 

“While these are just the first steps, they are a clear signal of our intent to meet the challenges our residents, businesses and partners face in each of those areas.”