The people of Cardiff elected a Labour administration in May 2022 to deliver on our manifesto commitments. They placed their faith in us to make Cardiff a Stronger, Fairer, Greener city.
The Corporate Plan 2023 to 2026 is an important document for my administration as it translates our Stronger, Fairer, Greener policy commitments into deliverable organisational objectives. In effect, it outlines the practical steps that we will take to turn our ambitions into reality.
A stronger city, a fairer city, and a greener city – these are the themes that have defined the work of the Council over the past decade, and they will be at the heart of everything we do over the next five years.
And we will be building on the excellent progress we have made over the last 10 years.
We have already delivered sustained improvement in the quality and effectiveness of Cardiff’s education system and invested millions in delivering a high-quality learning environment.
We have transformed the approach to tackling homelessness in the city, massively reducing the number of people sleeping rough on the streets, and delivered one of the biggest council house building programmes in the country.
We have helped establish Cardiff as a real Living Wage city, putting more money into the pockets of hard-working people, and established Cardiff’s first central business district right in the heart of the city.
These achievements – and many more – were made possible by ambition, principle and the hard work and dedication of a great many people.
The world, however, has changed significantly over the last two years, with the legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic deepening existing inequalities and creating new challenges. Some services have experienced ongoing loss of income whilst others are facing greater challenges and more complex issues as they support recovery. The lasting impact of the pandemic also remains keenly felt in schools, with attendance rates falling for a number of learners and a clear increase in the number of young people reporting poor mental health. These are challenges we must respond to.
The cost-of-living crisis is also placing real pressure on households across the city, hitting vulnerable individuals and families the hardest. Those in most need will look to the Council for support, and we will not let them down.
And across the country, local authorities are facing significant delivery challenges. With high inflation and soaring energy prices, the costs of delivering public services and investing in our buildings and infrastructure are all going up.
We have, however, faced challenges in the past and met them with renewed ambition and an unrelenting commitment to delivery. We will do so again.
This Plan sets out the steps we will take to deliver our agenda for the city, respond to emerging challenges and ensure the ongoing delivery of high-quality public services.
On education, it sets out our ongoing commitments to making every school in Cardiff a good school, to invest significant amounts in our schools closing the attainment gap. The Plan makes clear the actions we will take to deliver the best outcomes for some of the city’s most vulnerable children whilst delivering the reforms needed to ensure that service provision is resilient, sustainable and focused on prevention.
As well as becoming a Child Friendly City, we will continue to make Cardiff an Age Friendly City, delivering the support and investing in the services that people need as they grow older. Make no mistake, this will involve tackling complex systems problems with our partners to get people out of hospital as swiftly and safely as possible whilst also working to keep them living independently at home for as long as possible.
Having handed over the keys to almost a thousand new Council homes, we set out plans for delivering 4,000 new homes whilst ensuring that everyone in the city has access to a high-quality home.
On the economy, we make clear the approach to leading the economic recovery in Wales by continuing a major programme of regeneration and re-asserting Cardiff’s position as a leading destination for sport, music and culture. This will be supported by a transformative programme of investment in public transport which will help drive business productivity, connect people across the city with employment opportunities and help drive down carbon emissions.
All this will form part of a wider programme of decarbonisation as we embed the ambitions of our One Planet Cardiff programme across everything we do. Whether it be driving up our recycling rates, developing proposals for clean energy generation projects, retrofitting homes or critically examining the carbon impact of our spend, achieving net zero will be a binding mission.
As an organisation, we will continue to enact the shift to hybrid working and locking in the productivity, efficiency and wellbeing gains new ways of working can offer. This will involve a critical review of our core office accommodation, the technology we use and the policies we have in place to support managers and staff.
More broadly, we will build on the good work that we have done to make the Council an organisation that reflects the communities it serves. By enacting the recommendations of the Race Equality Taskforce, building on our position as the highest-ranking local authority in the Stonewall Employer’s index and strengthening engagement with seldom heard communities, we will be best placed to deliver for all our communities.
This is a plan for a stronger, fairer and greener capital city.
Cllr Huw Thomas
Leader of Cardiff Council
Download the full Corporate Plan (23mb PDF)
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