New Council Plan approved

The Council Plan, which was discussed by members at their full council meeting today, will guide future decision-making as well as the delivery of the authority's services.

It outlines four key priority areas to help the council continue to build a better Lancashire where everyone can live their best life through stronger communities, a growing economy and high-quality public services.

They are:

• Better lives for all - ensuring more children and young people have the best start in life, families are more resilient, adults are supported to live more independent lives, and that everyone can live a healthy and happier life.
• Economic ambition - working with the business community to equip people with the right skills to secure rewarding work, invest in Lancashire, improve transport and digital connectivity, and grow the local economy.
• Stronger communities - ensuring our communities are safer and more resilient, encourage people to play their part, promote our rich heritage and culture, and protect our environment for future generations.
• Thinking differently -  focusing on delivering high-quality public services, providing the right help at the right time, embracing digital and technological innovation and developing the best possible workforce.

The Plan aims to build on successes of the previous corporate plan which was introduced in 2021.

To help create the Plan a number of engagement activities were undertaken. These included a resident survey, staff events, member briefings and a survey of strategic partners including all of Lancashire's councils, business groups, and representatives of the Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) sectors.

The Plan, set to be introduced at the start of the new year, forms part of the county council’s planning and performance framework and will be subject to regular monitoring in terms of how the authority is progressing against its objectives.

It will be kept under review to make sure it is kept up to date in a fast-changing world.

Councillor Phillippa Williamson, leader of the council, said: "We are rightly ambitious for our county and want to build a better Lancashire where everyone can live their best life.

"Lancashire has some remarkable strengths, including our strong sense of community, natural environment, heritage and strong economy – the second largest in the North West.

"We are also mindful of the challenges we face. We know we need to be even more productive and create further opportunities for local people to help improve lives.

"This plan does not include every single thing we do or every service we provide but it gives a lot of detail about the actions we will take to build a better Lancashire.

"We also want to make our communities safer and we know we must respond to an increasing number of residents who need our support.

"Our services also have to be efficient, of good quality and at an affordable cost.

"We are confident that by building our strengths we can address these challenges, and by developing and innovating, as well as working with partners and communities, we can become the best council we can be."