Agenda item

Councillor Crystall, Leader of the Council, submitted a report that provided Members with an update in respect of performance against LEAF priorities over the 2024/25 year, and the proposed amended LEAF priorities for the 2025/26 year onwards.

Councillor Crystall said that the first corporate plan was presented to council in February 2024. He said that this document had been refreshed with some amendments. He welcomed comments, suggestions and questions from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Councillor E Buckmaster asked for clarification to the changes in the Annual Report, and he asked for some of the important examples. Councillor Crystall said that there was an addition in the first section of the corporate plan which was to strive to achieve excellent customer service.

Members were advised about a further addition which was to engage the community in local government reorganisation. The Leader said that under the environmentally focussed section, there was an addition which was maximising the positive environmental impacts of the delivery of the new waste contract.

The Leader explained that there was a modified section marked as new, which was encouraging residents to play their part in supporting local wildlife and improving our natural environmental and supporting the delivery of the Hertfordshire Nature Recovery Strategy. Lastly, he said that there was a new item under the heading acting with the community, entitled creating a new long asset management plan based on community values.

Councillor Crystall advised that there were modifications to wording where policies were originally being developed and now being implemented. Councillor Wyllie asked what the council would be doing differently to achieve excellent customer service.

Councillor Crystall said that a council would always strive to achieve excellent customer service. He said that the corporate plan provided a focus for how Officers behaved, and the kind of things that they treated as the most important.

Councillor Dumont said that the council was seeking to achieve a nationally recognised accreditation or award known as customer service excellence. He said that Officers had recently engaged with an assessment body, and an internal audit and assessment which involved collating information about systems and processes, and this was due to be completed by the end of June.

Members were advised that this information would be reviewed by the accreditation body for review and audit. The Council would be informed after this whether the accreditation standard had been met.

Councillor Nicholls expressed a concern regarding inclusivity in customer services. She cited an example of a resident who did not have access a computer and had struggled to get answers to a council tax support query by telephone. She asked if there was a drive to making the digital service more comprehensive to free up telephone capacity for people who struggled online.

The Director for Regeneration, Customer and Commercial Services said that the general direction of travel was to address more queries digitally to free up more time for the complex queries to be handled face to face in the reception with customer services. He said that the number of digital contacts had increased significantly and face to face contacts had decreased. Members were advised that the customers coming into receptions had more complex needs, and the time spent dealing with customers face to face had remained unchanged albeit with fewer customers. He said that the time spent with customers face to face was still important to the council.

Councillor Swainston asked if there was a confidence that everything was being done to advertise how to contact the council, be it online or through any other means. Councillor Crystall said that even though every attempt was made to get information across, the council could never reach everyone, and the council could never be confident that enough had been done.

Councillor Woollcombe asked if there could be more detail in respect of ideas regarding engaging with the community on the topic of local government reorganisation. He talked about community forums and asked about a schedule for town hall meetings in communities across Hertfordshire.

Councillor Crystall said that there was a  draft timetable, and recommendations had to be submitted to the government by 28 November 2025. He said the county councils and the 10 districts and boroughs had submitted interim initial proposals in March.

Councillor Crystall said that business models were being developed for the different potential proposals for 2, 3 or 4 unitary councils. He said that councils were still waiting for clarity on an outline from central government in terms of details for consultation. He said a public consultation could be due in September, and this was reliant on discussions due to take place before then in respect of financial modelling in terms of financial performance or the different models.

Councillor Clements said that as resources were quite limited, which matters would be given a lesser priority or removed to make way for new priorities in the corporate plan. He referred to the current reception opening hours and asked about digital inclusion and what this would mean for people who struggled to access services online and needed face to face support.

Councillor Crystall said that some items were removed from the plan as projects were completed. He said that budget setting was a process, and this was always going to be challenging. He said that as regards the opening of the offices to the public, everything had to be considered as part of the budget setting process, and some matters would be removed as things Members would not support.

Councillor Crystall said that it was important to say that he did not feel that the council would end up in a situation where offices would be closed to residents. The Director for Regeneration, Customer and Commercial Services reiterated his point about the data and fewer people coming to reception but with more complex needs.

The Director for Regeneration, Customer and Commercial Services said that cutting hours back further would be a false economy. He advised that conversations were ongoing with community-based partners about co locating and referred to the offices in Bishop’s Stortford only being used two days a week.

Councillor Dumont reiterated that he was keen to avoid the impression being drawn that the council was looking to reduce access for vulnerable residents who could not communicate with the council without coming to the offices.

Councillor Buckmaster referred to the metrics in terms of trends in homeless households. He referred to the leasing of 5 self-contained flats in Hertford, and the upward trend in the number of homeless households. He asked if the 5 self-contained flats were sufficient to address that situation. Councillor Crystall referred to wider national political issues that were driving that trend, which was outside of the council’s control. He said that all the council could do was match the demand as best it could.

The Director of Regeneration, Customer and Commercial Services responded to a question from Councillor Nicholls regarding the website rating (govmetric) and the viewing figures for the new website since this was launched 5 years ago. He said that there was now little in the way of meaningful data and a different approach was being explored in the different platform called engage HQ.

Councillor Horner said that he was pleased to see that the forward plan was much more populated than it had been previously. He talked about the Local Cycling, Walking and Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) and EV Chargers. He said that stimulating EV charging to increase the number of EV vehicles on the roads. He also mentioned homelessness and the importance of increasing the availability of affordable living accommodation.

Councillor Crystall said that the tender for EV chargers was launched in November 2024. The Director for Regeneration, Customer and Commercial Services said that once the tender process had completed, an update would follow outside of the meeting. He said that the number of homes delivered by the council in 2024/25 was really good.

Councillor Jacobs referred to an apparent disconnect between the actions under section (f) in respect of delivering the cultural strategy, and whether these actions would help the council be fairer and more inclusive. He referred to the delivery the cultural strategy and whether this made East Herts fairer and more inclusive.

Councillor Crystall referred to the Arts in East Herts programme and said that being fair and inclusive could mean a lot of things. He said that this programme was a way of bringing people together who would not normally be involved in those activities. Councillor Dumont said that the services that the council provided tied in with the aspiration of providing the best possible customer service for residents and to be as efficient as possible.

Councillor Buckmaster emphasised the importance of enabling people to have access to arts and culture. He said that some aspects of arts and culture could be exclusive only to those who could afford it.

Councillor Nicholls proposed, and Councillor Clements seconded, a motion that performance over the 2024/25 year be reviewed, and Members review the proposed amended LEAF priorities for 2025/26 and make any recommendations for Executive or Council to consider.

After being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – that (A) performance over the 2024/25 year be reviewed; and

(B)   Members review the proposed amended LEAF priorities for 2025/26 and make any recommendations for Executive or Council to consider.