Calderdale Council continues to make good progress towards being the ‘best borough in the North’ and achieving the aspirations of the Vision2024 for Calderdale.
That’s according to the Council’s Performance Annual Review report, which will be presented to Cabinet on Tuesday 18 June 2019.
During the last 12 months, the Council has been measuring its progress in a number of priority areas, with an aspiration to be the ‘best borough in the North’. Progress is also being measured to support Vision2024, to achieve a talented, enterprising, kind, resilient and distinctive borough.
The annual report demonstrates how the Council is performing against its own targets and when compared to other councils. The year has seen a period of significant success in some areas, resulting in the authority maintaining its ranking as fifth out of the 20 northern boroughs.
Key achievements during 2018/19 include:
- Calderdale’s Children’s Social Care Service was rated by Ofsted as being ‘good’ with ‘outstanding’ features.
- Success for local businesses – with the number of small and medium sized enterprises in the borough increasing by 4.8% and business survival rates also increasing.
- An increase in visitor numbers, with the value of the visitor economy in Calderdale continuing to increase. A trend which looks likely to continue with the broadcasting of Gentleman Jack, filmed at Shibden Hall.
- An increase in the employment rate, which is now at 77%. Weekly pay rates are also higher than the regional and northern borough averages.
- A reduction in the number of older people in need of long-term social care.
- A continued reduction in the amount of waste sent to landfill.
Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Resources, Cllr Jane Scullion, said:
“It’s important that we regularly check how we are doing against other councils. We’ve set ourselves some challenging targets based around our three key priorities: to grow our local economy, to share that growth by reducing inequalities and to build a sustainable future.
“I’m really pleased that this year we’ve made some real progress, particularly as these key achievements have been delivered against a backdrop of significant financial challenges. However, we’re also aware there is still plenty of work to be done to continue our improvement journey and make our local services even better over the next 12 months.”
Information about how the Council is performing is available all year round at https://dataworks.calderdale.gov.uk/. Calderdale Council now ranks fifth in all UK local authorities for the number of datasets published, with over 250 sets of statistics for people to view and explore, rating the Council’s current performance against a range of measures.
It’s important to continue to measure the performance of the Council, and how its progress contributes towards the borough’s shared Vision2024. Where do we want to be by 2024? How will the Calderdale of 2024 be different from the place it is now? What ambitions do we share? Join the conversation by following #VisionCdale2024 on social media and visit www.calderdale.gov.uk/vision.
The Council Performance Annual Review will be discussed at the meeting of Calderdale Council’s Cabinet on Tuesday 18 June at Halifax Town Hall.