The Council is presenting its Annual Corporate Performance Report at the meeting of Cabinet on Monday 10 July 2023. The report highlights the key challenges and achievements between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023.
Next year, the borough will celebrate its 50th birthday and reflect on its Vision for the year 2024. In the run up to this important year, the Council is committed to delivering against its aims and objectives and demonstrating progress on the Council’s three priorities of building strong and resilient towns, reducing inequalities and tackling climate change, despite major local, national and global issues.
In the context of these challenges, the Annual Corporate report shows strong Council performance overall in the past 12 months, with some areas for improvement.
Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Resources, Cllr Silvia Dacre, said:
“It’s been another challenging 12 months, as we continue to feel the effects of recent global economic and political events. We understand that life is difficult for many families at the moment, as we all feel the impact of the cost of living crisis. Council services are also under pressure as our costs have increased.
“Despite these challenges, as a Council we can reflect positively on the last year. We have achieved a great deal and we have many reasons to be optimistic and confident that we are well positioned for a successful 2023/24.
“Our Annual Corporate Performance Report gives the borough many things to celebrate, whilst also highlighting where we need to improve and where we can focus our efforts to tackle the key issues affecting local people.”
The report compares the Council’s progress with other local authority areas. Some of the main achievements in the last year include:
- Supporting people to live independently in their own homes. The borough has seen improved performance in its commitment to supporting people over 65 after they’ve been discharged from hospital, with reablement/rehabilitation services preventing readmissions. The Council’s performance in this area in the most recent year was its best performance to date, and above regional and national averages for the first time.
- Leading the way on renewable energy, with the borough seeing the biggest growth in this area of any West Yorkshire authority over the past seven years. 78% of electricity generated from onshore wind came from Calderdale in 2022.
- Harnessing the distinctiveness of our place and people to become an internationally recognised destination for culture, tourism and film. The new ‘CultureDale’ brand reflects our diverse and engaging borough and Calderdale’s new Cultural Strategy has been published. This is important in taking us towards our Year of Culture in 2024, welcoming visitors from around the world.
The Council’s performance and progress over the last year has also been recognised as part of the recent external Corporate Peer Challenge Review. Local Government experts spent four days at the Council and produced a glowing report which focussed on themes including local priorities and outcomes, organisational and place leadership, governance and culture, financial planning and management and capacity for improvement.
Areas of the Council which experienced challenging performance during 2022/23 and are benefitting from further support going forward include:
- Delivery of new homes – With the recent adoption of our Local Plan, the Council is hopeful and energised about the future for Calderdale.
- Levels of litter/detritus – The Council continues to work with local communities, and partners to ensure issues of litter and detritus are tackled and our parks, green spaces and night time economy continue to remain safe and welcoming environments for all to enjoy.
- Youth unemployment and problem debt – The Council remains committed to taking action to tackle poverty and inequalities made worse by the impact of the current cost of living crisis.
The Council publishes all performance data on its open data platform, Calderdale Data Works: https://dataworks.calderdale.gov.uk
The year 2024 marks Calderdale’s 50th birthday, and there’s less than a year to go. Where do we want to be by 2024? What’s our ambition and what will be different? Find out more at www.calderdale.gov.uk/vision
Calderdale Council’s Cabinet meeting is on Monday 10 July at Halifax Town Hall from 3pm. The meeting can also be viewed online at https://calderdale.public-i.tv/core/portal/home(external link)