2009 is going to be a challenging year for many organisations, not least the District Council. The District Council is trying to meet these challenges head on with taxing but achievable targets.
Like most of the national and local economy, the District Council faced some tough decisions as this year's budget was prepared. In order to balance the books, savings of over £2million were found. The District Council would not have contemplated these savings in normal circumstances, but these are not normal times.
The economic landscape has radically changed and the public sector is not immune to the current economic problems - with investment income down, rental income down, parking and planning income has reduced and the level of Government grant less than inflation. All of these reductions place extra financial burden on the District Council.
That is why the District Council has had to re-visit the 2008-2012 Corporate Strategy. The District Council made it a priority to improve and to focus on the issues that mattered most to its residents, businesses and visitors and this helped to drive the 2008-2012 Corporate Strategy and focusing priorities. However now the District Council needs to re-look at these priorities in the current economic climate and look at different ways of delivering services and look in depth at what the District Council has to do, what it should do, and what it wants to do.
As part of these changes there is a new Organisational Ambition:
Achieve and maintain excellence by providing services that are best in class given the resources available and maintaining a low level of Council Tax.
You can read more about the Corporate Strategy Review by downloading the changes to the strategy document or by visiting our recently updated corporate strategy page.
