Sheffield Council reveals ‘one year action plan’ to aid recovery from Covid-19 pandemic

It follows a tough year for the council, coping with the pandemic and a shake up not only in leadership but how it makes decisions.

The plan was approved at a co-operative executive meeting this week.

It is divided into four chapters, which are: communities and neighbourhoods; education, health and care; climate change, economy and development; and our council.

Kate Josephs chief executive, said while it deliberately focusses on the coming year it will also lay the foundations for the long-term.

She said: “There is lots of this that I and colleagues will completely and passionately step forward to be held to account for. When you step into public service that’s what you do and we are all well up for delivering on this plan.

“But I think it’s really important also to flag some of the important points in the our council chapter.

“We do welcome that we have been able to set out here both ambitions for our council as an organisation but also humility, some recognition that all of our teams do amazing things but that doesn’t mean we don’t have more to do to be the organisation that the city needs for the future.”

In this chapter, it states the council will aim to be more: agile, effective and listen to where people need service improvements, democratic and listen to a broader range of views, confident, engaged and work with communities to solve problems, inclusive and representative and better at harnessing the strengths of its workforce.

Part of this includes holding a city summit on poverty by the end of October, agreeing a plan to manage the council’s land and physical assets by autumn, introducing a carbon literacy training programme for councillors and key staff, improving ways people can contact the council and overhauling its complaints process.

Councillor Terry Fox, leader of the council, said of the one year plan: “We have kept it as broad as we possibly can and during the year we will obviously be filling in and reaching to keep milestones as we go…

“It really is a challenge out there it is holding us to account on where we see taking this council in the first year of this executive.”

Concluding the document, the council said: “The coming year is undoubtedly going to be one of real change for everyone in Sheffield as we continue to recover from and adapt to the impact that Covid-19 has had on our lives, our families, our communities and our city…

“For the City Council, this is also a year of change and an unprecedented opportunity to reset, rebuild and renew how decisions are made in the city, our relationship with people and communities in every part of the city and ensure that we are fundamentally in and of our communities in all that we do.”

Read the full plan here: https://democracy.sheffield.gov.uk/documents/s45712/Our%20Sheffield%20-%201%20year%20plan%20FINAL.pdf