West Lancashire Borough Council has revealed its council plan. Is it more pie in the sky from our borough leaders? Or is much of it realistic and attainable?

What do you think?

Our Vision
West Lancashire together; the place of choice to live, work, visit and invest

Our priorities are:

Create empowered, engaged and inclusive communities

We want:

• Healthy resilient and engaged communities that work together to improve the places they live and work
• Everyone to have the same opportunities
• Thriving voluntary and community groups that support innovation and collaboration
• To work with partners for the good of local people
• Our citizens to access the benefits of being digitally engaged
• Councillors that are active and knowledgeable and support change at a local level
• To improve customer satisfaction

We will:

• Build on and develop strengths within local communities
• Engage with communities when making key decisions
• Use community networks to gain views from hard to reach groups
• Create innovative ways to listen to different community views
• Use Councillors' existing reach and influence to provide community feedback to shape decision making
• Work with partners to develop a meaningful offer to support citizens to become digitally included
• Adopt a best practice model of consultation
• Listen and provide feedback to customers about how their views have improved services
• Develop neighbourhood plans with key partnerships committed to meeting the needs of our communities

Support businesses to adapt and prosper

We want:

• West Lancashire to be the place of choice to locate your business
• Our 3 towns to be thriving hubs for their communities
• To support our businesses to succeed and grow
• A strong rural business economy
• A vibrant and modern Ormskirk market that attracts visitors to the town centre

We will:

• Support the recovery and growth of existing and new businesses
• Lead the regeneration of Skelmersdale Town Centre
• Develop the market offer and reinvigorate Ormskirk's Eastern gateway
• Adopt an inclusive procurement approach which supports local businesses to tender for opportunities
• Promote West Lancashire as a place to invest through the Skelmersdale Place Board & Ambassadors
• Signpost and support businesses to innovate and diversify
• Develop a strong web presence which positively promotes West Lancashire
• Create enlivened town centres offering diverse leisure opportunities and night time economy

Become a greener West Lancashire

We want:

• To become a Carbon Neutral Council by 2030
• Local business and citizens to embrace the green agenda
• Council housing stock to meet high standards of efficiency - insulation, design, technology
• To minimise waste disposal and improve recycling services to meet national targets
• To embed green infrastructure into our thinking and planning for West Lancashire’s future development and regeneration
• To safeguard the natural landscape and maintain our green environment

We will:

• Be a role model and lead good practice; develop a Climate Change strategy and action plan
• Ensure all council buildings are operating to highest efficiency standards – insulation, design, and technology
• Encourage local businesses and service providers to set their own targets for becoming carbon neutral and promote their achievements
• Commit to maximising Council energy requirements from renewable sources
• Maximise the use of solar panels on Council owned buildings and housing stock
• Increase the use of environmentally friendly products
• Optimise the development of solar/wind farm investment
• Use the supply chain to maximise energy efficiency, design out waste and reduce our carbon footprint
• Optimise the Council fleet; increase route efficiency and maximise low emissions
• Enhance green spaces promoting diverse leisure uses and explore the option of developing an Eco park
• Support the development of green transport
• Use green credentials to form part of our procurement selection criteria
• Reduce waste and improve recycling, implement a Waste strategy with a focus on sustainable solutions
• Develop a Local Plan policy encouraging green developments – green space, energy efficiency, sustainable supply chains

Be a financially sustainable Council by 2023

We want:

• To be confident, capable and financially sustainable
• To continue to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service provision
• To be able to invest in high priority service areas
• To maximise available government funding and generate income to reinvest in West Lancashire
• To provide value for money services

We will:

• Make sure our internal financial and decision-making processes continue to be strong
• Continue the implementation of the Council's Sustainable Organisation Review
• Maximise the returns from Tawd Valley Development Company to reinvest in West Lancashire.
• Optimise inward investment
• Review fees and charges across all council services
• Continuously develop, find better ways to do things and embrace new technology
• Consider the merits of all service options to ensure value for money is achieved
• Review existing contract savings and work with suppliers to achieve economies of scale
• Maximise commercial investment opportunities through a commercial strategy
• Maximise the value from existing assets and focus on value for money

A clean, safe environment with affordable homes to buy or rent for everyone in West Lancashire

We want:

• To provide a cleaner physical environment to enhance the Borough
• West Lancashire to be safe for all citizens
• A Local Plan that supports quality growth and infrastructure in the Borough
• To provide quality and genuinely affordable homes

We will:

• Deliver high quality street cleansing services based on demand
• Invest resources within services to achieve an improvement to the local environmental quality
• Develop environment ward reports for members
• Develop homes to rent/buy/for shared ownership through Tawd Valley Development Company
• Increase the supply of homes to bring cheaper private rents/more choice
• Get the right mix of properties for each community
• Continue to drive forward the community safety agenda
• Review WLBC/public estate land holdings
• Lead estate regeneration creating attractive places where people want to live
• Review our Housing Strategy
• Identify strategic regeneration areas and investment plans

Everyone to be healthy, happy, safe and resilient

We want:

• To help businesses in West Lancashire to thrive, grow and connect
• An engaged and motivated Council workforce
• To design services that help people stay healthy and independent
• To invest in sports and leisure services and facilities
• To protect, invest and continue to develop our green leisure spaces

We will:

• Deliver our food poverty strategy and action plan
• Deliver our fuel poverty strategy and action plan
• Deliver our financial inclusion strategy and action plan
• Deliver our people strategy with Council staff that results in a continuously improving culture
• Deliver our health and wellbeing strategy embedding school initiatives
• Work with partners to focus on prevention and reducing health inequalities
• Develop a quality range of health, wellbeing and leisure facilities and services
• Bring in additional money/services to support our most deprived areas

Everyone to be proud of their Council!

Shouldn’t they be doing this already? Just asking!