Performance, Vision and Strategy

CPA

Following a CPA assessment undertaken in March 2007, we have been rated a 3 star authority, improving strongly and we are proud that our Inspection Letter commented that our rate of improvement is amongst the best nationally.

Please follow the link to view the Audit Commission - Comprehensive Performance Assessment for full details.

Council Plan

Our most recently published Council Plan is set out for the whole Council for the period of 2008-2012. It contains details of our ambition for the future of North Tyneside, our multi-billion pound plans for the regeneration of our communities and a groundbreaking programme of investment that will change the face of the borough forever.

The plan outlines our initiatives for the next three years and focuses on five key areas which will be addressed;

Create Positive Futures for Children and Young People

Our first aim is to improve children and young people’s education, health and social care and to develop a sense of engagement over the course of this Medium Term plan. We believe that we will be able to deliver creative, confident, compassionate and successful children and young people for the future of the community.

Improve Wellbeing

We have an ambitious agenda for Improving the wellbeing of our constituency in encouraging healthy lifestyles and a good quality of life across the region. The ways in which we plan to do this are by addressing a number of issues at the forefront of the nation’s own political agenda.

Tackle fuel poverty.
Modernise adult social care.
Promote good health.
Promote quality of life for vulnerable and older people.
Improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people.

We will be implementing the Affordable Warmth Strategy to address fuel poverty borough-wide and honour the commitment to the North East Fuel Poverty Declaration. This will lead us through until 2010. The promotion of good health will look at increasing a take up of leisure and cultural services and improving access to maternity services in the region. These improvements will also be aimed at increasing the provision of similar services for children and young people via the Safer Places and Spaces programme.

We are looking at modernising Adult Social Care by developing a programme for the implementation of individual budget and personalisation of Adult Care Services complete with extra care housing schemes in a number of different regions across the borough. This coincides with a scheme for the promotion of a better quality of life for vulnerable and older people.

Regenerate Our Borough

As briefly touched upon, we are dedicated to transforming and improving the Borough over the next four years and within that plan we will be regenerating the region to make North Tyneside a better and more appealing place to live. We are working closely with partners to create business and employment opportunities that fall within the most deprived areas of North Tyneside.

We are currently developing a "North Bank of the Tyne" regeneration plan which will become one of the largest regenerations ever undertaken in this country. Linking directly to existing "A19" corridor infrastructure plans, which have seen the development of one of the largest commercial office parks in the country, the vision includes the development of a large scale "multiversity". We are well under way with regeneration of the four residential areas of North Tyneside and will include major redevelopment such as the Dock Masters House & Barracks Building, Fish Quay redevelopment and also the regeneration programme of East Howden amongst others.

The regeneration work will mainly fall under the commitment of the 2008/2018 Strategic Investment Plan, which forms part of the ongoing investment that we are making to the community of North Tyneside.

Strengthen Our Communities

Following on from the 2006/2010 Council Plan, we are implementing the Housing Strategy set out to meet all housing needs in the Borough. This will become part of tackling the need to create strong, sustainable communities that can live together in harmony. We are currently focusing on reducing the proportion of “non decent” Council homes from 35% to 24% by March 2009 and are also looking at achieving the target of reducing the number of households in temporary accommodation by 50% from the 2004/5 figures.

Within this objective, we will be looking at the serious issue of tackling household waste and beginning the implementation of new recycling arrangements. Anti-social behaviour is also high on the list of priorities when setting high standards for clean and attractive neighbourhoods. There will also be a focus on our delivering excellent customer service across the region and increasing the number of places that customers can receive front line service.

Increase Organisational Effectiveness

One focus in particular high on our agenda for 2008/2012 is our desire to put the customer first and deliver high quality, cost effective services. We aim to achieve this by strengthening our partnerships with other public sector organisations, and to explore and implement options for improving access to information technology for residents across the borough. By improving the way the council is organised, and engaging our communities and involving them in the decisions that affect them from start to finish, we will achieve our fifth key objective.

Please click here to view our full Council Plan.

Working in Partnership

The North Tyneside Strategic Partnership (NTSP) brings people together and works for the borough, aiming to improve quality of life for people in North Tyneside. Partnership working is long established in North Tyneside. The NTSP was set up in 1999 as a result of central government's commitment to developing new ways of involving local people in deciding how public services are provided.

The NTSP tackles the issues that really matter to the local people and requires a range of organisations to work together with the community. The NTSP's strength has been in listening to local people and partners, to gain a better understanding of the borough's needs. Members of the Partnership pool their resources (financial, human and other), carrying out a wide variety of initiatives and schemes to improve conditions and services in the borough.

NTSP is made up of five 'Theme Partnerships' specialising in different areas and an Executive group to ensure co-ordination between the different themes. The five themes are:

Each Theme Partnership is made up of representatives from relevant groups and agencies in North Tyneside who provide invaluable experience, expertise and local knowledge. Working together improves efficiency and guarantees best use of resources.

Many issues 'cut across' the themes and the most effective way to tackle these is for partners to work together, sharing their expertise and resources. For example working towards reducing the fear of crime can have a positive impact on peoples' mental and physical health, and fear can be reduced by creating a safe environment.

Themes develop their own Action Plans to set out their objectives and how they will go about achieving them. These are closely linked to NTSP's Community Strategy (The Shared Plan). Theme Partnerships also have their own Co-ordinator, who liaises with the NTSP Executive on progress.

Sustainable Community Strategy

North Tyneside is a borough with great potential and strengths: outstanding educational achievement, magnificent natural assets, easy accessibility to the coast and riverside, improving urban areas and rural areas with a high quality of life. Such attributes make our borough a great place to live, work and visit.

However, we still face substantial challenges with an ageing population and a considerable number of people living in deprived areas compared to more affluent parts of the borough. We want to build on our assets and establish a sustainable community for and with our residents. We need to work together to combat not only a poverty of need, but also a poverty of aspiration. Developed by the North Tyneside Strategic Partnership, the purpose of the Sustainable Community Strategy is to improve the quality of life in the borough.

North Tyneside Council is on an ambitious mission to change. We are determined to improve the way we provide our services to the community. The changes we make will involve everyone – our officers, elected members, staff, our customers and partners. Please follow this link to view the online Transformation programme video.