Introduction

Context

1. Shrewsbury and Atcham has a population of 98,500 and covers an area of 60,163 hectares in the heart of Shropshire. The Borough includes areas of outstanding beauty to the south and 6 historic parks and gardens. The rich "built" heritage includes 2,400 listed buildings and 17 conservation areas. One of our objectives is to conserve and enhance our heritage whilst encouraging sustainable development.
2. The River Severn has been a powerful influence on the history and development of the town of Shrewsbury. As well as being the main centre for 66,000 of the Borough's residents the town is a focus for commercial, retail and industrial businesses. It provides many services to the rural hinterland such as hospitals, cinemas and colleges that are only viable in larger towns. The medieval town centre is a lively place where people live, shop, work, and enjoy entertainment. The challenge is to find new uses for buildings, to develop the commercial offering and evening economy, at the same time as recognising the needs of the town centre residents.
3. Almost one third of the population live in the rural area, which accounts for 93% of the district area, and there are two large settlements in Bayston Hill and Pontesbury. The Council recognises the interdependence of the urban and rural areas and the need to balance cost effectiveness with fairness in serving the needs of the community at large. The rural spread does, however, bring its own problems in relation to service delivery, particularly in relation to refuse collection. In the rural areas the collection vehicles have to travel many miles to collect relatively small volumes of waste in contrast to the urban collection routes, and our problems are compounded by the current difficulties in relation to the location of the disposal site.
4. Although the Council concentrates much of its efforts on the town area it does recognise the need to provide support for the rural community. To this end it has recently changed the management of the Livestock Market and is seeking to provide a new market facility in an effort to help sustain the local, rural, economy.
5. Only small areas of the Borough benefit from Objective 2 funding. 22% of the population are children and more 16 year olds stay in full-time education than elsewhere in Shropshire. On the face of it the Borough appears to be relatively affluent with an ageing, healthy and safe population. Yet there are pockets of deprivation, mainly in the north and east of Shrewsbury where unemployment is higher than the County average, as are teenage pregnancies, crime and incidence of coronary heart disease and educational attainment is lower than the Borough as a whole. The Council is seeking to address many of these issues in partnership with other organisations as part of its plans to deliver its priorities, for example: Shropshire has one of the lowest total average earning levels in the country and this had led to significant issues around social inclusion and affordability of housing, and the Council has recognised that such issues cannot be tackled in isolation but only through effective partnership action. As part of our measures to address this we are working with the County Council and the Sixth Form College to provide improved tertiary education.
6. The priorities for Shropshire are delivered through the Integrated Community Strategy for Shropshire and the Borough's own Community Strategy.
7. The main issues facing the Borough identified through the Community Strategy (2002-2012) over the next 10-15 years are:

• Achieving planned growth and regeneration which results in sustainable communities
• Conserving and enhancing our heritage
• Improving equality of access to services for all sections of the community
• Encouraging developments in the built environment in keeping with the character of the town and sustainable use for historic buildings
• Sustaining a thriving town centre and an economic base to serve the whole Borough
• Involving people directly in improving the quality of life in the Borough and having a sense of pride in the area
• Raising the profile of Shrewsbury regionally, nationally and internationally
• Ensuring that there is decent affordable housing to meet people's needs
• Improving leisure and cultural activities
• Crime & Disorder and improving the sense of well being

8. The Council needs to plan and develop its capacity to anticipate and meet changing needs. The building blocks for this are the Shrewsbury and Atcham Partnership and the County wide Strategic Partnership through which the Council is committed to delivering real and measurable improvements in the quality of life of the area.
9. In 2002 following the Boundary Review the Council reduced its membership from 48 to 40. Prior to 2002 the Council was politically balanced. Since May 2002 a Conservative administration has led the authority, with the current composition being:

10. The main decision making and scrutiny framework comprises:

• Full Council - 40 members
• Cabinet - 10 members - each member having a portfolio
• Scrutiny Committee - dealing with call-ins from Cabinet
• Policy and Performance Overview Committee - policy and performance review and development
• Development Control and Environmental Protection Committee
• Standards Committee
• and various regulatory and appeals bodies

11. During the past three years a strategic vision for the future, based on a prosperous County town, has emerged. Major eyesores such as Telephone House and St. Austin's Car Park have been demolished, much to the public's delight. Schemes to regenerate parts of the town are being developed in conjunction with the private sector to facilitate exciting cultural, recreational and retail facilities that will firmly keep and enhance Shrewsbury's position on the map within the next few years. Extension of flood alleviation measures, restoration of key historic buildings such as the Flaxmill and the Old Market Hall, sensitive development in the rural area and affordable housing facilitated through the Council's planning policies, form part of the plan for the future.
12. Following the transfer of the Council's housing stock the Council's reserves rose by £55 million. £5 million has been earmarked for community and environmental initiatives over a five year period and the Council is helping to regenerate Frankwell, a run down part of town, by developing new office headquarters which will open in Spring 2004. The three offices from which the Council currently operates are not Disability Discrimination Act compliant or cost effective, and, together with investment in the new building and Information Technology infrastructure, services to our customers are in the process of being re-engineered to focus on customer needs.
13. We have reviewed the way the scrutiny and overview functions operate in the light of experience during the preceding year and, as a result, are trialling different locations for meetings. This will also raise the profile and provide opportunities for greater public involvement, for example a Scrutiny meeting on cultural facilities was recently held at the Shirehall. Our Standards Committee is active, informed and has a wide ranging remit.
14. The Council's departmental structure was streamlined in April 2003 in line with a wish to serve the public better through directing resources to frontline service delivery - people who actually make a visible difference on the ground. We employ 600 people (both full and part-time) on an integrated pay structure and are undertaking a Council wide job evaluation scheme to ensure equity within the workforce.
15. The state of the stock market has impacted upon the County wide pension scheme and the interest earned through investment. Nonetheless through prudent financial management the Council is in a healthy financial position with debt free status, some £6.7 million in capital reserves, £1.7 million in revenue reserves and £54.5 million invested. The Council also recognises that its council tax payers rightly expect value for money and reasonableness in setting the council tax which in 2003/04 was pegged at 3% (the average band D property is £110.20) and this is the target increase for 2004/05.

A CHANGING COUNCIL

11. Since 2000 the Council has been undergoing a major transformation. Once parodied as "Standing Stillbury" where politicians were reluctant to make decisions, the Council is now embracing change and the 21st Century.
12. This is evidenced through:

• our vision for the Borough, with its actions backed by investment and expenditure and partnership
• modern accessible customer focused services planned over the coming two years
• partnership working, joint projects and jointly funded posts
• piloting new ways of voting
• determination to be recognised as a Borough of environmental excellence by 2015
• investment in Councillor and employee development, building capacity and community leadership for tomorrow

18. The Council is positive, decisive and knows what it wants to achieve. However, our experience tells us that we need to spend more time working with some community organisations, who have strong views and influence, to share the vision and ambition for the future. We have therefore adopted a set of standards for consultation which sets out what people can expect and takes into account constraints that organisations work within and allows time for meaningful debate.
19. People can ask questions at all our Council, Cabinet and Committee meetings and are given a written or verbal reply. Our community is vocal and this, combined with an active local media, means that we are aware of, and respond to, local issues in the short and longer term. However, the Council recognises that those who shout the loudest are not always representative of what the community as a whole wants, and therefore takes active steps to reach all sections of the community. The Council has staged a number of public consultation exercises on what the Council calls its "Big Issues" to ensure that all sections of the community can have their voices heard and opinions taken into account.
20. The transition from a Council with no overall control to a majority administration in 2002, combined with the introduction of a new Cabinet and Leader led constitution the previous year (a year in advance of most Councils) has energised the decision making process. Nonetheless, the Council values the consensus which makes progress possible. For example, a unique but complex opportunity to develop the town as a sub regional shopping centre, and efforts to facilitate a new theatre to replace the much loved but problematic Music Hall, have cross party support, notwithstanding the many hurdles before success.
21. Styles of working have changed too. A flatter departmental structure has been introduced, along with new services such as Community and Housing Regeneration. This has been brought about through LSVT, the transfer back to the County Council of the highways agency, and the wish to embrace the government’s modernising agenda. Determination to work with local communities in an innovative way led to the Council being short listed in 2003 for a Beacon Council award for community cohesion.
22. ince 1997 the Council, through the District Action Plan and the County wide Shropshire Partnership, has had a track record of partnership with other agencies operating in the Borough, which preceded, by several years, the community planning guidance.
23. Flexible and mature partnership working underpins our approach to improving our area and has been recognised through the Beacon Council Award scheme (Town Centre Regeneration 2000/2001). The Town Centre Management Partnership involves key players from the private sector and other agencies to regenerate and promote the town centre under the "Smart Shrewsbury" banner.
24. The organisation’s culture is embedded in our core values which are:

• Excellence in Customer Service
• Respect and Trust
• Honesty
• Continuous learning
• No blame but accountability
• Mutual support and confidence building
• Equality of opportunity
• Integrity

25. We have a strong emphasis in performance management through the Performance and Improvement Plan (PIP) and ‘traffic light’ monitoring system and are using technology to meet changing needs. In 2003 the e-voting pilot, (utilising digital TV, telephone, internet and postal voting) increased turnout from 41% in 2002 to 54.45%.
26. Our members play an important role at Regional, County and local level, never afraid to put the interests of the community to the fore, e.g. where the Council put the case forward regionally and have had Shrewsbury acknowledged as a sub regional centre.
27. The Council has a "can do" culture which supports organisational and member development and seeks to anticipate and respond to the changing needs of our area.