Column by the leader of South Gloucestershire Council, Toby Savage.

The new Council Plan is really important. It’s our main strategy document for the next four years. We ran a public consultation on the draft plan earlier this year and I want to say a big thank you to all those who took the time to tell us what you thought. Your feedback has shaped a really exciting and ambitious new plan.

South Gloucestershire is a great place to live, work and visit. The priorities and commitments we are outlining in this plan will help to ensure that it stays that way. The plan offers a new means of demonstrating how we are making a difference for you, delivering real value for money services.

Building on your responses, the plan sets out four key priorities:

• Creating the best start in life for our children and young people

• Identifying and supporting those most in need and helping people to help themselves

• Promoting sustainable inclusive communities, infrastructure and growth

• Realising the full potential of our people and delivering value for money.

Delivering value for money, addressing the climate emergency and promoting equality of opportunity are ‘threads’ that run through this plan.

Next month we will publish 20 commitments and Action Plans that will set out how we will rise to these challenges and how progress can be measured.

Firstly, we will work with our partners and communities to create the best possible start in life for our children and young people. By focusing on outcomes such as raising educational attainment, we can make the biggest long-term cross generational impact.

Our second priority is to identify and support those most in need, with a focus on helping people to help themselves.

Thirdly, we want to promote sustainable, inclusive communities, infrastructure and growth. We have a significant role to play in shaping future places. We are making real progress on our Climate Emergency Action Plan to ensure that our growth ambitions are delivered whilst maintaining our strong commitment to protecting the environment.

Fourthly, we have set a priority to realise the full potential of our staff and services, to keep value for money front of mind in all that we do.

The timing of this Council Plan is important. It takes into consideration the significant challenges that were evident long before Covid-19. We have also drawn on lessons learnt from the response to the pandemic such as keeping residents better informed, and working with those who have stepped up to help communities play an active role in finding answers to local issues.

We look forward to working with you to deliver this ambitious vision for our area.