Council performance report shows progress against key objectives

Date: 

Thursday, 13 October, 2022

The council has adopted a robust quarterly monitoring regime to track progress against key objectives contained within the council’s Woking For All Strategy (WFAS).

In line with the recommendations arising from the EY performance management review, the council’s Executive committee received a detailed update on the 218 WFAS actions to be delivered this financial year (2022/23). Of these, 181 (83%) were reported to be progressing or on track for delivery as planned.

The WFAS monitoring report will be published quarterly making it easier for both councillors and residents to see how the council and its partners are performing.  

Cllr Ann-Marie Barker, Leader of the Council, said: “When we took over in May, we refreshed the WFAS, and it’s really good to see, through the introduction of this new monitoring report, what great progress has been made in recent months.

“There’s an awful lot of work going on but highlights for me include the work being done to encourage and enable diverse groups to use our leisure facilities, particularly at the Eastwood Leisure Centre, which recently celebrated its first birthday.

“We’re finally getting some mobile CCTV cameras to tackle fly-tipping and anti-social hotspots, something we’ve been trying to secure for a while. We’re also continuing to deliver our Playground Improvement Programme. The last two sets of proposals are currently out for consultation with residents in Horsell and Goldworth Park, where the remaining refurbishment works will be carried out.  This will be followed by a review to inform what we do next with our playgrounds, including how we can offer more accessible play equipment for children with disabilities.

“We’re doing a lot of work with health and social care partners and we’re bringing key services such as health visitors, eye clinics, counselling, and dementia care services to our centres for the community to make them easier to access.

“We’ve held a Cost of Living summit to understand the needs of our communities and we’re in the process of developing an action plan to help residents through this time as best we can. We have launched our comprehensive Masterplan consultation and a huge effort has been put in by the Planning Policy team to engage residents online, at our public roadshow events and at our pop-up shop.

“And in terms to our greener communities outcomes, we’re working with Southwestern Railways to access funding for safer cycle parking at Woking Station. And in partnership with groups like WEAct, we’ve held several awareness raising events, such as Wild About Woking to encourage the public to help care for the environment through local biodiversity and greenspace projects.

“Work is underway in relation to our top priority of ensuring the financial stability of the council. A savings exercise across the council has been initiated and a company governance review has been completed and the proposed new arrangements, agreed at Full Council in July, are now in the process of being implemented.

“Whilst there is still a lot to do, we are making good progress against the objectives set up in our Woking For All Strategy, and I’m delighted residents can now see and monitor the activities of their council.”

View the latest Woking For All Strategy monitoring report