www.harlow.gov.uk/performance Email: policy.perform@harlow.gov.uk

APPENDIX A

Harlow Council 2014/15 Quarter One: Joint Finance and Performance Report for the period ending 30 June 2014

The Council’s aim for 2014/15 –

“Improving Harlow for residents, businesses and visitors”

The Council’s priorities:

1. More and better housing

2. Regeneration and a thriving economy

3. Wellbeing and social inclusion

4. A clean and green environment

5. Successful children and young people

The Council’s principles:

Being the community leader

Sound resource management

How to use this report

You may wish to consider the following questions to form an idea on how well the Council is doing in achieving its priorities and objectives.

Questions which the reader may wish to consider:

1. What are the reasons for the performance being below target?

2. What is the Council’s expenditure on this service?

3. Has performance fluctuated between quarters and what are the reasons for this?

4. Is it anticipated that the target will be met by the end of the year?

5. What are the proposed actions to improve performance and achieve the target and when will this be done by?

6. How well is the Council responding to gaps in performance or shortfalls in income?

Other areas for consideration could include:

7. Is the indicator a high priority for the Council? Is this reflected in the budget?

8. How does the service compare to other local authorities in terms of value for money – how does the Council’s expenditure on this service and performance achieved compare to similar local authorities?

9. What are other Council’s doing to improve performance in this area?

10. Are there any overspends/underspends in the budget area within which the under performing indicator sits?

11. Are there any future projects planned that will enhance existing performance?

12. How severe or likely are risks associated with lower level performance?

Performance Symbols:

Harlow Council uses the below symbols when reporting performance.

Below Target: e.g. more than 5% worse than target

On Target: e.g. within 5% of

target

Above Target: e.g. more than 5%

above target

Data not yet available: e.g. survey information pending

Direction of Travel (DOT) Symbols

Going up and getting better e.g. % of rent

collected

Going down and getting better e.g.

crime levels

Exactly the same as

previous year

Going up and getting worse e.g

levels of litter

Going down and getting worse e.g. income generated

Section One: Key considerations for Quarter One The key issues relating to the Council’s finances, performance, risks and corporate projects (excluding the HRA):

FIN

AN

CE

A review of the first three months to 30 June 2014 indicates that,

in total, the controllable General Fund revenue budget is

projected to be over spent by £35,000. This represents 0.05%

when compared to the approved gross budget.

Key risks in relation to financial management continue to be:

The risk associated with the Government’s localisation of

council tax support and business rates.

Long term austerity measures which continue to be placed

upon local government funding by the current Government

leading to the need for the Council to make significant

annual savings.

Ongoing low staff turnover rates which put at risk the

achievement of the vacancy savings targets allocated to

each service within the Council’s budget.

Six performance indicators (12 per cent) did not meet their target in

Quarter One, these include:

i. BV202 – Homelessness

ii. NI195b – Street cleaning – detritus

iii. NI195c – Street cleaning - graffiti

iv. BF005 - Average days to process new claims

v. BF006 - Average days to process change events

vi. CS02b – Lost calls for Contact Harlow

PE

RF

OR

MA

NC

E

RIS

K

Exceptional risks (rated as high likelihood, high impact):

A total of four risks are highlighted as exceptional for Quarter

One. These relate to:

i. The ongoing threat of austerity measures.

ii. Risks of several high level regeneration projects: in particular –

delays in the GAFII programme.

iii. Investment into the Town Centre.

iv. Investment for motorway Junction 7A.

The Council is on track to meet 96 per cent of its Corporate Plan

milestones with 52 of 54 key corporate milestones being marked as

green or complete for the period April to June 2014.

One milestone has lapsed and requires further action to ensure it will be

completed during 2014/15:

i. Rollout employee and manager self-service linked to Agresso.

CO

RP

OR

AT

E P

LA

N

4

Section Three: What our customers are telling us (complaints)

The Council provides and commissions a large number of services to a population of over

84,000 residents. In its role as a Housing Authority with over nine thousand properties, each

year it undertakes in excess of 600,000 housing transactions, deals with hundreds of

thousands of enquiries at Contact Harlow and provides benefits administration for a caseload of

over ten-thousand benefit claimants. All complaints are taken seriously by the Council which

aims to respond to and resolve all stage one and stage two complaints within ten working days.

The number of complaints logged by Harlow Council have decreased on average between

2009 and 2014. The majority of complaints are answered within the Council’s target timescale

of ten days*. 80 per cent of complaints were resolved by Stage one.

During April to June 2014 the Council each month received between… 69 and 93 complaints regarding performance: these peaked in April 2014 with the 60 per cent of complaints in those months concerning housing improvement and repairs enquiries related to Kier housing services and waste collection enquiries.

9 and 11 complaints regarding persons: these were highest in May 2014 with largest numbers relating to estates and tenancy issues, parks and landscapes.

8 and 21 complaints regarding policies peaking in April 2014: the largest numbers were regarding estates and tenancy issues and Council Tax. * Stage One and Stage Two complaints to be resolved within ten working days, Harlow Council Complaints Policy, June 2013.

5

Section Three: Latest Financial Performance

A review of the Council’s General Fund Budget for first three months to 30 June 2014

indicates that, in total, the controllable budget is projected to be under-spent by £144,000 and

represents a -0.21 per cent variation when compared with the approved gross budget.

Excellent control continues to be applied across all service budgets despite the on-going

economic problems.

When combined with the non-controllable forecast variations the total overspend forecast for

the General Fund is £35,000, or 0.05 per cent when compared with the General Fund gross

budget. This variation is predominantly driven by forecast loss of business rates income

compared with the Council’s baseline figures. The Council bears the firs 7.5% of any under

recovery of business rates under the Government’s Business Rates Retention scheme which

for Harlow means that up to £204,000 of any business rates shortfall in the year has to be

managed locally as reflected in the Major Variations table contained within this report.

Subject to financial performance during the remainder of the 2014/15 financial year the

current forecast for the General Fund balance is shown in the table below after accounting for

the planned movements relating to the Discretionary Services Fund. The approved minimum

working balance on the Fund is £2.5 million.

Simon Freeman, Head of Finance

Forecast Movements in General Fund Balance in 2014/15

£000s*

General Fund opening balance as at 1 Apr 2014 4,753

Service budget variations (favourable) (35)

Impact of budgeted earmarked reserve movements

Transfer to Discretionary Services Fund (approved Cabinet 17/7/14) (1,985)

Approved budget carry over from 2013/14 into 2014/15 (255)

Closing General Fund Balance as at 31 March 2015 (projected) 2,478

* Note: Figures in brackets () reduce the projected General Fund Balance.

2014/15 Outturn – Forecast

The Council forecasts that it will overspend

by a margin of 0.05% on its gross

General Fund revenue budget.

3%

2%

1%

-1%

-2%

-3%

2.5%

1.5%

0.5%

-0.5%

-1.5%

-2.5%

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Latest Financial Performance (Budget Variations / Exceptions):

Major Variances – Period Three / Quarter One of 2014/15:

Service Adverse Favourable Net Main Contributing Factors to Variations

£000s £000s £000s

Community Wellbeing Services

Domestic Refuse Collection

60 (22) 38 Reduced inflation on the contract (£22k) less non achievement of saving £60k

Recycling (44) (44) Additional income (£4k) and reduced inflation on the contract (£40k)

Regeneration & Enterprise Service

Water Gardens Car park

(33) (33) Improved quarter 1 receipts

Civic Centre 46 (2) 44 Employee costs £5k, business rates (£2k) and effect of new cleaning contract £41k

Enterprise Zone (20) (20) The year-end variation reflects grant income in excess of controllable expenditure

Finance Service

Finance, Miscellaneous

(37) (37) Reduced audit fees

Benefits Unit 28 28 Additional costs of temporary staff to cover vacant posts and anticipated non-achievement of vacancy factor

ICT (33) (33) Staff vacancies

Other

Other minor variances

(118) (118) Net of all other variances across all services

Costs chargeable to/from the HRA

164 164 The major element of this is the HRA recharge for the JVCo being reduced due to the JVCo underspend

JVCo Payments (133) (133) The year-end variation reflects result of 14/15 actuarial review of pension fund

Other One-Off/ Windfall & Non-Service-Specific Items

Additional Corporate Grants and Income

(25) (25) Additional income from Homes & Communities Agency (-9k), additional New Homes Bonus Grant (-£16k)

Net Business Rates Retention

204 204 Applying maximum safety net exposure

Total General Fund Budget Variation (net underspend)

502 (467) 35

** Note: Figures in () are a credit e.g. income or underspend.

7

Service based summary of financial control:

Community Wellbeing, Graham Branchett:

Financial performance of Community Wellbeing is currently positive, and any minor variations are likely to balance out by year end. The service area is expected to come in on target at this stage of the financial year. The Key Performance Indicators are detailed within the report and show a generally positive position with commentary also provided where necessary within Section Five.

Regeneration, Graeme Bloomer:

Financial control remains good. The increase in energy prices is a risk that has been partially mitigated by good-housekeeping, but will ultimately show as an adverse variation at year end. Following the rationalisation of operational building stock which saw staff from Redstone House relocated to the Civic Centre, energy consumption levels have, in part, been transferred from one building to another in terms of increased amount of electrical equipment being used, which has seen a slight increase in Civic Centre consumption of gas and electricity beyond what was forecast within the original budget.

Housing, Andrew Murray:

Housing Needs resources continue to reduce with the need to prioritise and target resources accordingly. New procurement of suitable high quality temporary accommodation together with prevention initiatives continue to be resourced as these are recognised to be effective in providing settled housing solutions as well as preventing homelessness. Therefore reducing the Council`s statutory provision and overall costs.

There also continues to be uncertainty as to future levels and procurement of supported housing and commissioning arrangements.

Governance, Brian Keane:

Good financial control continues and has been maintained during the first quarter of the 2014/15 financial year with no major variations to be reported at this stage of the year. Issues which may arise will generally be staffing related either through the occurrence of vacancies leading to the reporting of savings or the non-achievement of vacancy savings currently built in to the service budget if there is little turnover during the remainder of the year.

Finance, Corporate Services and other items, Simon Freeman:

The Finance Service is anticipating to underspend based on the forecast produced at the end of Quarter One.

Key issues for the service focus on the workload pressures within the Revenues and Benefits Team, where vacancies are creating issues of performance as set out in sections 4 and 5 of this report. Not meeting the performance targets can lead to errors occurring especially in the overpayment of benefits which the Council is then not able to recover. This cost will fall to the Council to meet and could impact in future reporting if it cannot be addressed quickly. The service also has a £200,000 savings target to meet which may prove to be difficult in year as the proposed private sector partnership is no longer going ahead. The savings will therefore have to be found internally and will only create a part-year effect in 2014/15.

The new arrangements in place for the collection and distribution of business rates are being monitored closely. At this stage in the financial year, it is envisaged that the impact of local economic conditions will result in the Council meeting the cost of income reductions up to its threshold level of £204,000. The Council forecast this in its NNDR 1 return to Government and is receiving safety net payments on account during the year as a result.

8

Section Four: Performance:

Harlow Council performed on target or above target for 42 out of 50 (84 per cent) of

performance indicators during Quarter One. 68 per cent of indicators have been maintained or

improved since Quarter One 2013/14.

Type 2012/13

Q4 2013/14

Q1 2013/14

Q2 2013/14

Q3 2013/14

Q4 2014/15

Q1

Percentage of indicators within or better than target

87% 84% 86% 86% 82% 84%

Percentage of indicators improving or unchanged from the same period last year

53% 56% 63% 76% 60% 68%

Good Performance:

Harlow Council continues to improve performance in a number of areas. 23 out of 50 (47 per

cent) performance indicators performed significantly above their target. Listed below is a

selection of KPIs which are contributing towards the achievement of the Council’s priorities.

(1) NI151 Overall employment rate (working-age) (%)

76.1% of Harlow’s working age population are in employment (ONS April 2013-

March 2014) which means Harlow’s employment rate has returned to a five-year

high and is now higher than the East of England regional average (75.5%). One of

the Council’s key priorities is to boost this number further through the regeneration

of Harlow including supporting inward investment and supporting economic growth

through the Enterprise Zone.

(2) NI195a Street & Environmental Cleanliness (% land assessed having unacceptable levels of litter)

A concerted effort by Kier Harlow to improve the cleanliness of the Town means

that levels of unacceptable litter have consistently stayed at the national average or

better during the past nine months. Levels of unacceptable litter were at four per

cent during Quarter One 2014/2015. Top quartile performance nationally is three

per cent.

(3) JVC 104 Customer Satisfaction with Street Scene (2.62)

Satisfaction levels with the Kier Harlow street scene service have increased to 88

per cent. 96 per cent of respondents to the satisfaction survey said that work was

carried out without causing disruption to residents and 95 per cent said that Kier

Harlow staff presented and conducted themselves in an efficient and professional

manner whilst undertaking the street cleaning service.

9

(4) BV012 Average number of working days / shifts lost to sickness and absence

Overall levels of sickness and absence have fallen by seven per cent compared to

the same period last year, and short term sickness is forecast to fall by 17 per cent

compared to 2013/14. This has been achieved through the implementation of new

and revised policies including Special Leave, Flexible Working, Homeworking,

Maternity, Paternity Leave, Sickness Absence Management Adoption Leave, and

Dignity at Work.

(5) JVC 300 Emergency Housing repairs within two Hours (4.7) (%)

100 per cent of all emergency housing repairs were dealt with within two hours of

reporting during Quarter One. In addition, action plans introduced earlier in the year

means that performance for urgent housing requests within five days, and standard

housing repairs within 20 working days was back on track by June 2014.

(6) JVC 207d Tree works carried out within 80 working days (4 months) (3.14d) (%)

Improvement action plans established in 2014 have helped to improve

performance from 61% when high volumes were created by the storms

experienced during the winter period in 2013/14. Performance is now at 93% and

the recovery in performance has been achieved through the use of external

contractors, improving staffing levels, dealing with the backlog of insurance and

Contact Harlow (CAM) enquiries.

A full list of indicator descriptions and performance data is available at www.harlow.gov.uk/performance

10

Section Five: Improvement Action Plans

Harlow Council keeps track of any indicator which has been subjected to an Improvement

Action Plan (IAP) during the past 12 months. The table below illustrates how each indicator

subjected to an IAP has performed over time.

Performance Indicator

QTR 1 13/14

QTR 2 13/14

QTR 3 13/14

QTR 4 13/14

QTR 1 14/15

Re

ge

ne

rati

on

NI151 Overall employment rate (working-age) (%)

NI154 Net additional homes provided - - -

Str

ee

t S

ce

ne

JVC 104 Customer satisfaction with Street Scene

NI195a Improved street and environmental cleanliness (litter)

NI195b Improved street and environmental cleanliness (detritus)

NI195c Improved street and environmental cleanliness (graffiti)

Gro

un

ds

Main

ten

an

ce

JVC 205 Customer satisfaction with Grounds Maintenance - - - -

JVC 207d Tree works carried out within 80 working days

(4 months) (3.14d) (%)

Ho

us

ing

BV202 People sleeping rough (numbers)

JVC 302 Urgent Housing requests within 5 days (4.8) (%)

JVC 303 Standard Housing repairs within 20 working days (4.9) (%)

Wa

ste

&

Rec

yc

lin

g BV082ai Household waste recycled (%)

BV082aii Household Waste Recycled (Tonnes)

BV082bii Household Waste Composted (Tonnes)

Co

nta

ct

Harl

ow

CS02b % Lost calls for Contact Harlow (Quarter Cumulative)

CS25 % of customer complaints responded to within target time

Mis

c.

BF005 Average days to process new claims

BF006 Average days to process change events

BV012 Average number of working days / shifts lost to sickness & absence

Number of under-performing indicators 8 7 7 11 6

11

Perf

orm

an

ce In

dic

ato

r

NI195b

Street & Environmental Cleanliness

(% land assessed having unacceptable levels of detritus)

Desc

rip

tio

n

This is reported as the percentage of relevant land and highways that is assessed as having deposits of detritus that fall below an acceptable level

DO

T

Wh

at

is t

he

perf

orm

an

ce

sit

uati

on

?

Street cleansing input has been maintained during the period, the cleaning cycle currently being completed in seven weeks. Performance in Q1 has been significantly affected by extreme weather, however, very heavy rain washing detritus out from planting beds and verges onto footpaths and highways between cleansing cycles, adversely affected the score. W

hat

pra

cti

ca

l ste

ps

are

bein

g

taken

to

im

pro

ve?

In addition to maintaining effectively cyclical cleansing which will improve the score over forthcoming quarters, the district will be reviewed for any identifiable “Hot Spot” locations to which available resources will be directed between cleansing cycles. Where identified locations require ongoing cleansing activity, a Community Beat Sweeper (Barrow Beat) will be allocated on a two-week cleansing cycle.

Perf

orm

an

ce In

dic

ato

r

NI195c

Street & Environmental Cleanliness (% land assessed having unacceptable lvls of graffiti)

Desc

rip

tio

n

This is reported as the percentage of relevant land and highways that is assessed as having deposits of graffiti and fly-posting that falls below an acceptable level.

DO

T

… p

erf

orm

an

ce s

itu

ati

on

?

This was caused as a result of information being recorded by the Keep Britain Tidy (KBT) surveyor that carried out the NI195 Survey of the Town, some sites and locations inspected had high levels of Graffiti, on Land and Locations that were not under the control of the Council, and the graffiti seen by KBT, and so had to be recorded. This is one of the issues Kier faces regarding visible graffiti, and continues to be an on-going issue, that is out of both Kier and the Council’s control. In the past when the NI195 surveys were conducted, jointly by Kier and the Council this was not an issue, and the Land Ownership and Access issues, were taken into consideration when scoring the area or location. …

ste

ps b

ein

g t

aken

to

im

pro

ve?

Kier and the Council to accompany Keep Britain Tidy on next survey, to ensure that these areas are recorded as not under the Council’s responsibility, and therefore Kier are unable to remove or attend to the graffiti issue.

12

Perf

orm

an

ce In

dic

ato

r

BV202 People sleeping rough (numbers)

Desc

rip

tio

n

People sleeping rough' should include people sleeping or bedded down in the open air, or in buildings or other places not designed for habitation.

DO

T

Wh

at

is t

he

perf

orm

an

ce

sit

uati

on

?

There has been an increase in the number of rough sleepers counted within Harlow’s boundaries from 0 – September- December 2013 to 17 by June 2014. These figures are a snapshot of the number of rough sleepers at the end of the period: they do not indicate directly whether those homeless persons have a priority need which the Council needs to support.

The increase from December 2013 is due to the provision of the Christmas Night Shelter open only through the Christmas and New Year period provided by a voluntary agency called the Haven. Of the people currently sleeping rough:

30% do not have a connection to Harlow

24% are not able to sustain their own tenancy

24% are foreign nationals with no income

12% are in the process of securing a settled home

5% choose to sleep on the streets

5% are considering other options

The Council does not expect there to be a rise in the number of rough sleepers over the next two quarters.

Wh

at

pra

cti

ca

l ste

ps

are

bein

g t

aken

to

im

pro

ve?

The Council and its Partners through the Homelessness Strategy continue to support rough sleepers and the wider theme of ‘Tackling single homelessness’ through:

1. Working in partnership. St Mungo’s are a large Housing Association Charity which has been awarded the ‘South Essex Single Homeless Service’ contract from September 2014 in support of ‘No second night out’. Working together with the Council, they will help to prevent and assist those single people that are street homeless or threatened with homelessness. They will enhance the current services provided locally and will offer a link with existing agencies to create a ‘single offer’ to clients, outreach patrols, advice surgeries, structured reconnection back to point of origin and rent deposit scheme.

2. The provision of “Severe Weather” placements working together with Streets2Homes a local voluntary service that specialises in supporting and preventing rough sleeping.

3. Conducting face-to-face interviews. Undertaking fact-finding exercises to determine the homelessness issues locally and nationally and support national policy ‘making every contact count’ and ‘No second night out’.

13

Perf

orm

an

ce In

dic

ato

r BF005

Average days to process new claims

Desc

rip

tio

n

The average time taken in calendar days to process new claims for Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit.

DO

T

Wh

at

is t

he

perf

orm

an

ce

sit

uati

on

?

The Revenues & Benefits Team implemented the new Local Council Tax Support (LCTS) scheme and welfare reforms to the national Housing Benefit scheme in 2013/14. This placed additional pressures on the service. During Quarter Four, 2013/14, 606 new claim applications for housing benefit and council tax support were received, compared to 282 applications in the previous quarter. This increase in workload impacted on the Team’s ability to manage the workload in Quarter One, 2014/15 financial year. In addition there was unforeseen staff resource issues which further compounded the matter with staffing levels reduced from 19 to 14.5 FTE over this period.

Wh

at

pra

cti

ca

l ste

ps

are

bein

g t

aken

to

imp

rove?

Staffing issues are being reviewed and the Team intends to undertake a recruitment process to fill vacancies. Where possible affordable vacancies are being covered by temporary staff. The service is working closely with Contact Harlow to enable the benefits team to maximise the resources available to process new claims and changes in circumstances.

Perf

orm

an

ce In

dic

ato

r

BF006

Average days to process change events

Desc

rip

tio

n

The average time taken in calendar days to process change events for Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit.

DO

T

Perf

orm

an

ce s

itu

ati

on

? See Above.

Wh

at

pra

cti

ca

l ste

ps

are

bein

g t

aken

to

imp

rove?

See Above.

14

Perf

orm

an

ce In

dic

ato

r

CS02b %

Lost calls for Contact Harlow (Quarter Cumulative)

Desc

rip

tio

n

The number of calls that are lost as a percentage of the total calls received by Contact Harlow per financial quarter

DO

T

Wh

at

is t

he

perf

orm

an

ce

sit

uati

on

?

The Modern Homes programme and an increase in illegal encampments, has meant that call volumes have been high and are likely to remain so. This is in addition to reduced staffing levels which has had an impact.

Wh

at

pra

cti

ca

l ste

ps

are

bein

g t

aken

to

im

pro

ve?

Three temporary Customer Advisors are being recruited which will assist with the demand in the short term. Offering alternative contact methods to customers and promoting the transactions that can be conducted via the website and using technology will help in the long term. The Customer Services and Access Strategy and corresponding action plan will outline this.

Section Six: Key Corporate and Financial Risks

The following risk areas are assessed as ‘exceptional’, that is, scoring 20 or higher on a scale of 1-25, 1 = low likelihood, low impact, 25 = high likelihood, high impact. These risks are regularly reviewed through the Council’s Risk Management Group and managed by the Council at senior management level and by relevant services.

Risk Owner & Description

Likelihood Impact Control Further

information Course of Action

Latest Risk

Chief Executive CRR 1 - If the Government's austerity measures continue to reduce public sector funding, combined with the Council’s limited ability to raise income then this could result in the Council’s financial resilience being at risk.

Options for increasing revenue to compensate for reduced Gov’t. funding are limited. Raising Council Tax to meet the shortfall beyond the levels already included within the MTFS is unlikely to be an option. Given budget reductions already made, further savings will be challenging if services are to be protected.

The impact of significant budget cuts to enable a balanced budget to be delivered could have a major impact on delivery of the Council's corporate objectives.

Detailed planning of future budgets is undertaken early in the financial year. However, for the period of the MTFS there are substantial budget reductions required to meet the Governments funding cuts which may impact on this in the medium to long term forecasts.

The Administration formed after the election in May 2014 will be provided with options concerning the work of the Council and will decide how these financial challenges can be faced.

Tolerate – the majority of issues relating to the Council’s finances are dictated by Government. However, the Council’s financial situation continues to be monitored regularly.

21

Head of Regeneration RGN 2 - If uncertainties regarding costs and delays continue the Growth Area Fund neighbourhood regeneration programme may not be completed across all four sites.

Some sites have uncertainty over detailed matters, e.g. resolving tenancy and trading continuity issues. These are subject to on-going discussion and negotiation.

Loss of reputation with local residents and regeneration objectives delayed.

Resolution to grant planning permission has been refused for the new Lister House Medical Centre. Land swap matters are being discussed with a view to a successful resolution to enable re-submission of the planning application.

Options and cost analysis is ongoing regarding Prentice Place. Meetings with the Homes and Communities Agency have been ongoing throughout June 2014 with regards to Osler House and Lister House.

Tolerate – awaiting outcome of options analysis and decision from HCA and HHCT.

21

Risk Owner & Description

Likelihood Impact Control Further

information Course of Action

Latest Risk

Head of Regeneration RGN6 - A lack of private sector investment and/or disinvestment by retailers and landowners in the Town Centre could lead to a further decline in its attractiveness as a shopping and leisure destination.

The macro economic impact on the retail sector is very uncertain.

Damaged reputation and perception towards the Town. Potential loss of jobs and employment and potential failure to deliver regeneration.

The Council maintains frequent contact with the current landowners to encourage investment into the Town Centre. The Council will need to consider alternative options for the future of the Town Centre.

Feasibility report on commercially led analysis of market demand is being commissioned in July 2014.

Tolerate – until such time as alternative options are considered by the Council and a way forward agreed.

21

Head of Regeneration RGN7 - If priority allocation and funding by the Highways Agency and Government is not achieved then the timely delivery of M11 Junction 7a will be put at risk.

Although junction 7a is high on the agenda for both SELEP and ECC, it has yet to be accorded required funding and/or recognition by the Government/ Highways Agency.

Without the new junction the Highway Agency's cap on new jobs growth will not be lifted in the absence of alternative highways-improvements. The lack of a new junction is also known to be a deterrent to the retention and expansion of current and new businesses. Housing growth will be constrained due to capacity of the current junction.

Continued lobbying of the Government, SELEP, Highways Authorities and co-operation with relevant interests (e.g. West Essex Alliance, London-Stansted-Cambridge Corridor Consortium).

Essex County Council concluded public consultation on the proposals for Junction 7a in May 2014. The Council continues to lobby SELEP and the Government to ensure Junction 7a remains a priority.

Tolerate – This decision is now primarily with the Government, SELEP and ECC and beyond the Council’s direct control.

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Section Seven: Progress in delivering the 2013/14 – 2017/18 Corporate Plan

Corporate Priorities Milestone Tracker (June 2014)

The 2012/13 – 2016/17 Corporate Plan includes an Action Plan setting out the milestones the Council needs to

complete in order to deliver its objectives. Below is a status update of how well the Council is doing in delivering its

Plan as at June 2014.

96 per cent (52 out of 54) of

all Corporate Plan

milestones are self-

assessed as being

complete or green (i.e.

successfully delivered or

implemented in 2014/15

and on-going) as at 30 June

2014.

2 per cent (1 out of 54) of

milestones have lapsed or

require further action to

ensure they are completed

during 2014/15.

2 per cent (1 out of 54) of

milestones have not

started.

Milestone RAG Status

Number %

Completed Milestones 27 50%

On Track (Green) Milestones 25 46%

Further action required to get back on track 1 2%

Milestones which are significantly off target and where further action is needed (Red)

0 0%

Not Started Milestones 1 2%

Completed, 27

Green, 25

Further action required, 1

Red, 1

Milestones which are assessed as red or not started

The following milestones were due to be completed by June 2014 and are either ‘not started’ or ‘red’ (significantly off track).

# Objective Action Milestone Due Date

RAG Status

Comments

GOV. 4.2.2

Ensure the Council continues to be effective, economic and efficient.

Rollout employee and manager self-service linked to Agresso.

Agree action plan for implementation.

Jun 2014

Red An action plan cannot be implemented for upgrading the employee manager self-service module until the Finance Agresso project goes into its next phase. The deadline is anticipated to be delayed until March 2015.