Council supporting care leavers into employment

Issued: 26 January 2024

South Hams District Council’s Executive has set out the Council’s priorities for the next four years in response to the challenges and opportunities faced by communities across the District.

Today, Thursday 25 January, the Executive considered The Council Plan 2024-2028 and its supporting Year 1 delivery plan. It recommended that Council should adopt both plans and approve the funding needed to deliver them.

The Council Plan includes four key policy areas to tackle the housing challenges, address climate change and biodiversity loss, support the economy and deliver good quality services to our communities.

The plan is funded by an investment of £4.59m. This is made up of £1m of money released from reserves and capital schemes that are no longer needed together with £3.59m from the realignment of core budgets and government grants such as the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

To complement the housing priorities in The Council Plan, The Executive also approved a specific action plan focused on Housing and Homelessness prevention. The focus for the next twelve months includes working with partners and communities to create good quality, genuinely affordable, energy efficient housing and making the best use of housing that already exists.

Another of the Council’s key priorities is to do all it can to respond to Climate change and Biodiversity loss . It will do this through supporting changes to agricultural practices and decarbonisation of the marine economy. Another key project is to work with the agriculture sector to develop a ‘keep it local’ scheme to promote local produce and reduce food miles.

Working with businesses and partner organisation will also be key to achieving the Council’s ambition to support a thriving and resilient economy. One of the key ways it intends to do this it by working with each of the districts Towns to support the delivery of town plans focused on local priorities.

The community services the Council Delivers is also a key priority. It has pledged in The Council Plan to deliver effective frontline services that address consider the environment and enhance the wellbeing of communities across South Hams.

These four priorities will be underpinned by providing good quality core council services. The Council will do this by working closer with our communities, improving customers access to services, making sure it is financially sustainable and putting the right governance in place.

Cllr Julian Brazil, Leader of South Hams District Council, said: “The proposals approved by the Executive reflect a well-rounded and sensible approach to the challenges of housing, climate change, our economy and community support, confirming our dedication to enhancing the quality of life for all residents.

“As a committee, we have a very practical viewpoint for sustainable growth and a community-focused future. Our ongoing commitment to our Council Plan, together with transparency, accountability, and strategic financial management will undoubtedly propel the District toward our goals.

“We’re showing we’re being proactive and we’re trying to provide our residents with what they have asked us for. That’s what we’re working towards every single day.”

To find out more information on each of the reports discussed during Executive, go to: www.southhams.gov.uk/executive

The meeting can be viewed in full on South Hams District Council’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@SouthHamsCouncil

Temporary Changes to Dartmouth’s Ferry Services

8 January 2024

South Hams District Council has created a short summary of its 2022/23 accounts, so you can see how the authority spent public funds.

This is a new idea which has been brought in this year by the Council’s Audit and Governance Committee.

You can view the summary online here, which offers a straightforward breakdown of how money was spent to deliver Council services.

The Council is in a good financial position. There was a small surplus of £57,000 (0.5%) generated against a net budget of £10.464m for the 2022/23 financial year.

The Council faced additional costs and a shortfall of income of £1.92m during 2022/23. Many of these costs were a result of the current economic climate with high inflation and the cost-of-living crisis.

There was also the exceptional one-off cost of £1.5m for bringing the Council’s waste and recycling service back in-house in October 2022. The £1.5m was funded from reserves. There has been a huge improvement in performance for the waste and recycling service since it was brought in-house. The Council has also now completed the roll out of its full collection service, including collections for food waste across the South Hams, meaning all residents are now recycling the same materials.

The extra costs and shortfall in planning income of £0.35m were offset by the Council generating additional investment income. This income of £1.02m took advantage of high interest rates and came from the careful planning and management of the Council’s cash funds. The Council also received more income from its car parks and the Dartmouth Lower Ferry, along with income from its business units.

Despite all these additional costs and pressures caused by the wider economic situation, the authority has finished the year in a strong financial position.

The Council’s full accounts show all of the precise details. The accounts are currently unaudited and the Council’s external auditors, Grant Thornton, are now in the process of completing the audit of the accounts.

Cllr Lee Bonham, chair of the Council’s Audit and Governance Committee, said: “As a Council we want to be transparent, so having complex information on our finances be summarised in this way makes how we spend your money easy to understand and clear.

“This is the first time that the Council has has provided this information in this way. We want to make it easier for people to understand the way we operate and how we are spending public funds.

“We’re working hard to overcome many of the problems facing the district, including the housing crisis, the cost-of-living crisis, and the climate change and biodiversity emergency.

“To have worked on such a broad series of challenges, to have brought the waste service back in-house and found ourselves in the strong financial position we’re in is a great credit to our Councillors and our staff.”

Cllr Alison Nix, the committee’s vice-chair, added: “So much was achieved in 2022/23. The Council has worked incredibly hard to serve the people of the South Hams, so to end the fiscal year in a good financial position means the future is looking positive for the district.

“It’s good that we can present our accounts in a more easily read format, and shows how the Council responds to the feedback we get from you, our residents.”

To read the summary on the Council's Accounts page, click here.