Agenda item

            The Chief Executive submitted for the Committee’s consideration the undernoted report:

 

“1        Relevant Background Information

 

1.1       This paper outlines for Members the programme of work for establishing the city’s first community plan, the ‘Belfast Agenda’ including the proposed approach to strategic design and stakeholder inclusion. The paper outlines the likely engagement processes and interim governance structures that are required to meet the legislative requirements and to ensure formal endorsement of the Agenda by Members and our community planning partners by the end of 2015. (The Council’s response to the Department’s statutory guidance on community planning is also being presented to this Committee.)

 

1.2       The Belfast Agenda will set out the vision for our city in 2030 while also establishing a number of associated ‘quality of life outcomes’ for our citizens. The Agenda will identify medium term priorities for achieving these outcomes and set out a series of agreed actions for both the Council and our partners that will address these priorities over the next four years.

 

1.3       There already is a substantial body of evidence, including the feedback from Members and partner workshops, about what such outcomes and priorities might be. For example, initial work is beginning to identify areas of importance around the city’s role as the regional magnet for inward investment; the need to secure long term economic growth; the importance of our city centre not only for the city but for the entire region; the issue of skills and employability; the need to continue to build on the potential of tourism; and the need to build a shared community.

 

1.4       A key aim of the strategic design process will be to turn such emerging consensus into a series of firm commitments by government departments, agencies, and other relevant stakeholders as a basis for ongoing accountability.

 

1.5       As Members will be aware during 2015 the NI Executive and its departments will be working to establish the next Programme for Government. This is an important time for the Council to make the case for Belfast and to ensure that there is closer alignment between neighbourhood, city and regional priorities. The Belfast Agenda needs to articulate the challenges and opportunities facing the city and demonstrate the consensus amongst the city’s stakeholders about what Belfast’s priorities should be.

 

2          Key Issues

 

2.1       In order to quickly initiate the strategic planning process for the Agenda, Bernard Marr of Advanced Performance Institute was commissioned to create a Belfast ‘Plan on a Page’. This work was undertaken based on the recognition that, as a city, we are not starting our planning process from a ‘blank page’.  A number of our partners, including the Council itself, have already undertaken (or are in the process of developing) significant strategic planning work that can inform the Belfast Agenda and give direction to its outcomes, priorities and actions.

 

2.2       Bernard Marr carried out a series of in-depth meetings with Members and a broad range of partners in the city. His emerging findings were re-drafted following workshops with Members and senior partners. The emerging focus on the economy, educational attainment, skills and employability were particularly welcomed by Members who also highlighted the need for the plan to emphasise further wellbeing outcomes associated with health, reducing inequality, poverty, sustainable development and creating shared space. 

 

2.3       The final draft of the ‘plan on a page’ (see Appendix 1) attempts to bring clarity and focus around those outcomes, priorities and enablers for which there appears to be broad consensus amongst partners. Members should note that this plan on a page at this stage does not represent a draft Belfast Agenda. Instead it forms an initiation document for a further process of co-design and engagement with our stakeholders that will ultimately lead to a shared, agreed Belfast Agenda.

 

2.4       In January Transformation Committee agreed that our approach to this engagement and co-design process should be structured around two main components:

 

(A) A long term city vision and a series of outcomes for residents (to 2030). This will set the ambitious long term strategic direction for Belfast. Ideally, any future strategic planning process in the city will be able to use these broad outcomes as a reference point. (For example, it will help set the strategic context for the city’s Local Development Plan.)  As part of this process we would also agree a basket of ‘population’ indicators for these outcomes that would help all of partners measure the impact of their combined work over the longer term.

 

2.5

(B) Our priorities, actions and commitments (to 2020). The second component of the Agenda is about identifying the city’s priorities over the next four year. What are the things that we and our partners need to focus on in our first four year plan in order to make the most impact on the longer term outcomes? What are the commitments that partners need to make in order to address these priorities? These commitments will include programmes, strategies and individual interventions. Alongside these commitments would be a basket of performance measures that would include targets.

 

2.6       In order to develop part (A) the Council will lead a ‘Belfast Conversation’ – a broad citywide Member-led engagement programme with our residents and stakeholders. The engagement will be based around questions such as:

 

ü  What’s your vision for Belfast in 2030?

ü  What outcomes do you want for the residents of our city (and your area) by 2030?

ü  What do you think we need to do now to start achieving these outcomes?

 

2.7       The main Belfast conversation will commence, following the establishment of the new Belfast City Council, in April and will include:

 

·        Facilitated Member-led public events (including a City Hall launch in April and local area events). Details of these will be shared with Members once arrangements have been confirmed over the next few weeks.

·        A social media campaign using Twitter and Facebook

·        Use of the Council website – including online engagement

·        Online support for organisations that wish to stage their own ‘Belfast Conversation’ events

 

2.8       The data gathered from all of these engagement strands will be analysed and continually inform the development of both outcomes and priorities in the Agenda.

 

2.9       For part (B) Transformation Committee has agreed to use an Outcomes Based Accountability (OBA) approach to determine priorities and actions over the medium term (to 2020). This work has already been initiated by the Bernard Marr piece; however, it is also begin informed by the findings of our residents’ survey and an analysis of the city evidence base. Crucially, for this strand of work to be effective we need to work closely with planners and senior managers across relevant partner organisations to develop the ideas behind the plan on a page and turn these into practical, deliverable actions to which partners can be held to account.

 

2.10     Members have already been introduced to the work of Mark Friedman and his OBA model. It provides a simple approach that any organisation can use to determine what it wants to achieve and how well it has gone about achieving it. It asks three simple questions: How much have we done? How well have we done it? And, Is anyone better off? It is this last question that public organisations often find very difficult to answer collectively.

 

2.11     OBA encourages organisations to think much more clearly about the ultimate impact of their work on people and how it can be measured using proper data – which can then be used as the basis for ongoing planning, decision-making and evaluation.  It’s an approach that’s already been successfully adopted by a number of cities including Cardiff and Leeds. It is also the approach that the Department of the Environment are encouraging all Councils to adopt in the development of their community plans.

 

2.12     Working with OBA training expert, David Burnby, we will deliver a number of workshops over the next few weeks which will not only build the capacity of Members and partners in the OBA techniques but will also examine specific priorities in more detail. We will use the OBA approach to clarify the links between the outcomes we want for our residents and the actions that, collectively as organisations, we need to deliver on the ground. A specific OBA workshop is being arranged for Members at the end of March.

 

2.13     During April and May partners will come together to ‘unpack’ emerging priority or clusters of priorities. These workshops will use OBA to ‘turn talk into action’ by answering the following questions:

 

1.     What are our priorities for 2020?

2.     What are the characteristics of each priority?

3.     What data indicator(s) would help us measure success?

4.     What’s the current story in Belfast? Are there trend curves that we need to turn? (ie, are things getting worse over time)

5.     Which partners could help in turning the curve?

6.     What works well now in turning the curve?

7.     What actions/programmes/strategies could deliver on these priorities that we’re not currently doing?

 

2.14     Timeline

 

The target date for a first fully endorsed Belfast Agenda is December 2015. With this date in mind the following high level stages for the delivery of the programme as proposed:

 

Stages	Key dates
Train Members, officers and partners in the Outcomes Based Accountability (OBA)	Feb to Mar 15
Develop draft vision and city outcomes	Feb to Apr 15
The ‘Belfast conversation’ engagement programme	Feb to Apr 15
Train Members, officers and partners in the Outcomes Based Accountability (OBA)	Feb to Mar 15
Co-design process on city priorities and commitments with our partners	April to May 15
Partners agree a draft Belfast Agenda for consultation	From June 2015
Formal consultation and further refinement	June  to Dec 15
Endorsement process	Jan to Mar 16
Publish the Belfast Agenda	Apr 2016

 

2.15     Governance and support structures

 

            The DoE statutory guidance calls for some form of governance structure for the community planning process. Thinking on governance structures is at a very early stage and will be guided by Members using a ‘form follows function’ approach. The most effective and efficient governance arrangements will need to be influenced by the outcomes, priorities and commitments within the Belfast Agenda.

 

2.16     A pragmatic governance arrangement will also need to balance a need for inclusivity with effective and timely decision-making. Over time there may be the need for a number of ‘thematic’ sub-groups aligned to individual priorities (for example, around economic growth).

 

2.17     The final agreed governance structure will need to be agreed by Members and the city’s partners over the next year. Workhas now begun to determine the logistical requirements of a community planning structure; accountability and decision-making mechanisms; roles and responsibilities; etc. A further paper will be brought to Committee for discussion in the coming months.

 

2.18     Building the Belfast Agenda evidence base

 

            One the statutory requirements of the community planning process is for the council to set up and manage a shared ‘evidence base’ which would be available to community planning partners to inform ongoing decision-making on priorities, actions and as a basis for impact measurements. This evidence base would develop over time into a managed resource of ‘smart’ urban data that would be contributed to by different partners.

 

2.19     Officers are working to create the initial city baseline (which includes the results of our residents survey and strategic planning audit) and are also pursuing a number of possible routes with European and local ‘smart city’ partners towards developing such a source.

 

2.20     The Council has been approached by the Ulster University’s Economic Policy Centre which is currently working with the Department of Finance and Personnel on the development of regional measures of wellbeing. The Centre also produces bi-annual economic outlook reports; manages an economic forecasting database and dashboard; and undertakes bespoke research (for example, Annual Skills reports, Annual Export Reports, Local Government Economic Forecast).

 

2.21     There is an opportunity for the Council to become a sponsor of the Centre which would entitle the Council to sit on its Advisory Board and secure and influence research support. The work has the potential to contribute significantly to the Council’s ongoing analysis and monitoring of the city economy and to support the underpinning evidence base for the Belfast Agenda. Members are asked to consider the proposal for Council to contribute to the work of the Centre at a cost of £25,000 per annum for two years.

 

3          Resource Implications

 

3.1       This development phase of the Belfast Agenda is included within current Council resources. The OBA capacity building programme is being supported from the Department of the Environment’s LGR capacity fund.

 

            The £25,000 per annum contribution to the UU Economic Policy Centre has been included in budget estimates from the Development Departments for next year.

 

4          Equality and Good Relations Implications

 

4.1       Equality and good relations implications, in relation to this policy, are still under consideration. Further updates will be sent to the Equality and Diversity Officer in due course. However, it is likely an EQIA will be carried out as part of the formal consultation process on the Belfast Agenda.

 

5          Call In

 

5.1       This decision is subject to call-in.

 

6          Recommendations

 

6.1      Members are asked to:

 

1.     Note the latest version of the ‘Plan on a Page’

2.     Note the proposal for a ‘Belfast Conversation’ that includes five Member-led public events (details of which will be forwarded to Members once they are confirmed)

3.     Note the proposed OBA training programme, including a proposed Member workshop, details of which will be forwarded to Members once confirmed.

4.     Note the proposal from the Ulster University’s Economic Policy Centre and agree to the Council contributing £25,000 per annum for a two year period to support their work.”

 

            After discussion, the Committee adopted the recommendations.