Birmingham: The city council leadership has set out its strategic plan for the future.
It shows how it intends to be bold, ambitious and confident in grasping opportunities, tackling inequalities and transforming the city.
The Corporate Plan 2022 – 2026 sets out the vision for the city; strengthening Birmingham’s position as a thriving, young and diverse global city, as the beating heart of the UK both commercially and culturally and a place where everyone is included in the opportunities that the city can offer.
The council’s strategic priorities and outcomes are aimed at responding to the city’s challenges and opportunities so it can best serve the city and citizens and achieve:
- A Prosperous Birmingham: through a focus on inclusive economic growth, tackling unemployment, attracting inward investment, and maximising the benefits of the Commonwealth Games.
- An Inclusive Birmingham: through a focus on tackling poverty and inequality, empowering citizens, promoting diversity and civic pride, and supporting and enabling all children and young people to thrive.
- A Safe Birmingham: through a focus on making the city safer, safeguarding vulnerable citizens, increasing affordable housing, and tackling homelessness.
- A Healthy Birmingham: through a focus on tackling health inequalities, encouraging physical activity and healthy living, supporting mental health, and improving outcomes for adults with disabilities and older people.
- A Green Birmingham: through a focus on street cleanliness, improving air quality, continuing the route to net zero, and becoming a city of nature.
Leader of the council Cllr Ian Ward said: “The Commonwealth Games, HS2 and a host of major regeneration schemes across the city mean that this is Birmingham’s golden decade of opportunity. Our challenge is to harness the opportunities created by record levels of investment and to ensure that people and communities right across the city can share in the rewards.
“This plan outlines how we’re tackling Birmingham’s challenges and, with a new permanent Chief Executive heading a new-look leadership team, we’re well placed to secure a place at the heart of the much-needed levelling up agenda. We’re being bold and ambitious in our determination to tackle long-standing inequalities and deliver better outcomes for the people of Birmingham.”
Chief executive said: “This Corporate Plan is our north star for how we as a leadership team can ensure the council can deliver, enable and influence the right outcomes for the city. We have a really bold ambition to transform the council, so we can serve the city and its citizens in the most effective way – a bold approach that is now defining Birmingham City Council.
“This is a city which undoubtedly faces significant challenges but with these bold ambitions allied with the confidence to address these challenges and a clear focus on delivery, I believe we will make the changes and improvements needed for our city and our citizens.”
The Corporate Plan 2022 – 2026 brings together already-existing strategy and delivery documents into one cohesive framework that will guide how the council will deliver, enable and influence in the context of six ‘grand challenges’: equalities and inclusion; unemployment, skills and the local economy; health and wellbeing; community resilience, cohesion and living standards; climate emergency; opportunities for children and young people.
The draft Plan will go to the council’s cabinet on 26 July for consideration and to full council after that for approval.
