Cllr Ben Fitter-Harding is the Chief of Canterbury Council
I like being the Chief of Canterbury Metropolis Council, the place we have now a ‘snug’ (so I’m instructed… I disagree) majority of 5.
Having taken over throughout Covid and implementing a raft of reforms, together with a swap from the Committee system to Chief and Cupboard, issues are shifting; however with lower than a 12 months to go earlier than our full-chamber (39) elections, it’s onerous to flee the truth that issues have been shifting away from us on this a part of the nation lately, and I very a lot doubt the autumn of Boris Johnson and ensuing management contest helps that a lot.
Canterbury is a wonderful Council that, for many years, has punched nicely above its weight as a district – and delivered unbelievable belongings to residents, such because the Marlowe Theatre and Beaney Home of Artwork and Information. On the flip aspect, a poorly performing waste and grounds upkeep contractor, together with a shared housing service marred in scandal, has tarnished its fame. Regardless of initially being a digital trailblazer, its progress in delivering that end-to-end digital revolution had faltered.
Within the present native authorities monetary ‘predicament’, we’re removed from the one Council that ended up being unfold too thinly. Years of funding in non-core areas resembling museums, tourism, and publicly-run value-adds like cafés and co-working hubs created a wealth of cultural and financial advantages that councils then needed to stretch themselves to take care of as budgets shrunk – usually by hundreds of thousands of kilos a 12 months with a working finances of solely ~£20m to start with.
High-slicing and effectivity financial savings will solely take an organisation to date earlier than these receiving providers begin to really feel the pinch. I noticed the writing on the wall with that method, if solely later than is right to intervene. With depleted reserves following successive lockdowns this value Canterbury its standing as a often well-resourced Council with nearly all of its earnings coming not from Council Tax however from parking and property rents.
However intervene we have now. Our method, coined Fundamentals Brilliantly, is all about taking pleasure in these common providers that matter to each resident. I would like our unbelievable officer staff to be simply as pleased with accumulating the bins on time and having a squeaky clear place to reside as they’re of our fantastic theatre. To me which means environmental providers, housing, enforcement, and the financial system. The latter sounds obscure, however our Company Plan makes clear that it’s all about utilizing our personal belongings for financial profit; whether or not regeneratively or just by way of making them economically productive by bringing them again into use.
Final 12 months we received our first ever Native Authorities Award, which was a watershed second for us all. Since I took over as Chief on the finish of 2020, we’ve applied a nationally-leading, end-to-end, digital waste service to enrich our new Native Authority Buying and selling Firm (LATCo) waste supplier, Canenco. We’re proper in the midst of rolling out Salesforce as our organisation-wide CRM, and our digital funding is being matched by a full, although gruelling and unforgiving, restructure of your complete organisation.
But how does one talk this sea change of method to the voters? How will we, as Conservatives, handle our personal model alongside the district Council model?
For one, we’ve began a social media marketing campaign to speak in regards to the selections that we’re taking. Resolution Finished is a marketing campaign solely focussed on publicising every choice that Cupboard takes, and what it means, in easy phrases, to our residents and companies. The graphics are easy, with brief and easy-to-understand copy.
Then there’s the marketing campaign. We’re working with Andrew Kennedy Campaigning with the aim of getting 20,000 conversations with residents between now and the election, to grasp intimately their wants and assist them in methods we’ve not been capable of earlier than. Collectively we’ll be reminding our supporters why it’s so vital to maintain Canterbury blue, and showcasing our native candidates’ expertise on the doorstep.
I’m thrilled with the progress we’re making as a Council and our laser-focus on offering the most effective public providers attainable. I’m so very pleased with the staff that I get to work with because the Chief and the enter I’ve been capable of have on the organisation’s transformation. And most of all I proceed to be humbled by the expertise of serving the residents of the Canterbury district. Firmly within the perception that we’re the precise folks for the job and that our Conservative values are those that may carry elevated wealth and prosperity for all to share in, we’re giving it every little thing we’ve obtained to hopefully see that mirrored within the poll field in Might 2023.
