The Overview & Scrutiny Committee are scheduled to discuss the 'Creating Good Lives Together: Southwark 2030 Delivery Plan' and the Q3 2024/25 performance against the previous plan. The report pack includes the proposed approach to monitoring and reporting on performance, and notes the Delivery Plan performance and progress at Q3 2024/25. The committee are being asked to provide feedback on the proposed approach to monitoring and reporting.

Delivering Southwark 2030

The committee will receive a report from Rhona Cadenhead, Assistant Chief Executive of Strategy & Communities, regarding the 'Creating Good Lives Together: Southwark 2030 Delivery Plan' and the Q3 2024/25 performance.

The 'Creating Good Lives Together: Southwark 2030 Delivery Plan' was agreed at Cabinet in February 2025, following the agreement of the Southwark 2030 Strategy at Council Assembly in November 2024. The delivery plan builds on the previous Fairer, Greener, Safer Delivery Plan (2022 – 26), which was adopted by Cabinet in September 2022.

The Delivery Plan is structured around the six Southwark 2030 strategy goals and an internal-facing council goal:

1. Decent homes for all
2. A good start in life
3. A safer Southwark
4. A strong and fair economy
5. Staying well
6. A healthy environment
7. A well-run council

The report pack states that the majority of commitments within this Delivery Plan are a continuation or evolution of the previous plan, and that they focus on action and effort on the areas where the council will need to go further to deliver on its shared ambition for residents.

The Delivery Plan also emphasises the importance of the Southwark 2030 guiding principles:

• Reducing inequality
• Empowering people
• Investing in prevention

The report pack states that the council will leverage its principles to achieve change and develop shared plans with its partners on areas where working together will have the biggest impact.

Council Delivery Plan performance

As of Q3 2024/25 (December 2024), over 90% of the previous Council Delivery Plan commitments are either on track for delivery or due for delivery by the end of the plan period.

Goal 1 - Decent homes for all

Areas of progress:

• The council is continuing to lead the way in London and nationally with its ambitious council homebuilding programme, with 3,000 new council homes under construction.
• The council is committed to driving up housing standards across private rented sector homes, and has taken action against 120 rogue landlords and licensed over 15,000 more private sector homes.
• The council funds a free advice service for private sector tenants through Citizens Advice.
• The council has launched a new free independent advice and mediation service for council leaseholders who live in their own home, providing advice through Citizens Advice Southwark and mediation through Calm Mediation.
• The council has led a cross-party coalition of over 100 councils to tackle the national housing crisis, co-developing a roadmap of the critical policy changes needed for the sector to deliver on national housing ambitions.

Areas of continued focus:

• The council will further extend its landlord licensing scheme across the borough so landlords have to meet higher standards.
• The council will continue to focus on completing 2,500 council homes, and continue its work to deliver 1,000 more homes.
• The council will continue to build new keyworker homes, providing more affordable housing within easy reach through this type of tenure.
• Ongoing challenges continue relating to turning around both major and minor council voids, with timeframes rising in both areas. An improvement plan is in place to ensure the council is driving down the number of empty homes in the borough.

Goal 2 - A good start in life

Areas of progress:

• Through the council's Keeping Education Strong strategy, developed with schools, the council is working towards ensuring all children in the borough have access to high-quality education and attainment gaps are falling, with 96 per cent of Southwark schools graded as Good or Outstanding.
• The council is implementing its transformed delivery approach to offering essential advice, support and activities to help children thrive through its five Children and Family Hubs, including a dedicated co-designed SEND Children and Family Hub.
• The council has received over 50,000 visits to its in-house youth centres and adventure play sites, with a further 16,800 using commissioned youth services.
• The council's ‘We are Southwark’ curriculum celebrates the history and culture of the borough, bringing Southwark’s vibrant life into the classroom.
• Following an initial pilot in 2023, the council's Sure Start for Teenagers Service offers teenagers and their parents and carers support on a wide range of issues, acting as a gateway for families to access further support where needed.
• The council's school holiday activity and food programme, running during the Easter, summer and winter school holidays, is providing free, nutritious and tasty food for families with children aged 4 – 16 for those who need them, alongside fun physical activity sessions. Almost 70,000 meals have been provided through the scheme.
• Through the council's Southwark Scholarship scheme to help young people aged 18 – 25 to pursue higher education, the council has allocated seven university scholarships to the latest cohort, building on the 140 students supported over the last decade by covering the full cost of tuition fees for their chosen undergraduate degree.

Areas of continued focus:

• With over 260 playgrounds in the borough, the council is committed to ensuring high-quality inclusive playgrounds for families across the borough, with 4 more playgrounds due to be delivered by the end of the term.
• The council will continue to implement its transformed delivery approach to offering essential advice, support and activities to help children thrive through its five Children and Family Hubs, including a dedicated co-designed SEND Children and Family Hub.

Goal 3 - A safer Southwark

Areas of progress:

• The council launched a £2m anti-social behaviour task force to provide a highly visible presence to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour in hotspot areas of concern for residents.
• The council has invested £3m in upgrading its CCTV systems in town centres and public spaces. 550 cameras are watched 24/7 by the council's highly skilled team.
• The council grew its network of safe havens, as part of its commitment to reduce Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in Southwark.
• The council has supported more than 100 young people through its Community Harm and Exploitation Hub.
• Young residents have helped train 100 police officers to improve the fairness of stop-and-search practices
• The council is track to convert all its streetlights into LED lights, with over 15,500 converted so far.

Areas of continued focus:

• In launching its Policing Oversight Board, the council will work towards improving trust and communication between police and the community
• The council is committed to expanding the use of the London Women’s Safety Night Charter, asking all organisations that operate at night in Southwark to sign up
• The council will improve the public realm and lighting in crime and anti-social behaviour hotspots to create safer public spaces, especially for women, older people and young people
• The council will take active and proportionate enforcement action to tackle anti-social behaviour and envirocrime, including fly tipping and graffiti in the borough

Goal 4 - A fair and strong economy

Areas of progress:

• The council has exceeded its goals in launching and growing businesses, co-operatives and social enterprises, supporting almost 700 small businesses and enterprises to contribute to the borough's vibrant local economy
• The council has delivered over 16,000 jobs and apprenticeships, including 1,900 green jobs, as part of its commitment to a greener, fairer economy. The council has also trained more than 800 residents in green skills through the London South Bank University Green Skills Hub.
• The council's Living Wage unit is on track to double the number of local employers accredited as Living Wage employers, resulting in over 7,000 workers receiving pay increases.
• The council has provided more than £40m through the Cost-of-Living Fund, including cash payments to 155,000 households since April 2022. Free school meals have been expanded to children from low-income families in secondary schools.
• The council has created over 1,7000 apprenticeships for Southwark residents with employers, and are on track to achieve its overall target of 2,000 apprenticeships so local people can take up careers in the borough’s growth industries
• Working with King’s Health Partners, Lambeth Council, and the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation, the council has established Southwark’s world-class SC1 Life Science District, driving investment and creating new employment opportunities

Areas of continued focus:

• The council is on track to deliver a ‘meanwhile’ cultural space at the Elephant Arcade for the Latin American community by the end of the term. Longer-term plans will be developed to ensure viability of the project

Goal 5 - Staying Well

Areas of progress:

• 75% of children aged 2 to 2½ received their health and development review, to ensure more families know if their development is on track and where to get further support where needed, far exceeding the London average (62%).
• The proportion of health checks delivered to those from black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds is 63%, a significant increase from 42% in 2022/23.
• The council published its Maternity Commission report in September 2024, a culmination of more than a year’s work with 750 residents and frontline workers to reduce inequalities in access to healthcare, including those faced by Black, Asian and ethnic minority people.

Areas of continued focus:

• The council will deliver an accessible borough-wide community toilet scheme and continue to maintain and improve public toilets.

Goal 6 - A healthy environment

Areas of progress:

• The council is the first inner London council to have more than 100,000 trees, demonstrating its commitment to increase tree canopy cover in every neighbourhood.
• To increase biodiversity, the council has changed its planning policy so that all new council home schemes have to be net zero by default as a mandatory requirement for planning consent.
• The council extended its food waste collection to a further 100,000 households in flats across the borough, helping more local households to recycle, tackle climate change and reducing council costs for processing general household waste.
• The council continues to improve air quality and road safety at Southwark schools. There are 29 school street closures (at any time or timed), 12 footway widenings, one green screen and one pedestrian crossing outside schools. Further schools have been identified for improvements to begin in 2025/26.

Areas of continued focus:

• At the end of December 2024, 95% of reported graffiti was removed within 24 hours of being reported, below the council's 98% target. Targeted graffiti management action is taking place in the final quarter of 2024/25, including investment in an additional graffiti removal team dedicated to the programme and associated pro-active targeted graffiti hot spot ‘design out’ action, involving private property owners.
• The council will continue to focus its efforts on reducing the council’s carbon emissions from operational buildings and vehicles, alongside the refresh of the council’s Climate Change Action Plan.
• The council is progressing its plan for the delivery of cargo bikes for use around high streets across the borough. This will be delivered as part of the council's Thriving High Streets programme, which the council will continue to monitor in the new Delivery Plan

Goal 7 - Well-run Council

Areas of progress:

• The council adopted its Borough of Sanctuary Framework in October 2024, affirming its commitment to welcome migrant and refugees to the borough and work with local communities to support people fleeing persecution, conflict and disasters.
• The council is investing over £20m in neighbourhoods through funds such as CIL¹, S106², and voluntary sector grants, and delivering simplified grant processes to make it easier for organisations to access support.
• The council has continued to increase the range of services accessible through its libraries, including the Library of Things, musical instrument loans, wireless printing, and piloting leisure classes in its libraries.

Areas of continued focus:

• Key elements of the neighbourhoods programme will launch in October 2025, informed by engagement with communities, stakeholders, partners and staff. This will consist of 10 community plans for each neighbourhoods, aligned to Southwark 2030.
• The council is developing a new Customer Experience strategy to go to Cabinet in summer 2025, with an ambition to transform customers’ experiences of interaction with the council and its services. Underneath this, the council will continue to improve its contact centre, improving call waiting times, and customer responsiveness.
• The Fairer Future Procurement Framework and Social Value Framework are due to go to Cabinet in June 2025. These two frameworks set out the council's renewed ambition to get maximum value out of its spending with external organisations and improve economic, social and environmental wellbeing to benefit the local area and residents.

Monitoring the Creating Good Lives Together: Our Southwark 2030 Delivery Plan

The report pack states that further to the 2030 Council Delivery Plan being agreed at Cabinet, the council is now developing the relevant milestones and measures to monitor for the 2025/26 financial year, enabling successful officer and member oversight and assurance.

Over the next year, the council will build its new performance management and outcomes frameworks in 2025/26, harnessing the technical improvements it is making to use of data, insight and intelligence in the organisation. This will help the council to triangulate its key progress on programme delivery, organisational health and effectiveness, and outcomes and impact for residents, and enable the council to connect all its work to the ambition of its Southwark 2030 strategy, and the scope of its aspirations for residents as set out in the Delivery Plan.

Policy framework implications

The Southwark 2030 strategy will guide the council’s work over the next six years, acting as the strategic framework that informs its approach to delivery with residents, businesses, community organisations, and partners. The Southwark 2030 Delivery Plan will lay the foundations for delivery over the next year towards the council's ambitious vision, and will impact all wards and neighbourhoods in Southwark.

Community, equalities (including socio-economic) and health impacts

The report pack states that the 'Creating Good Lives Together: Our Southwark 2030 Delivery Plan' aims to create a positive impact for the communities of Southwark, and that the commitments in the Delivery Plan are informed by the deep listening and engagement with residents that supported the Southwark 2030 strategy and rooted in what residents told the council they want Southwark to be and feel like in 2030.

The council is also proposing a delivery route which is resident-led, empowers people and strengthens outcomes through co-design, which aims to ensure a positive community impact.

Reducing inequality is a core principle of Southwark 2030 and a major driver of the plan. The council is also planning work to increase understanding of the impact of inequality in the borough, gaining a more detailed, evidence-based perspective of the experiences of people who face discrimination and disadvantages in Southwark. This includes the intersectional nature and experience of inequality and discrimination. This work will inform the council how it tackles systemic inequalities going forward and ensure residents’ lived experiences are shaping its work.

The Southwark 2030 Delivery Plan contains specific commitments and initiatives that may require their own Equalities Impact and Needs Assessment (EINA). The report pack proposes that the equalities implications for these commitments are assessed by the lead officer/s for these commitments at an appropriate time for these projects as details develop on proposed changes and anticipated impact.

In the implementation of the Delivery Plan, the council will give due consideration to the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) and how it can positively contribute to the advancement of equality.

The council's Delivery Plan aims to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequalities across the borough. One of the goals of Southwark 2030 is ‘Staying well’ which aims to ensure that people across the whole community can have good health and wellbeing. This includes the council's work to reduce health inequalities, expand access to support for mental and physical health, and improve the wellbeing of people with long term conditions and disabilities, and their carers.

There are also cross-cutting commitments which will promote good health and wellbeing, including tackling mould and damp in housing, promoting healthy transport options, improving air quality and supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Climate change implications

The Delivery Plan has a range of commitments to prevent and mitigate the impact of climate change, both under the council's goal to build a healthy environment but also as part of its ambition to be a well-run council. This includes enhancing biodiversity, halving the council’s carbon emissions from operational buildings and vehicles, and investing pension funds in zero carbon initiatives. The council will also be supporting community energy projects, and developing new ways for local people and businesses to invest in climate action in the borough through Southwark Green Finance.

Beyond the commitments directly related to climate action, there are other commitments which will take the council further in delivering its net zero ambitions such as the development of greener new homes, delivering town centre improvements, and growing green jobs. Climate change implications will be considered within any specific Cabinet papers on those initiatives.

Resource implications

Southwark 2030 was developed in line with the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS). The council will continue to monitor both its Delivery Plan and its financial plans, ensuring that its ambitions set out in Southwark 2030 continue to be realistic and achievable.

As work on implementing the Delivery Plan progresses, the council will continue to review the status of commitments including whether key decisions are required for delivery.

A £3m enabling Southwark 2030 budget funded from reserves was previously agreed by Cabinet. 2024/25 expenditure and known commitment total £0.382m leaving an available balance of £2.618m. This will be used to fund delivery resources, cross-cutting projects and engagement and communications.