Falkirk Council to focus on helping those in deepening poverty

Tackling deepening poverty and increased inequality will be a major priority for Falkirk Council as it faces a financial crisis of its own, its chief executive has said.

As chief executive Kenneth Lawrie launched Falkirk Council's five-year plan, he set out a vision for the council that he said would address "the challenging landscape it finds itself in".

As the district emerges from Covid, the new economic challenges are becoming clearer to everyone.

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Mr Lawrie told members last week that tough decisions lay ahead but he also hoped that modernising council services would help it become more responsive and innovative.

The financial situation facing the council - with a £69 million budget gap over the next four years - was described by Mr Lawrie last week as "unprecedented".

Presenting the new plan to councillors he told them that collaboration was the key to success and the council would look to work with partners wherever possible, with third sector organisations playing a big role.

"The plan recognises that we cannot achieve these things on our own own - we must work with partners; public, private, voluntary sector and, of course, our communities," he said.

The plan sets out steps it will take to achieve its aims as well as ways to measure whether it is working or not.

In its first aim - to create stronger and healthier communities - includes pledges such as supporting community projects and working with partner agencies to improve local areas and amenities.

They will also encourage local groups to take over the running of community halls and the like via community transfers.

The plan's second aim is "promoting opportunities and educational attainment and reducing inequalities".

Here, targets include boosting the number of foster carers to ensure children are looked after as close to home as possible; and developing family learning programme that target families who would most benefit.

They also want to develop the way the council engages with communities to make it easier for people to have an active role in decisions that shape Falkirk’s future.

The third priority will be "supporting a thriving economy and a green transition".

For that, says Mr Lawrie, the council "needs to have an eye to the longer term".

"It's about jobs but it's about our journey to net zero," he said.

Here, the specific targets include getting a greener fleet of council vehicles and exploring better public transport with "demand responsive transport" in more rural parts of the district.

Other targets are to lower vacancy rates in town centres and improve the council's street cleanliness score, which suffered badly during the pandemic.

Mr Lawrie says the current financial climate means that the plan will inevitably change and it will be reviewed every year to ensure it is up-to-date.

He said: "It's going to be about collaboration with partners, it's going to be about transforming how we deliver and modernise services to meet these challenges head on.

"It's a response to a really particular set of issues that we face as a council and our communities face as well.

"What we have tried to do is keep it pretty simple - it's a straightforward vision, it's about strong communities, reducing inequalities, improving lives.

Council leader Cecil Meiklejohn said it was a "good, robust plan" and agreed that partnership working would be key to any success.

She added: "It allows us to be very focused on what we are delivering on.

"All of us are being impacted by the cost of living but more people are reaching that level of below the poverty line and that's where we have to focus our resources."

Falkirk Council's plan was adopted unanimously by councillors although Labour group leader, Councillor Anne Hannah, said it would be vital to have ongoing consultation with communities.