Hull City Council's cabinet have set out their four-year Council Plan, vowing to "get the basics right."
In a meeting yesterday (September 23), the Council's cabinet approved new four-year play for the city, setting out their aims and priorities for the coming years which seek to "secure a positive and sustainable future for the city, through decisive leadership and the development of inclusive partnerships and communities."
The Leader of Hull City Council, Councillor Mike Ross, said: "It’s important that Hull’s council is one that listens to people and gets the basics right – and this plan will help us make that a reality.
"We want Hull to be fairer, cleaner and safer one step at a time, and this vision is another step in the journey to making that possible.
"From consulting people all year around to delivering on people’s priorities, the Council is keen to make our city a better place to live."
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The Chief Executive of Hull City Council, Matt Jukes, said: "The new Council Plan is about how the Council does its job."
He continued: "It puts us firmly at the heart of the community as we lead the work to deliver our shared vision and priorities.
"Working together, as Team Hull, with our residents, businesses, and partners across the public and voluntary sectors, we are passionate about our city, and improving the lives of the people and communities we serve."
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Following last week's announcement of an agreement with the UK government to establish a Hull & East Yorkshire Combined Authority, the new plan describes how devolution will benefit the region.
It states: "Devolution provides an opportunity to bring together plans across Hull and East Yorkshire for economic, transport and skills delivery. It will also provide the opportunity for additional funding and programmes to provide greater support for young people increasing their life-chances and opportunities."
In their plan, the City Council have set out some clear objectives they want to achieve in the next four years. These include:
- Increasing peoples' pride in the city. The plan suggests that only 61% of residents are proud to live in or near Hull. This is a statistic that the council want to see rise in the coming years.
- Increase levels of tourism in the city. Despite having countless museums and galleries as well as a rich maritime history, data suggests few people see Hull as a desirable holidaying spot. Hull is nowhere to be seen on VisitBritain's top 20 most visited British cities despite comparably sized placed such as Luton, Leicester and, Southampton making the list.
- Increase healthy life expectancy. The life expectancy of both men and women in Hull is far below the national average. According the city council's own data, men in Hull tend to live 4 years less than the national average, whilst Hull's women, on average, live 3 years less than is to be expected in England.
- Increase in people feeling Hull is an affordable place to live. This is one that will not require too much work to achieve. Earlier this year, IFA Magazine found that Hull is the cheapest city in the UK to live alone.
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In order to be officially adopted, the new plan will have to be presented and voted on in a full council meeting next month.
If passed by the council, the four-year Council Plan will become a part of the larger and more encompassing ten-year Community Plan which started this year and sets out a vision and pathway for a decade of growth for the city.
The ten-year Community Plan aspires to six ambitions and obliges to three commitments. The six ambitions it sets out are:
- Safe and welcoming neighbourhoods
- A healthier and fairer Hull
- Reaching our potential
- Economic growth that works for all
- Responding to the climate and nature emergency
- Our culture, our heritage, our city
The three commitments are:
- Engagement of all residents and communities
- Strong, united leadership committed to improving outcomes
- A focus on inclusion
The Community Plan also sets out aims beyond the next decade, such as the ambition for the city to achieve Net Zero by 2045, five years earlier than the national target of 2050.