REPORT FROM THE LEADER OF THE COUNCIL

TO THE MEETING OF FULL COUNCIL

ON 17 JANUARY 2007

After almost a month off recovering from my thyroid gland operation, I am pleased to be back in County Hall for what remains a busy time for the Council. Please can I take this opportunity to wish all members a Happy New Year.

As we begin 2007, there remain a number of key challenges for us over the next few months. We must demonstrate our determination to drive through our change agenda to deliver a high level of services, with value-for-money, which Islanders both expect and deserve.

Our reshaped directors’ team is now almost finalised, and the Cabinet has been working with our senior officers to prepare for the February 2007 budget. We are committed to building on the investment we agreed in 2006 and have identified a number of priority areas which we will support, whilst keeping council tax at or below the rate of inflation.

Many of these priorities have been guided by the results of our recent Residents’ Survey which told us what local issues concern Islanders most. Over the next month, a number of budget consultation meetings will take place across the Island to hear directly from residents in their communities what they feel the Council should be providing in next year’s budget.

The Council will shortly be publishing the results of its staff survey – and both the Chief Executive and I are determined to respond to the issues it raises and look at how we can continue to improve our workforce and how we ensure good working relations between elected members and officers.

We will shortly be meeting with Angela Smith MP at the Department for Communities and Local Government, to discuss the future of the Fire and Rescue Service on the Island. This will tie in with the comprehensive consultation exercise that is almost concluded and we will make a decision in March which is in the best interests of the Island.

I am pleased to have been accepted onto a national programme for leading councillors through the Leadership Centre for Local Government. “Leeds Castle” will involve ten Chief Executives and ten Authority Leaders in a series of development seminars over the next twelve months. This programme will help me develop and share ideas with some of the most experienced local government people in the country, which I will bring back to the Island.