Revealed: A 10-year vision for Bexhill

Members agreed "executive priorities for the coming decade.

The programme formalises many long-cherished ambitions.

They include:

* The Bexhill-Hastings Link Road

* The north Bexhill commercial development

* Pebsham Countryside Park

* A new hotel for Bexhill

* Redevelopment of the former Sidley goods yard

* A traveller emergency site

* Bexhill Museum extension

* The Egerton Park upgrade

* Seafront and Marina Arcade improvements

But it also includes new goals. They include:

* Apprentice workshops in association with local colleges and employers

* Finding a home for Bexhill Artists' Workspace and other artistic and cultural endeavour in the Manor Gardens area

* Improvements to Bexhill Leisure Centre

* An improved leisure pool

Proposed improvements to the A21 could lead to an "A21 corridor" concept of a chain of economic initiatives.

These could lead via the Spine Road and Link Road through a mix of starter-business development on the goods yard site, through re-location of the High School to Gunters Lane and the freeing-up of the key Downs Road site to the refurbished De La Warr Pavilion and a new hotel on seafront location.

Rother leader Cllr Graham Gubby set out the programme in a report to cabinet.

It is a requirement that the leader sets out for the authority's overview and scrutiny committees a report after each annual council meeting on the executive's priorities. This one takes thinking forward by a decade.

Rother chief executive Derek Stevens presented a new corporate plan to cabinet last month.

Cllr Gubby said: "The corporate plan is the document that links the aspirations of the Rother community plan, put together by the Local Strategic Partnership, with the work of Rother District Council in achieving the vision for better quality of life for residents.

"The council is recognised as a key player in realising the strategic vision for the district through effective community leadership and the delivery of quality services.

"It is important that we back up this commitment with robust and achievable projects and action plans to focus our efforts and bring about sustainable improvement."

The executive priorities include short, medium and long-term priority projects.

Cllr Gubby said the selection of projects balanced the following criteria:

'¢Deliver the vision for Rother District

'¢ "Concrete" projects that achieve lasting, visible improvement

'¢Timetabled to fit with Government spending rounds

'¢Bring significant clarity to what RDC will and won't do

Short-term executive priorities are intended to be delivered in 2006 '“ 2008, medium-term priorities between 2008 and 2011 and the long-term between 2011 and 2016.

"It is important to clarify our long-term view and to acknowledge that some of the changes we wish to bring about will take at least a ten-year time horizon. Some will require considerable planning and lead-in times before delivery at the timescales shown.

"This phasing fits equally with the new financial planning and budgeting regime, enabling resource allocation against a longer time frame."

In addition to meeting the vision for the district, the executive priorities will be delivered in accordance with the new aims of the plan.

Everyone must accord with a four-point "scorecard":

'¢ Putting customers first

'¢ Delivering value for money

'¢ Building stronger, safer communities

'¢ Working in partnership

"As well as working to deliver the executive priorities, the strategic management team is now responsible for drawing up a series of activities and measures against the Rother Scorecard, as set out in the new corporate plan, for the day-to-day and developmental services the council continues to deliver on a performance-managed basis.

"To ensure a good strategic fit with our aims and objectives, further detailed work will now be carried out to analyse the business case for each of these projects, scoping their delivery, assessing resource requirements, analysing risk and allocating project ownership.

"Each executive priority will have a clear project management plan. When this has been completed, overview and scrutiny members will have the opportunity to appraise the business case, assessing the implications for policy and resources and performance management arrangements."

It is intended to allocate "ownership" of the list, with a named cabinet member championing each project, so councillors are fully involved in driving forward the priorities and accounting to council for progress achieved.

The leader said: "With the new corporate plan 2006 -2016, we have reached an important stage in setting the long-term direction of the council. Ensuring that we have an ambitious set of executive priorities is a key community leadership role that we can fulfil."