We Asked, You Said, We Did

Starting on November 18th, 2024, Warwickshire County Council launched a four-week public engagement to present proposals aimed at improving access and movement in Nuneaton town centre. These proposals build on the ongoing town centre redevelopment and supporting highway infrastructure under the Transforming Nuneaton Programme.

The public engagement included drop-in sessions in Nuneaton town centre, the online Ask Warwickshire survey, meetings with key stakeholders such as businesses and council members, and an exhibition of the proposals at Nuneaton Library.

The objectives of the Nuneaton Town Centre Access and Movement proposals are to:

• Make it more convenient to travel to the town centre by bus,
• Improve connectivity for cyclists and enhance the environment for pedestrians,
• Improve accessibility for Blue Badge holders and taxi users,
• Manage movements of deliveries made to businesses,
• Provide better information on parking availability, and
• Create a more attractive and enjoyable town centre

The target audience for this public engagement included town centre users, business owners, and residents.

During the public engagement drop-in sessions held in the town centre, Warwickshire County Council (WCC) officers distributed over 350 leaflets to members of the public who stopped to engage with us.

The Ask Warwickshire online engagement survey garnered good interest. Most responses came from residents of Nuneaton, with additional input from visitors using the town centre's services and facilities. Several businesses and organisations also provided formal responses to the survey.

In terms of respondent demographics, there were fewer responses from individuals aged 16-50 compared to the overall age distribution in Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough. Conversely, there was a higher percentage of responses from those aged 50-74.

Most minority ethnic groups were underrepresented in the survey. Notably, there was a high number of responses from individuals identifying as having a disability, long-term health condition, or learning difference, which was particularly high compared to the borough's general population. This may have been influenced by the large number of responses from those aged 65-74.

Overall, there was strong support for the objectives, with respondents more likely to agree or strongly agree with the scheme's objectives than to disagree or strongly disagree. The objectives with the highest level of support (shown by the proportion of respondents who strongly agreed or agreed) were:

• Creating a more attractive town centre and pleasant space (88%)
• Enhancing environment for pedestrians (85%)
• Improving information on parking provision (72%)

Respondents were asked for their views on several proposals for the town centre, focusing on: (1) Bus improvements; (2) Cars, taxis and delivery vehicles; (3) Pedestrians and cyclists and (4) Paving, landscaping and street furniture.

The proposals with the highest proportion of agreement related to ‘Paving, landscaping and street furniture’, although all proposals received a significantly higher number of respondents supporting rather than opposing them.  Several comments were received in relation to the proposals. These comments will be reviewed and used to inform the decision on whether to take the proposals forward.

Feedback from the drop-in sessions indicated strong support for general improvements within the town centre. However, there were significant concerns about cyclists' anti-social behaviour and the need for convenient short stay parking.

WCC officers will arrange a meeting with council members after the County Council elections in May to discuss and agree on actions and next steps.

In the meantime, officers will explore measures that could be implemented in the short to medium term, based on availability of funding. In addition, measures classified as long-term aspirations have also been recorded. 

As part of the development of the Warwickshire LNRS, we conducted an online survey to gather public input. We asked residents, businesses, and organizations across the county to share their thoughts and ideas on how to best protect and improve Warwickshire's natural environment.

Response: We received a good response (568) to the LNRS engagement survey, primarily from Warwickshire residents and some Coventry and Solihull respondents. While most respondents identified as members of the public, a good number of local organisations also participated. The survey highlighted positive engagement and a general desire to improve nature and wildlife in Warwickshire and highlighted areas for improvement regarding public awareness and addressing certain priorities.

Key Findings:

• Strong Support for 30by30 Target: Nearly 80% of respondents supported achieving at least 30% of land in good environmental management by 2030, aligning with the national 30by30 target.
  More information on the 30by30 in England target
• Public Priorities: The public identified improvements to water quality, protecting wildlife areas, and creating bigger and better-connected habitats as top short-term priorities. Soil and sediment health were highlighted for mid-term, and species reintroductions and protection as the long-term focus.
• Awareness and Education: Only around a third of participants were familiar with the Local Nature Partnership (LNP). Education and learning were seen as crucial for encouraging action.
• Species and Habitat Concerns: Wildflowers and hedgerows were identified as species and habitats most in need of improvement, amongst others.
• Habitat Loss: Respondents overwhelmingly attributed natural environment decline to habitat loss.
• Landowner Engagement: The survey found many landowners actively seeking to improve the environment with many already doing so.
• Appropriate environmental maintenance/management: amongst other habitats management of verges and hedges, including initiatives like ‘no mow may’ were frequently referred to.
• Role of governance – Parish & District Councils, Local government, central government.

Other: Additional recurring themes included concerns about development impact (e.g., HS2, housing), wildlife care practices, water pollution a collaborative effort between communities and governments.

Our next steps are:

This valuable feedback will inform the development of the LNRS, including:

• The Key and Emerging Themes will be used to help develop our key principles and priorities for the Strategy. Any specific actions suggested will be reviewed with the specialist working groups and included into the strategy where appropriate.
• Locations identified as ‘locations that are particularly important for wildlife in your local area’ will be reviewed and incorporated where appropriate into the mapping element of the strategy.

All species and habitats mentioned in the engagement survey have been included in the shortlist of species and habitats, which the specialist working group is looking at to identify which of these species should be ‘priority’ species.

For more information please visit the Local Nature Partnership's Nature Recovery Strategy webpage (click here).

The Integrated LDA Commissioning Team currently commission Coventry and Warwickshire MIND, Act for Autism and Autism West Midlands to provide Community Autism Support Service (CASS) for people diagnosed with autism and those waiting for a neurodevelopmental assessment. This service is delivered across Coventry and Warwickshire.

CASS support will start by finding out more about you and your individual circumstances in order to direct you to the right support. First contact with CASS will be with the Navigation team who can help with low level emotional support and, based on individual needs, then signpost, triage to the CASS outreach service or identify further personalised support including peer support, autism education courses or needs specific toolbox sessions.

A survey was developed to seek views from people who accessed CASS in the past or who are accessing any of the CASS support options at present. This includes people awaiting a neurodevelopmental assessment or with an autism diagnosis, families/carers and professionals working with people accessing this service.

The aim of the survey was to help us better understand people’s experience of support they accessed, what was working well and what needs to be improved in the future autism support offer.

A total of 71 responses were received to this survey.

The survey responses have been analysed and have informed the CASS service evaluation, as well as ongoing service delivery.

The findings of this evaluation will inform ongoing commissioning activity as part of delivering the Coventry and Warwickshire All Age Autism Strategy.

The Safer Warwickshire Partnership Board commissioned the Your Say on Community Safety survey to better understand current community safety issues and any concerns that residents, and those who work or study in Warwickshire, may have. The findings from the survey will enable the Board to develop its community safety services, with the aim of increasing how safe residents feel and promoting action that can be taken to help increase feelings of safety. They will also be used to inform the setting of new Community Safety Partnership priorities in early 2025.

The Your Say on Community Safety survey was developed in early 2024 and was live on the Ask Warwickshire website from 8^th July – 4^th August 2024. The survey was open to all residents of Warwickshire, plus those who work or study in the county.

A total of 746 responses were received, 731 from Warwickshire residents and 15 from those working/studying but not living in the county.

Key findings of note include:

• When asked how they felt about crime locally and nationally, the majority of respondents said they believed that it had increased over the previous 12 months.
• Residents who reported feeling unsafe were most likely to have done so in open spaces or car parks.
• A large proportion of respondents had taken measures to protect their home and/or their security online.
• Respondents were most concerned about having something stolen from their person or home.
• Not all respondents who stated they’d been a victim of crime or anti-social behaviour in the past 12 months reported this to the Police or another agency.
• The most common theme to emerge from the free text comments was a request for increased Police visibility, either in the town centres or in the local community where respondents lived.

The survey findings will be used to inform the setting of new Community Safety Partnership priorities in early 2025.

In addition, a report on the survey responses was presented to the Safer Warwickshire Partnership Board on 5th December 2024.

The Board report included information about work planned to increase the visibility of Police in local communities, including embedding a hotspot policing approach and targeted engagement in priority locations.

The Board also agreed to respond to the concerns raised in the survey by providing information on community safety activity taking place across Warwickshire and informing residents about different ways in which crime can be reported. These messages will be shared across the county in different ways, including via social media and online newsletters, as these were the most popular forms of communication identified by survey respondents.

The Board agreed to repeat the survey on a biennial basis, offering residents further opportunities to provide their views on community safety in Warwickshire. The 2024 results did not provide the views of a representative sample of the population, and options for extending the reach of messaging about the survey to a wider range of demographic groups will be explored prior to it being undertaken again in 2026.

Warwickshire’s Adult and Community Learning Service is part of Warwickshire County Council and a provider of adult learning. 

They offer formal and informal learning programmes to adults aged 19+ across Warwickshire, in over 30 inclusive learning environments in a wide range of community venues. 

This survey gathered the thoughts of the public to help shape the future of the courses and learning available in Warwickshire as part of the Adult and Community Learning Service. 

There were 104 respondents to the online public survey. The feedback is summarised below:

• Just over half of respondents to the survey had not previously studied an Adult Community Learning course (51.0%), however, the vast majority were interested in potentially taking one in the future (66.3%).  
• Of the courses currently on offer, ‘Arts and Crafts’ (n=70) and ‘Languages’ (n=50) were the two that respondents showed the most interest in, with several gaining only minimal interest, although 23 people added further ‘Other’ suggestions to portray their subjects of interest. There were many different suggestions with British Sign Language (n=4) the only suggestion to be provided more than twice.  
• Half of respondents selected ‘face-to-face’ learning as their preference (50.0%), although there was also large support for ‘a mixture of face-to-face and online’ (41.2%), while ‘online’ learning was not selected by many of the respondents (6.9%).  
• Respondents’ choices for their marketing preferences were varied and split amongst the cohort. ‘Warwickshire County Council website’ was the most frequency chosen answer (n=63), although many of the answers had a number of selections, which included the additional ‘Other’ text box, where there was also interest in ‘E-mail’ (n=11) and print marketing in the form of a ‘Brochure’, ‘Booklet’ or ‘Leaflet’.  

The most frequent themes mentioned in other comments was range of courses, positives of Adult Community Learning, and course times and schedule.

A detailed analysis report is being considered by the Adult and Community Learning Service and will be used to inform course delivery over the coming year. More details about ACLs course offering can be found online: 
https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/adult-community-learning-5

Between 3 May and 28 May 2024, Binley Woods residents and local organisations were invited to provide feedback on proposals to widen the existing footway along south side of A428 Rugby Road between A46/A428 junction and Oakdale Road, and to convert the footway into a shared footway/cycle track.

Over the same period, formal consultation took place on notices for proposed road hump and proposed shared use footway/ cycle track (Section 90A and Sections 65 & 66 of the Highways Act 1980). Any objections were requested in writing by 28 May 2024.

A press release was issued by Warwickshire County Council on 7 May: Binley Woods residents invited to have their say on Rugby Road cycle link – Warwickshire County Council. This was supported by a dedicated web page Proposed cycle schemes - Have your say – Warwickshire County Council, with scheme drawings and a link to this Ask Warwickshire survey.  Detailed comments could also be sent to the Transport Planning Unit (TPU) email inbox.

Information and promotion

• Letters were hand delivered to 20 residents and businesses adjacent to the route on 3 May.
• Emails were sent out to 18 WCC colleagues and 90 stakeholder organisations/ representatives (this included disability organisations, community groups, businesses, Parish Council, Warwickshire Police and Rugby Borough Council).
• Information notices were posted on site on 3 May and remained until 28 May.
• Drawings were available to view throughout the engagement period at Shire Hall in Warwick Town Centre, and as part of a drop-in Public Information Event on 15 May at Broadstreet Rugby Football Club, Binley Woods.
• Paper copies of the drawings were shared with the following local venues: Caffeine Project; Village Hall; and One Stop.
• Details were also shared on official social media channels including: Warwickshire County Council Safe Active Travel – Facebook (8 May); Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership – Facebook (8 May); and Coventry City Council – Spring Cycling Newsletter (9 May).
• It is understood that the community engagement was promoted and discussed on private social media groups.

From our engagements outlined above we received the following response.

• 120 responses to the Ask Warwickshire online survey.
• 17 people attended the drop-in event.
• 7 people submitted additional comments by phone or email.

Click here to read a summary of the community engagement (this will open in a new window).

Following local feedback in May 2024, the proposed scheme was approved for delivery, subject to external funding, by the Portfolio Holder for Transport and Planning on 15 July 2024.

SIGNED DECISION Rugby Road Cycle Route Binley Woods.

A funding review is currently underway and further updates on scheme timescales will be posted on this web page when available. 

Warwickshire County Council, Warwick District Council and Royal Leamington Spa Town Council engaged with the wider community on a proposed draft Vision for Leamington town centre during April - May 2024, to understand people’s views on the emerging Vision and their aspirations for the town centre. The engagement activities comprised:

• Ask Warwickshire online survey held from 26^th April 2024 until 28^th May 2024 (A Child Friendly version was also available).
• Permanent unmanned exhibition at Leamington library during the engagement period.
• 2 x staffed drop in events with exhibition boards (Covent Garden market stall (all day) & 1 Mill Street (evening)).
• On the exhibition boards, respondents were encouraged to place dots (red, amber, green to highlight their disagreement/agreement with the vision statements/themes).  

There was good engagement with the draft Vision with 447 responses submitted to the online survey. We also had many informal conversations with people at the events, where officers were present to explain the draft Vision and next steps.

The majority of respondents strongly agreed or agreed with the proposed new Vision (77.7%).

When asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the proposed three themes of Healthy People, Healthy Place and Healthy Planet, the majority of respondents strongly agreed or agreed with the proposed new themes:

• Healthy People – 81.4%
• Healthy Place - 83.0%
• Healthy Planet – 79.2%.

Healthy Place gained the most support overall.

Full analysis of responses to the survey has been undertaken to understand the issues of importance to the communities of Leamington and this feedback has been used to finalise the Vision for Leamington town centre.
Click here to see the analysis report.

A final Vision for Leamington town centre has been produced considering the feedback from the community engagement exercise. 

The Vision was approved by the Leamington Transformation Board (LTB) on 8 October 2024 and has been endorsed by Warwickshire County Council (12 December 2024), Warwick District Council (17 October 2024) and Royal Leamington Spa Town Council (7 November 2024).

Click here to read the final Vision
Click here to view the Warwickshire County Council Cabinet meeting

 

As part of Warwickshire County Council (WCC)’s statutory duty to regularly review its Safe Accommodation Strategy, WCC conducted an accompanying Needs Assessment with a Call for Evidence to obtain the views and experiences of victim-survivors, professionals, and partners across Warwickshire and inform the refreshed Strategy for 2025-28.

As part of this Call for Evidence work, we asked residents of Warwickshire who may have experienced domestic abuse (DA) about their experiences of seeking out and accessing support, including any barriers they faced, whether their needs were met, where they would like to go for information on DA, and any other comments they had about the support and services available to and for victim-survivors. All residents of Warwickshire were invited to complete the survey hosted on the Ask Warwickshire platform.

We received 55 responses to the Ask Warwickshire survey from across all five district and boroughs. The majority of responses were from women (91%) who identified as either White – British or White – Irish (89%).

• 60% of respondents said that they had previously experienced DA, while 11% said that they were currently experiencing it. 40 respondents shared the area(s) in which they felt DA had most impacted their lives; the three main areas of concern were: mental health, finances, and physical health.
• Of 41 respondents, 61% said that they had previously or were currently seeking support for DA. Of those who answered the related question, 36% said they had at least got ‘some help’ from a support service in Warwickshire, and 28% said that they had received ‘the right help at the right time’. However, 50% of those who had sought to access refuge accommodation felt as though they had experienced barriers. Of those who responded to the question, ‘If you needed to access support again, would you do anything differently?’, 58% indicated that they would.
• 60% of all respondents said that they would know what to do or where to turn for advice and support if they were experiencing DA. The five most common priorities for victim-survivors looking to access a service were: legal advice and support, counselling, one-to-one support, refuge (emergency) accommodation, and creating a safe exit plan.

Through free-text responses, we were able to recognise potential barriers to either disclosing DA to professionals or accessing support following a disclosure. These included: fear of professional judgement; feelings of vulnerability; misconceptions and distrust of services and statutory agencies; being denied support, or feeling under-supported, due to additional or complex needs; not having enough information about where to go or who to turn to for support; concerns about the financial and practical implications of receiving support; and previous negative experiences of help-seeking.

The findings noted from the Call for Evidence work have been shared and discussed with key partners and used to inform Warwickshire’s Safe Accommodation Strategy for 2025-28, which is due to be agreed by Cabinet in November 2024 and published by 31^st December 2024. The findings have been an integral part of, and are reflected in, the Strategy’s five key objectives and its accompanying Delivery Plan, which holds partners to account. The commitments made in the Strategy aim to ensure that both victim-survivors and professionals in Warwickshire are effectively supported during and following experiences of DA.

Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service (WFRS) consulted on a proposed future service delivery model (Model 2a) as part of its Resourcing to Risk approach. Resourcing to Risk aims to have the right resource, in the right place and at the right time, to keep people safe in their homes, their workplace, their environment and when they are travelling through Warwickshire.  

There was a total of 1279 respondents to the survey. 

The consultation feedback themes were concerns over:

• Increase in response times or distances​.
• Coverage or capacity to attend incidents​.
• Danger, threat to life and safety​
• Disparities between day and night-time cover, especially at night​
• Impact of increased housing/population on capacity​.

Further reflections were provided on:

• Urban and rural differences​
• Disparities between north and south cover​

Staffing/shift patterns, including suggestions to keep On-Call, keep On-Call at certain stations or improve the current On-Call system.

Please see the link to the Cabinet papers below which include detailed feedback.

As a result of feedback from the public consultation, an alternative operating model, “Model A” was developed and adopted by Cabinet at their meeting in July 2024.

The new model will be implemented in 2025.

Click on this link to view the Cabinet decision and related reports outlining Model A and consultation feedback.

Warwickshire County Council is responsible for the operation of nine household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) in Warwickshire (https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/hwrc).

The centres provide householders with a place to donate and buy reusable items, recycle a wide range of materials and dispose of waste. Between December 2023 and February 2024 views were sought from residents on the reuse shops located at eight of the recycling centres, the booking system in place to book an appointment to visit a HWRC and their most recent experience when using a centre.

There were 1,552 responses to the survey. 

Use of reuse shops

Browsing or purchasing items 

• Of the 1,552 respondents, 61.3% had visited a reuse shop in Warwickshire to browse or purchase goods.  
• The majority of respondents (86.6%) when giving an overall opinion of reuse shops were either very satisfied or satisfied.
• Respondents were asked to list any improvements they would like to see at the reuse shops. The most common themes were: parking, covering outdoor items and Improved organisation of items. 

Donating items 

• Of the 1,552 respondents, 68.9% of respondents had donated to a reuse shop.
• The most common reason selected as a reason for donating was ‘Reuse is better for the environment than buying new’ (82.5%), followed by ‘Support a local charity’ (71.1%). 
• When asked to comment on their experience of depositing reuse items and any improvements you would like to see the themes most frequently mentioned were good staff, ease of donating and improved parking. 

Visits to a Household Waste Recycling Centre 

• Of the 1,552 respondents, 93% had visited a HWRC in Warwickshire since May 2020. 
• Over a quarter of respondents had visited the site at Wellesbourne (26.3%)
• When asked how often they typically would visit a household waste recycling centre, most respondents (80.3%) said they would visit between once a month to every 4 to 6 months, with the most common response being once every 2-3 months (33.7%). 
• The car was the most common mode of transport for the most recent visit to a HWRC (97.3%). 

Use of the booking system 

• Of the 1,444 respondents who had visited a HWRC, 78.2% had made a booking for their most recent visit. 
• When asked if they were able to book their preferred site, the majority of respondents (98.1%) said yes.  Most respondents were also able to book their preferred day/date (93.4%) or time (90.1%). 
• Most respondents (86.2%) used the Eventbrite website to make their booking. 
• Two-thirds of respondents (66.1%) said it was either easy or very easy to make their booking.
• The 315 respondents who did not have a booking were asked why they chose not to make a booking for their most recent visit. Over half of respondents (55.9%) indicated that they did not think that booking was required any longer. 
• All respondents were asked ‘Would you support the continuation of the booking system, which helps to prevent queues from building up outside of the recycling centres?’. Just over half of respondents (55%) supported continuation of the booking system, as it is or with improvements. 

Satisfaction with HWRC sites visited

• For all aspects the majority of respondents were either satisfied or very satisfied. 

The aspects where there were a higher proportion of respondents saying they were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied were approachability of staff (11.9%), greeting received (9.2%), and advice provided by staff (8.3%).

The results of the survey will be used to will help us to improve physical elements of sites where needed – e.g. signage or cleanliness.

We have also considered your feedback on other potential areas where the household waste recycling centre service can be improved, including booking.

We will use this feedback to inform our ongoing management of our Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) and the services that are offered at them.

The Empowering Futures JSNA survey was developed to support the Empowering Futures: Growing Up Well in Warwickshire Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) and the development of a Children and Young People Making Every Contact Count (MECC) offer.   

This survey asked respondents to participate if they work or volunteer with children and young people. The aim was to understand how professionals feel about talking to children and young people (aged 5-18) about their physical health, their knowledge and experience of services, and what help professionals need to provide support. It did this by seeking to understand: 

• How comfortable and confident people are in talking to children and young people about their physical health. 
• What they do and where they go if someone thinks a child or young person needs additional support with their health.  
• What they want or need to know about children or young people’s health to improve the support they offer.  
• Their experience of mental and physical health together.  
• Their experience of vulnerable children and young people.  

There were 98 responses to the survey. Below is a summary of key findings and messages relating to the 5 purpose statements above.  To read the full engagement report please click on this link.

How comfortable and confident people are in talking to children and young people about their physical health. 

• When considering the statement “I feel confident talking to children and young people about their physical health”, most respondents said they strongly agreed or agreed with this statement. 
• Respondents felt most confident talking about healthy lifestyles, whilst respondents overall felt least confident talking about long term physical conditions.  

What they do and where they go if someone thinks a child or young person needs additional support with their health. 

• When asked about their role in supporting children and young people with their physical health, half of respondents identified their role as being predominantly signposting and referral to other services. 
• Several respondents provided additional detail in the free text box provided relating to the support they provide in their role, with themes including; guidance, general support of signposting, specific professional roles, and healthy lifestyles.  

What they want or need to know about children or young people’s health to improve the support they offer.  

• Nearly half of respondents were not sure if they needed more information about physical health to improve their support. 38.8% said they needed more information.  
• When considering specific health concerns, nearly a third of respondents felt that services for toileting, sleeping and eating are difficult to access and don’t meet need, which was more than any other health need.  
• When looking at support that is easy to access and meets need, the areas of health with the highest levels of agreement was healthy lifestyles, and alcohol, drugs, smoking and vaping.  

Their experience of mental and physical health together. 

• People responding to the survey said they support with mental health more than physical health. 
• When considering the balance between physical and mental health, just over half of respondents said they supported with mental health most of the time.  
• The majority of respondents said they had used physical health interventions with the aim to also support mental health and wellbeing.  
• Most respondents said they consider physical health needs ‘all of the time’ or ‘most of the time’ alongside mental/emotional health. 
• Most respondents said they had a good knowledge of resources and services to support both mental and physical health. The proportion of respondents who said this about mental health was higher than physical health.  

Their experience of vulnerable children and young people. 

• When considering specific groups of children and young people, the largest proportion of respondents said they worked with and supported the health of children and young people open to social care, children and young people in care, and children and young people who are care experienced.  
• In contrast, young carers were the group for which the highest proportion of respondents said they had worked with but not supported physical health.  
• Most respondents had not worked with children and young people who are part of military families.  

• Responses to the section of the survey on experiences of mental and physical health together were used in the Supporting Resilience and Wellbeing section of the Empowering Futures dashboard, in response to a theme highlighted in the 2023 Mental Health and Wellbeing of Infants, Children, and Young People JSNA. 

• The feedback from the survey helped to inform and shape the recommendations set out in the JSNA, particularly recommendation 6: “Linked to the engagement undertaken as part of this JSNA, the Children and Young Person Making Every Contact Count (MECC) should be utilised to empower practitioners to have strengths-based conversations with children and young people about their health and wellbeing.” 

• Having been approved for publication by the Health and Wellbeing Board on 15th May 2023, the Empowering Futures: Growing Up Well in Warwickshire JSNA, which includes the feedback from this survey, is now being shared and promoted with colleagues across the health and care sector to help inform decision making.  

• An action plan has been created around the recommendations from the JSNA, which the survey helped to inform, which is now being carried out.

For more information on the Empowering Futures: Growing Up Well in Warwickshire JSNA please click on this link.

Consultation requested feedback on the proposal to increase the capacity and establish specialist resourced provision at St Johns Primary School.

A summary of responses can be found in the December 2023 Education Capital Programme Report

Cabinet approved the proposal to increase the capacity of St Johns Primary School to 420 pupils and to establish specialist resourced provision for 14 pupils.

WCC and South Warwickshire Foundation Trust released a consultation on a proposal to enter a formal partnership arrangement known as a Section 75 Agreement for the future delivery of the 0-5 Public Health Nursing Service. 

The consultation aimed to hear the views and feedback on the proposal which sought to link Health Visiting services more closely with others that support the health of children and their families. This included detailing:

• Our rationale for the proposal
• Meaning of the agreement and implications.
• Potential benefits and their relative importance.
• Equality Impacts
• Wider views on how services users access the service and feedback on service access/communication.

The target audience for this consultation was current and previous users of the health visiting service or family nurse partnership, the general public, healthcare professionals, professionals working in related areas.

In addition to the survey, focus groups were held with young mothers, parents of SEND children and care leaver parents.

In total there were 236 responses to the online survey. 70.3% strongly agreed or agreed with the proposal, 18.6% neither agreed or disagreed and 10.2% strongly disagreed or disagreed.

Focus groups and drop-in clinics generated a further 18 participants.

Key themes regarding agreement with the Section 75 included:

• Continuation of service delivery from a provider who already know local families well. Providing stability and a longer-term agreement than traditional commissioning approach.
• Collaboration and a shared organisation vision.
• Partnership across 0-5 services.
• Operational benefits for families and staffing working closer together.

Respondents noted that the agreement needs a clear vision and a transformative, open relationship between organisations to ensure change occurs. There was a clear theme for services supporting 0-5s communicating well with each other with a strong emphasis on ensuring true integration is realised beyond words and embedded in the day-day processes of health visiting work.

There were concerns regarding perceived negative impacts of the arrangement such as loss of service provision and resources for the health visiting service. It was repeated that the Section 75 must not lead to loss of the key prevention elements of the service. Whilst integration was noted to be a good thing there was also comments that each service needs to retain its individual role and specialism and remits do not become blurred.

The arrangement requires clear outcomes, and monitoring of how well integration is working with specific measurables in place.

There was a clear emphasis that tangible aspects of the service needed to change for integration to work; all partners need to be strategically on board with the vision and work together to achieve the same goals.

Services listed as needing closer working relationships to support a holistic offer of support alongside Health Visiting were:

• Early Help
• Children Social Care
• GP practices
• Midwives
• Local community provision through charities and community centres/groups.
• Paediatrics
• School nursing

Participants stated some uncertainty about the partnership approach and stated that  clear evidence of what would be different because of this working arrangement needed to be made clear.

The Section 75 arrangement was seen as a better mechanism than a contractual arrangement in bringing about change.

Respondents commented that it was crucial to keep front and centre the role skilled health visitors play around prevention of ill-health, and in delivering the healthy child programme. Work around the mandated contacts needs to be protected and if changed in any way, very well justified.

The Section 75 needs clear objectives, monitoring and scrutiny of the progress towards the aims of the partnership that are set out from the start.

Respondents who disagreed or strongly disagreed with the proposal were asked to what extent did they agree with the alternative – going out to tender.

Only 18.9% of those responding to the question strongly agreed or agreed with going out to tender whereas 44% either disagreed or strongly disagreed with going out to tender. The main reason for disagreeing with this approach was that it was likely to cause disruption and instability to staff working in the service and service users, with tendering seen as a lengthy and costly process. Additionally, concerns were raised that another provider may not have the local intelligence and relationships that SWFT has within the health system of the County. Conversely some respondents commented that seeking an alternative provider may lead to greater value for money, innovation, quality and improved performance.

Feedback on proposed benefits:

Of the proposed benefits of the Section 75 that were listed in the consultation, the benefit with most agreement was ‘Getting the right level of support for your needs, at the right place, at the right time’ with 98.3% of respondents saying this was very important or important to them. The top 3 overall were:

1. Getting right level of support for your needs, at the right place, at the right time.
2. Strong links and connections between different services such as HV, early help, mental health support and SEN services.
3. Easier transition/referral(s) between the services offered for parents and children aged 0-5.

An additional theme that was repeated was the need for shared information systems in order to accelerate timely and joined up care. Many respondents felt IT and data processes were not being used most effectively for the service user and receiving the right level of support at the right time.

Respondents commented that equally as important was enabling an environment that fosters easier communication between services both formally and informally.

In working towards a Section 75 respondents noted that this was a timely chance to improve communication about the service offer to families, how support is offered, where and by whom. Additionally it was emphasised that information is clear, easy to find and if not families can easily talk to someone.

Respondents commented it is important that any agreement continues to place the focus on prevention and early intervention and that as much as possible to not lose sight of this important role health visitors have.

In sharing resources, expertise and working closely with another organisation it was noted that this still needs to have rigorous oversight to ensure the appropriate practitioner supports the relevant need as opposed to inadvertently leading to more connections and referrals for a family which may be confusing.

Concerns with a Section 75 Agreement:

Respondents commented that having some duplication may be necessary particularly if services are doing a similar area of work but approaching it from different viewpoints. For example, with sleep, early help may take a different approach to health visiting. Comments noted the need to consider the actual content of what each service offers and how it is different, rather than viewing duplication by a general theme.

It was noted the Section 75 required strategic buy-in from all the relevant partners health visiting works with, so that they are jointly on-board with the vision and committed to working in this way.

Given the priorities of NHS providers and local authorities may often diverge, respondents comments on the need to ensure a common understanding of the arrangement and utilise each other’s strengths.

An overarching theme was concern about having adequate resources to deliver this arrangement both staffing and financially.

Both professionals and service users strongly stated that the agreement should not lead to a reduction in financial resources or impacts on service resources. Concerns were expressed that integration was a way to reduce costs with the result being poorer experience, outcomes and service for families. The use of skill mix ( utilising different roles to carry out usual health visitor functions) and doing things differently should undergo a rigorous process to identify any clinical risks this may entail.

Professionals noted that clear governance arrangements are needed to make the proposal work, regularly reviewing whether the aims of the S75 are on track and specific measures put in place if not.

Respondents placed emphasis on need for effective IT systems to make integration truly work and robust interoperability between services and systems.

Professional respondents clearly stated that during each stage of the development of the proposal, should it be approved, staff need to be actively engaged with, have their views considered and are a key part in the design of the service.

A key communication message was highlighted in that although SWFT deliver the service it needs to be made clear that all Warwickshire families can access the service not only those who have given birth through South Warwickshire Foundation Trust.

Additional benefits were noted by respondents regarding the flexibility and adaptable planning approach the Section 75 may provide as opposed to waiting for contract renewal for larger changes to the service which may lead to better outcomes.

Comments regarding the future design of the Health Visiting service:

45% of respondents answered this question.

The key themes were:

Face-face contact including drop-in clinics was  identified by respondents as a critical aspect of the health visiting service.

There was a theme regarding the importance of home visiting to pick up needs which aren’t as obvious over the telephone these included:

• Maternal mental health,
• Domestic abuse,
• Building trusting rapport with mother, baby and family.

There were mixed responses about Chat Health with some indicating they have used the service and have found it invaluable but that it needs promoting more. Others felt uncomfortable with receiving advice via text.

A blended approach to delivery which included aspects of webinars, Microsoft Teams and online website access was seen as a useful approach to service delivery but this needed to be carefully designed so that hidden needs were not missed.

Both service users and professionals provided ideas around the schedule of mandated reviews and options for re-designing so that they are more impactful and delivered at the right times for families as opposed to those set out in the healthy child programme which at times do not reflect the realities of families lives.

Respondents said they would like information regarding the mandated contacts, what to expect, when, and what is covered prior to visit and visible online.

Use of social media was seen as a positive for many families as an easy way to access information they required.

Respondents felt further information regarding what support and how to access it outside the mandated reviews would be useful such as groups, clinics and more informal support, which sometimes the timeframes of the mandated reviews didn’t meet.

If you would like to read the full reports on the consultation feedback please click on the links below. (These will open in a new window).

Analysis Report - Survey responses
SEND Carers Discussion Group Summary Report
Care Experienced - Discussion Group Summary Report
Family Nurse Partnership - Focus Group Summary

Since the public consultation the Council have been working with South Warwickshire University Foundation Trust to develop and plan for the Section 75 Agreement. In developing and working through this agreement, challenges were uncovered around delivering the current service model within the available budget. As a result of these identified financial pressures both partners have agreed that it is not possible to progress the Section 75 at this time. Further time is required to work through an acceptable resolution, which provides a sustainable service delivery model for Warwickshire families for the long-term and importantly does not adversely impact service users.

An 18-month extension to the existing contract has been agreed to enable partners to complete the required work and establish the best route forward for the service. In the first instance and in recognition of the consultation results, it will be our priority to find ways to deliver the service within the allocated budget so that the Section 75 can progress.

Additional actions and next steps which have been initiated from the consultation are:

1. Establishing an integrated working group with early help, early years and children and family centres to review offers of each service, reduce duplication and identify ways to work more collaboratively together throughout a family’s newborn journey.
2. Taking on board the ways in which service users prefer to access the service, what is missing and the best methods for delivery. This has been included within the development of the service specification for the future health visiting service.
3. Creating and communicating clear journey of care pathways for families so they can easily understand what to expect, when and from which service during the 0-5 years; and where to go if require further support.
4. Reviewing and establishing integrated pathways for delivery of school readiness and the 2-2.5-year review.
5. Developed a robust governance and monitoring arrangement for the Section 75 should it go ahead.

Results of the public consultation will continue to inform the development of the future delivery model of the Health Visiting service.

The Healthy Ageing in Warwickshire survey was developed to support the Healthy Ageing Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) by understanding the experiences of growing older in Warwickshire. It did this by seeking to understand:

• what is important to people as they age.
• what people think of their local area as a place to grow older.
• experiences of access to health and care services.
• experiences of attitudes to ageing/older people.

The survey was targeted at those aged 60 or more, although responses were allowed from people of any age.

There were 440 responses to the survey. Below is a summary of key findings and messages relating to the 4 purpose statements above.

What is important to people as they age?

• The top three highest scoring items for staying ‘healthier and happier’ were:
  • Spending time with friends or family.
  • Staying physical active.
  • Being able to do things independently.

What people think of their local area as a place to grow older.

• Just over half of respondents rated their local area as either ‘excellent or good’ as a place to live. Around a third were neutral, with the rest being ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.
• Respondents were most likely to agree that their local area met their needs for social participation, and least likely for local infrastructure, transport, and housing.

Experiences of access to health and care services.

• Most respondents agreed that they knew which health service to access and how to get in touch with them. They were least likely to agree that appointments were easy to travel to, could afford the cost of, or that services were ‘joined up’.
• While there was praise for the healthcare services received by some respondents, many expressed concerns about the process of making appointments, getting to them and communication between different parts of the health and care system.
• Fewer respondents had experienced care services. Overall, agreement scores were lower when compared to people’s experience of health services. Being able to comfortably meet the cost of care services was the least agreed with item.

Experiences of attitudes to ageing/older people.

• Respondents were most likely to think other older people held positive views about them, followed by middle aged people while younger people were thought to have the least positive views. However, several respondents expressed a desire to do more intergenerationally, especially with younger people.
• Community/faith groups were seen by respondents to hold the most positive views of older people when compared to other groups, with Employers and the media being perceived to hold the least positive views.

Cross cutting themes were evident from survey responses whether participants were being asked about their local area, experiences of health and care, services people would like to see, or their views on ageing in a healthier and happier way.

Transport and travel, access to health and social care, and wider support featured frequently. Additionally, issues relating to the design of local areas and infrastructure with older people in mind were evident.

While some welcomed new technology, others raised concerns about the risk of digital exclusion as more services and activities shift online.

A full engagement report can be accessed together with other supporting documents by clicking on the link below.
Healthy Ageing Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) documents

• Themes and quotes from the survey have been included throughout the Healthy Ageing JSNA.
   
• The last chapter of the JSNA, “Recognising strengths and tackling discrimination”, was written based on feedback from the survey and other engagement activities.
   
• The feedback from the survey helped to inform and shape the recommendations set out in the JSNA, particularly:
  • Recommendation 2: We should explore options for Warwickshire to become an Age-Friendly Community, in line with World Health Organisation principles.
  • Recommendation 7: We need to continue work joining up services.
  • Recommendation 10: Organisations should consider signing up to the Age-friendly Employer pledge or otherwise review how ‘age-friendly’ they are for potential or current employees.
  • Recommendation 16: Services and commissioners should explore best practice to identify and support people who may be excluded, including via digital exclusion, and should ensure that impact assessments are routinely carried out when making changes to services to identify who might be disadvantaged and offer mitigations.
  • Recommendation 17: Everyone should be aware of the language and imagery they are using around ageing and older people.
  • Recommendation 18: We should consider intergenerational approaches when considering how to implement these recommendations.
  • Recommendation 20: Findings from the JSNA should be fed back to Housing and Transport colleagues and we should consider how we can continue to work together to improve the health and wellbeing of older people.
• Having been approved for publication by the Health and Wellbeing Board on 10^th January 2023, the Healthy Ageing JSNA, which includes the feedback from this survey, is now being shared and promoted with colleagues across the health and care sector to help inform decision making.

Click on this link for further information and to view the JSNA and related documents.

An action plan has been created around the recommendations from the JSNA, which the survey helped to inform, which is now being carried out.

Warwickshire County Council undertook a 12-week public consultation period on the redesign proposals for Housing Related Support Services (22 May 2023- 11th August 2023).  The aim of the consultation was to inform Warwickshire citizens about the proposals to redesign the current Services, to ask for views on these proposals and their impact and to gather alternative proposals.  The consultation also asked people’s views on the equality impact assessment that was produced in relation to each proposal; whether people felt all impacts were identified, anything missing and ideas about how to reduce the impact.

Social Engine and Kaizen were commissioned to help target and tailor consultation methods and approaches for people whose voices are heard less frequently and those with lived experience.

There was good engagement with the consultation, with 583 responses across the different engagement methods. This included: Ask Warwickshire public survey, outreach work in community settings, focus groups, email responses and a consultation workshop with organisations who work with people who are homeless and with the current services.

For each proposal, people were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the proposal, their reasons for this, and how the proposal would impact on them and other people/ organisations. They were also asked for thoughts on what could be done instead.

Two analysis reports on feedback were provided by Social Engine.
Click on this link to read the summary anlaysis report.
Click on this link to read the detailed analysis report.

In relation to the specific proposed changes, and following consideration of the analysis reports the following recommendations were made to Cabinet following consultation:  

Recommendation 1 – keeping both floating and accommodation-based support, allocating budget in similar proportions as current commissioned services.  Both professionals and service users (and potential service users) welcomed the retention of both accommodation–based and floating support services.

Recommendation 2 – integrating disabled people’s service into inclusive floating support services for young people 16-25 years and adults 25+ years. To support consistency in service and quality, within the specification we shall strengthen the staff training requirements. This may result in providers choosing to have specialist staff with dedicated caseloads or adopting alternative ways to address this. 

Recommendation 3 – offering flexible, shorter interventions. We recommend proceeding with an enhanced triage process that offers early information, advice, signposting and brief intervention. This will improve the customer’s journey to get the right service at the right time, telling their story only once to services. 

Recommendation 4 – shortening the maximum duration of services. For young people’s support services, we recommend not reducing the time limits. For adults’ support services we recommend the reductions are taken forward. All services will offer holistic and personalised support to meet need, promoting wellbeing, safety, resilience, independence to prevent, reduce and/or delay an individual’s need for ongoing care and support

Recommendation 5 – not changing the current names to Supporting Independence services. We recommend tendering two services:  Young People (16-25 years) and Adults (25+) and changing the name to Accommodation Related Support Services.

Recommendation 6 – current additional services (Street Outreach and Hubs in Nuneaton and Rugby) are not included in future service specification. It was suggested that the redesign with clearer signposting, more streamlined services and working smarter with other hubs/community spaces across Warwickshire could help mitigate some of the impact. 

The Cabinet approved these recommendations on 12^th December 2023.

The next steps are to tender for the redesign services in Spring 2024 to start as redesign services on 1^st April 2025.

WCC consulted on the proposed change in age range at the school from 3-7 to 4-7 from September 2023.  This would enable the nursery provision to be governor led rather than classfied as a maintained nursery class increasing the flexibility of the early years provision offer

A statutory consultation was undertaken between 5 June and 2 July 2023, during which 2 responses were received. Both responders strongly agreed with the proposal

The outcome of the consultation and recommendation were presented to Cabinet on 13th July 2023 and subsequently approved by members - Cabinet report 

A consultation was undertaken to collect feedback on the proposal to alter the age range at Long Lawford Primary School from 3-11 to 4-11 from September 2023.  This would allow the nursery provision to be govenor led rather than a maintained nursery class providing creating flexibility in the early years offer

A statutory consultation was undertaken between 5 June and 2 July 2023, during which 5 responses were received. Of the 5 responses, 4 agreed with the proposal and one disagreed.

The outcome of the consultation and recommendation were presented to Cabinet 13 July 2023 and subsequently approved by Cabinet members  - Cabinet report

The Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care System focus is to address waiting times for a neurodevelopmental diagnostic assessment, including autism diagnosis. This includes finding ways to reduce waiting times for an assessment and improve the support available to people who are waiting for an assessment.

Two surveys were developed to seek views of people waiting for an assessment, those diagnosed with autism, and their family and support networks; as well as one for professionals; to find out more about what is working well and what could be improved in diagnostic and support provision.

The 2023 surveys were a repeat of the 2021 ones which were aimed at understanding if any change has been experienced by respondents, as a result of the new Autism Strategy implementation and increased resource targeted at reducing wait times and improving the offer of pre and post diagnostic support.

204 responses were received to the public survey and 102 to the professionals one.

Responses are being analysed which will inform ongoing commissioning activity for the Autism Strategy delivery.

A quantitative analysis of responses was completed. Qualitative feedback including comments made by respondents is being analysed. The responses will inform ongoing commissioning activity for the Autism Strategy delivery.

Warwickshire County Council with the support of the rail industry is bringing forward plans for Rugby Parkway Station, located approximately 5km South East of Rugby adjacent to the A428 Crick Road at Houlton. Situated on the Northampton Loop of the West Coast Mainline between Rugby Station and Long Buckby Station. Rugby Parkway Station will offer access to the local and national rail network with two trains per hour in each direction.

An application for outline planning permission for Rugby Parkway Station has been submitted; you can view the application on Warwickshire County Council’s planning pages: https://planning.warwickshire.gov.uk/swiftlg/apas/run/WCHVARYLOGIN.display

Prior to the submission of the planning application, Warwickshire County Council undertook a four-week pre-planning public engagement exercise which ran from 23 January 2023 to 20 February 2023. The engagement provided an opportunity for residents, businesses and other stakeholders to find out more about the station project and have their say at an early stage of the design development.

Warwickshire County Council received 388 written responses either through the online Response Form, by e-mail or paper form completed at the drop-in engagement events. Responses received via e-mail or completed on paper copies of the Response Form were manually uploaded to be captured for analysis and reporting purposes.

A significant proportion of respondents (265 – 68%) indicated that they lived in Rugby Borough, 39 lived elsewhere and commute to/via Rugby (10%), 35 lived elsewhere (9%) and the remainder of respondents lived in neighbouring areas/counties.

Consultees were asked to indicate their level of support for the proposals presented. 229 respondents strongly agree/agree with the proposals (59%), 106 strongly disagree/disagree (27%), the remaining respondents are neutral or did not express an opinion.

Responses have been carefully considered by the project team and a report has been produced. Please click on this link to view this.

At this phase of the project development the design of the station is at a very early stage. The submitted application seeks outline planning permission with all matters reserved, except for access to the highway network. All matters other than access to the site from the highway network will be the subject of a subsequent application for reserved matters approval. The reserved matters include the appearance, landscaping, layout, and scale. The plans presented for the public engagement were developed in line with rail industry standards for a station of this type. Much of the detail will be the subject of planning conditions set by the local planning authority, these will need to be discharged by the local planning authority prior to construction/installation.

What happens next

An application for outline planning permission for the station has been submitted to Warwickshire County Council. As at May 2023 a statutory consultation process is underway which will allow residents, businesses and other stakeholders a further opportunity to comment on the proposals prior to determination. You can find view and comment on the application by visiting Warwickshire County Council’s planning pages during the statutory consultation period - https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/commentingonplanning

A Statement of Community Engagement has been submitted as part of the planning application, this describes in more detail the public engagement process and the feedback received.

Future updates on Rugby Parkway Station will continue to be posted to the project’s web page at: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/major-transport-construction-projects/rugby-parkway-station

We wished to obtain feedback on our draft Sustainable Futures Strategy and action plan before finalising the document. We considered this important as these issues will affect everyone that lives or works in Warwickshire. We want to ensure our Strategy is focussing on the right things. In particular: 

• Views on our ambitions and if you think we are ambitious enough 

• Feedback to help us to understand how to get more residents and other stakeholders involved 

• How best to collaborate and partner 

• The suitability of our action plan 

• Help us to understand if there are any barriers to making progress and, if so, what these are. 

• Funding and financing 

The method of engagement was though a public survey open from 18th November 2022 to 15th January 2023. This was hosted online although paper copies of survey forms were made available if requested.  

A series of externally facilitated focus groups were held in February 2023.  

The public survey had no specific target audience as we wished to hear from all in Warwickshire, however due to the nature of the questions, this was best suited for people acting as residents.  

The focus groups (7) were split into members from common audiences: Warwickshire based business; care, community, public sector, seldom heard (particularly the young), subject specialists; a residents group recruited through an expression of interest. An additional focus group for Warwickshire County Council Councillors was facilitated by Democratic Services.  

There were 221 responses to the online survey. Of these 82.8% were responding as members of the general public, 5% as Warwickshire County Council employees, 4.5% as representatives of a local community or voluntary sector organisation and 3.2% as an employee of another public sector organisation.

• 47.6% of 208 respondents thought that the scope of the Sustainable Futures Strategy was ‘about right’, with just over a third (36.5%, n=76) saying that it was ‘not ambitious enough’ and a further 15.9% saying the strategy was too ambitious. 
• 57.8% of 206 respondents felt that the number of objectives included in the strategy was ‘about right’, with just over a quarter (27.7%) saying there were too many objectives and a further 14.6% saying that there were ‘not enough’ objectives. 
• When asked ‘What else should we be doing?’. The most frequently mentioned theme was ‘refocus efforts, be more specific’. Other common themes mentioned included support green infrastructures, buildings, and transport; protect biodiversity/ limit waste; and increase collaboration. 
• When asked ‘What should we stop doing or scale back?’. The most frequently mentioned theme was to shift focus on short-term goals and quick wins. Other themes mentioned included do not remove any objectives; and specific areas to focus on or not focus on. 

Feedback was collected on each of the six sustainable futures themes.

• Of the six key delivery themes proposed in the strategy Energy (65.4%, n=138), Transport (60.7%, n=128) and ‘Wildlife, our Natural Environment and Biodiversity’ (57.8%, n=122) were the options most likely to feature in respondents’ Top 3 priorities.
• The ‘Sustainable Communities and Green Economy’ theme was ranked in either 5th or 6th position as a priority out of the six themes by more than half of respondents (53.6%).

Feedback was also collected on our delivery principles.

• The delivery principles selected as the most important by the highest number of respondents were ‘address climate change and biodiversity justly and equitably’, ‘be innovative in our thinking and lead others on the journey’ and ‘not accept the status quo; we will challenge and inspire’. Each were selected by at least half of respondents.
• The delivery principle chosen by the least number of respondents as important was ‘share our success and learnings’.

Each theme includes an objective. The following feedback was obtained on these:

• (Biodiversity) ‘Improve the richness and diversity of Warwickshire’s habitats, wildlife and landscapes’ was the highest rated objective within this delivery theme (rated by 90.0% as very important or important). 
• (Transport) ‘Provide low emission public transport options to serve Warwickshire’s communities’ was the highest rated objective within this delivery theme (rated by 86.4% as very important or important).  
• (Built environment) ‘Work in partnership with Warwickshire’s district and boroughs to minimise carbon emissions in existing housing to make sure new housing has net zero emissions’ was the highest rated objective within this delivery theme (rated by 85.5% as very important or important). This was closely followed by ‘Minimise carbon emissions from any new Council buildings that we either build, acquire or lease’ (83.7%). 
• (Energy) ‘Facilitate the take-up of low carbon energy solutions for residents and communities’ was the highest rated objective within this delivery theme (rated by 80.1% as very important or important). 
• (Resources, waste and circular economy) Both ‘reduce amount of waste per head going to landfill to near zero by 2050’ and ‘reduce waste from Council buildings’ were the highest rated objectives within this delivery theme (rated by 82.8% % as very important or important). 
• (Sustainable communities and green economy) ‘Lead by example by procuring sustainably and supporting the development of a localised green economy’ was the highest rated objective within this delivery theme (rated by 81.4% as very important or important). 

We received multiple offers by experts, practitioners, academics and community volunteers to support the Council in refining the Strategy.

Key messages from the focus groups were:

Partnership, engagement and collaboration. A strong willingness in working with the Council to share expertise, knowledge and project experience and ultimately support the Council on the journey of the Strategy. There was some disappointment that engagement on the strategy had not begun earlier, and some have asked if there an opportunity to provide further comment on the draft Strategy. The development and sharing of the strategy has created an opportunity for a more joined up and ambitious approach for WCC to work in partnership with others.

2050 net zero target. Provide more granular breakdown of Warwickshire emissions to allow improved targeting. Not enough interim and long-term targets; The Council should set a ‘high ambition’ emissions target for Warwickshire for 2030.Include a metric for air quality.

Action plan for Warwickshire encompassing our 2050 target. There was an overwhelming response from the focus groups, individual responses, and several in the Councillor session relating to the absence of an area based action plan to meet the ambitions for each of the six themes across Warwickshire. Comments suggested this left the strategy ‘partial’, ‘generally vague’, lacking ‘a pathway to achieving the goals’, with ‘a lack of tangible targets and proper resourcing’ and giving concern as to ‘how we're actually going to achieve it’. “there is too much reliance on offsetting which is inadequate”

Funding: The overwhelming feedback recognises that access to finance will restrict our ability to meet our ambitions and goals. Some in the focus group fed back that bidding for grant money is complex, resource intensive and competitive (a point also made in the recent Mission Zero independent report for HM Government). Some suggested banks and industry have a role to play. Others recommended we bid jointly with others.

Strategy themes: Overall support although a need for relevant targets and frameworks to demonstrate how the goals can be delivered. We identified there may be challenges communicating the joint aims of the sustainable communities and green economy theme to our audience. Food was cited as a major omission and should be considered as a stand-alone theme. Others that climate change adaptation should be included. Also, that a seventh cross-cutting theme could be introduced to capture human capital, pooling knowledge, and bringing experts together.

Communications. It was clear from breakdown of respondents in the survey and the focus group recruitment resulted in disproportionate representation despite best efforts to gather views from all. It was fed back to us that there is work to be done to improve awareness of the strategy. Some members of the focus groups recognise the difficulty of appealing to some groups. These particularly include young people, students, people early in their careers and those with young families. We were also able to gather feedback on preferred communication methods.

Tone and language. One of delivery principles as drafted is ‘emphasise prosperity as a focus for sustainable growth’. This didn’t sit well with some. Additionally, there were reoccurring comments of this nature around the ‘deliver a strategy that is value for money’ principle. In these and similar instances, we will be reviewing how we communicate our approach to delivery.

The complete executive summary of the survey is published here

Key messages were summarised in Section 2 of the Cabinet paper

These findings and feedback will be closely considered in the development of a final Sustainable Futures Strategy due to be presented to Cabinet in November 2023. This will be augmented by additional feedback following a resolution to commence further engagement.

As a result of strong interest and engagement in the Strategy across Warwickshire, coupled with multiple offers to support the Council in refining the Strategy, it was recommended to Cabinet that further engagement be undertaken over the summer.

It was recommended that several theme-based expert panels be established with the specific aim of deriving shared solutions, understanding barriers and initiating collaboration. Taking advantage of these offers would also have the benefit of resulting in a strategy with improved stakeholder buy-in to the strategic aims and partnership actions and a strategy that has been subject to external scrutiny. 

At Cabinet on the 15th June 2023, Councillor Heather Timms, portfolio holder for Environment, Climate & Culture applauded the strong engagement from various groups and the ambition to extend that work further. She gave an overview of the different stakeholder groups involved and the proposed establishment of expert panels to help to further develop this work. The aim was to present the draft strategy to the Overview and Scrutiny Committees in September 2023 before submission to Cabinet in the Autumn.

In resolving the matter, Cabinet:

 1)    Acknowledges the progress made since the approval for engagement of the draft Sustainable Futures Strategy in October 2022 and the stakeholder feedback.

2)    Supports the establishment of theme based expert panels drawn from industry and Warwickshire communities to enable production of a final strategy and action plan; and

3) Requests that the draft strategy be considered by Overview and Scrutiny Committees in September 2023, and the Members’ Climate Emergency Group on 20^th September 2023 for comment and any recommendations before consideration of the final Sustainable Futures Strategy and supporting action plan by Cabinet.

 

The Sustainable Futures Strategy Cabinet paper considered on the 15th June 2023 contained the following:

• Recommendations
• Section 2: findings from the engagement work
• Section 7: Recommendations, and timescales

This paper was supported by Appendix 1: summary feedback and reasoning