What are our Core Priorities for your Community?

One of the early recommendations of a review of East Lothian Council carried out in 2005 by the local government Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) was that the Council should focus its energies and resources in a more targeted fashion, by identifying a limited number of core policy priorities.

As a result, the following Core Priorities were developed and have been approved by the Council:

We will work in partnership to…

• Increase the supply of Affordable Housing 
• Keep our environment Clean and Green 
• Help build Safer Communities 
• Raise Educational Attainment 
• Encourage Enterprise and Skills 
• Promote Healthy Living and Improve Social Care

HOW WILL WE MONITOR OUR PERFORMANCE?
Core Priorities Performance Monitoring Framework

A detailed performance management framework is being developed to underpin our objectives with proposed indicators for monitoring progress shown below:

Increase the supply of Affordable Housing

• Support the building of 200 affordable homes by 2007

Keep our environment Clean & Green

• Ensure that by 2007 at least 30% of domestic waste is recycled or converted to compost
• Ensure that by 2010 the air quality objectives for East Lothian set out in the Air Quality Strategy for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are met.

Help build Safer Communities 

• Reduce Fear of Crime levels in East Lothian from 11% to 8% by 2007
• Use preventative and supportive measures to ensure that no more than 10% of children reappear on the Child Protection Register within 12 months
• Reduce Youth Crime by 10%

Raise Educational Attainment

• 3 Year average of % of S4 students gaining 5+ Credit Awards at Standard Grade or equivalent
• 3 Year average of % of S5 students gaining 3+ Higher Awards
• 3 Year average of lowest attaining 20% of S4 students

Encourage Enterprise & Skills

• Support 160 new business starts in 2006/07
• Develop 2 new/existing tourist products in 2006/07

Promote Healthy Living and improve Social Care

• Increase numbers of older people in receipt of intensive care at home packages, to enable them to remain in the community, by 2%
• Reduce the number of delayed discharges in short stay hospital beds
• Increase numbers of assessments being completed within 42 days of referral by 5%
• Increase numbers of carer's assessments being completed by 100%
• Maintain the number of children in the care of the local authority at below the national average
• Reduce the waiting list for respite support for children by 5%
• Increase the percentage of qualified staff working in Residential Care to 90%

Increase access to opportunities for healthy living

• Ensure all schools achieve and / or maintain Health Promoting Status by 2007
• Promote smoke free environments & reduce cigarette smoking in line with national targets by 2007
• Reduce incidence and impact of drug misuse in line with national targets by 2007
• Ensure that we have implemented the 'Framework for Children's mental health' by 2007
• Ensure East Lothian Council employees can access healthy lifestyles at work by maintaining 'Gold' level of the Scotland Health at Work Award

Promote equal opportunities for healthy living

• By 2007 East Lothian Council will have targeted an enhanced healthy living service provision in Musselburgh East (Wimpies, Pinkie, Wallyford & Whitecraig), Prestonpans & Tranent with the aim of bringing these communities closer to the East Lothian average for health & well being.
• By 2007 all departments of East Lothian Council will have identified how their service business plans are promoting equal access to opportunities for healthy living.

OUR 2020 VISION

Another recommendation from the IDeA review was that the Council should develop a long-term vision of the kind of community it wants East Lothian to become by the year 2020. Following a consultation exercise involving councilors and officials, representatives from partner agencies and the wider community, the following Vision for East Lothian was devised.

In 2020 East Lothian will have an established reputation as having the highest quality of life in the United Kingdom and the quality of our environment will be recognised as amongst the best in Europe.

Our dynamic and flourishing economy will support strong, sustainable, safe and inclusive communities where: the demand for affordable, high standard housing will be met; our world class education service will encourage all our children and young people to achieve their full potential; and, all our citizens will have access to the highest quality public services and a modern integrated transport infrastructure.

In 2020 our citizens will be proud of East Lothian.

East Lothian Community Planning Partnership
Community Plan 2006-2016

Community Planning is key to bringing agencies together, concentrating on the needs of East Lothian. A shared vision draws together organisations in the Partnership, focussing on achieving improvements to the social, economic and environmental fabric of the area. We see Community Planning and the Community Plan as the overarching framework for moving East Lothian toward our year 2020 vision for the area.

East Lothian Community Planning Partnership is a partnership of agencies from the public, voluntary, private and community sectors that have an interest in East Lothian.

The Partnership is an overarching partnership, which draws under its umbrella all other public based partnerships, networks and forums operating in East Lothian under the strap line of 'Working Together for a Better East Lothian'.

The Community Planning Partnership is principally a vehicle to encourage joined-up approaches to make best use of agency resources and create the best outcomes for East Lothian.

The Community Plan covers a 10-year period, to 2016 and is a stepping-stone to achieving our year 2020 Vision for East Lothian. You can find out more by accessing a copy of the Community Plan from the link on the right.