Our Council Plan

Our borough faces new economic challenges and uncertainty. We will work with residents, schools and businesses to ensure a fair recovery for all, so that Kensington and Chelsea continues to be a great place to live, work and learn.

Supporting sectors most affected

Hospitality, retail, culture and the arts, the sectors hit hardest by the pandemic, make up much of our local economy. To support businesses across these sectors to not only survive and recover but also to adapt and thrive, we have accelerated the delivery of our 2019 Economy Strategy and our work to improve our high streets. By facilitating business and landlord forums and bringing together market traders, businesses and residents, we are building resilient businesses that are viable and sustainable. By launching and leading our new Employers Forum in the borough, we are working directly with employers to support meaningful action to address the pandemic and Brexit issues requiring us to rebuild and diversify our workforce locally.

Achieving outstanding education for all

98% of our schools are rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, and our schools and colleges have been flexible in maintaining excellence whilst increasing support for children who need it most. Throughout the pandemic we supported vulnerable families, ensuring every child in the borough had a digital device and access to the internet to enable remote learning, and we continue to support children affected by the Grenfell tragedy through the Dedicated service and the Grenfell Education Fund. We also opened two new primary schools in the borough; Barlby and Queensmill, which will provide quality education, in particular to those children with additional needs.

Increasing local employment opportunities

Many of our residents, particularly younger people, are finding it harder to secure rewarding and sustainable work. We are leading local partnerships to support and connect young residents into work through the Government’s Kickstart work placement programme and through our own targeted efforts. The number of out of work benefit claimants is still over double the pre-pandemic level (as of January 2022), so we will focus our support for those groups who need it most. We will lead by example by increasing job opportunities for local people in our supply chain and by providing council internships, work experience and apprenticeship and providing spaces for community services aimed at improving job readiness. Following on from launching a successful academy with one of our building development partners, we want to expand this offer with our partners to have sectorbased academies across the borough that are geared towards our key sectors: hospitality, tech, entrepreneurship and retail.

Enhancing local places and spaces

Throughout the pandemic, residents have become more connected to their local area, making it even more important that we take a leading role in creating quality public spaces to enjoy day to day. We are revitalising our neighbourhoods, so that residents can access what they need within close proximity to their homes. We are working with residents and businesses, through forums such as Business Improvement Districts, to enhance our high streets and will actively encourage residents and visitors to enjoy our unique shops, large and small. One of our lessons learned from Grenfell, and events since then, is the importance of using our buildings to improve local prosperity and wellbeing, through our emerging Social Investment approach. We are piloting a new type of lease that will create new affordable workspace to support start-ups, business innovation and aid a learning community. Our approach will seek to support more diverse businesses in the area and bring additional social value through these initiatives. Our libraries are an important part of this and have also responded to the pandemic by delivering programmes to address children’s loss of learning and provide skills and digital training.

Delivering more affordable housing

Housing continues to be a priority for our residents. Our 2019 Housing Strategy which sets our direction in response to this, with lessons learned from Grenfell at its heart, will be refreshed in 2022. We are building new council homes and increasing our housing association supply. We are developing a new Local Plan with a focus on community housing, supported by residents, which will deliver even more affordable homes at social rent. We have heavily invested in our existing stock, in close collaboration with residents.

We have successfully influenced major developments across the borough and have engaged more widely on planning decisions using a range of different channels to make it easier for people. Looking ahead, we remain committed to deliver on our New Homes Programme by continuing to progress some projects already on-site, whilst pausing others to continue ongoing resident consultation. We are continuing the resident-led refurbishment of homes at  Lancaster West, having secured £30m of external green funding for sustainability work on the estate. In addition, we are progressing our successful pilot to provide key workers with affordable housing and giving consideration to local prosperity and wellbeing in our housing investment decisions.

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What we want to see

• A diverse range of businesses, operating locally that are able to adapt to the impacts of and recovery from Covid-19.
• Community spaces, including public libraries, are accessible to all and well used by their local communities.
• New mixed tenure housing developments, with genuinely affordable housing for key workers, as well as new social housing.
• Our state schools maintain their high standards, with the most disadvantaged pupils outperforming their peers in other areas of the country.
• Investment in Green technologies to promote a thriving green economy.
• Communities are fully engaged in the development of our planning policies.
• Council tenants receive excellent housing management services, which have been developed in partnership with them.
• All young people have a defined career pathway into further education, university, employment or enterprise.
• Voluntarism, philanthropy and social enterprise are promoted and supported.
• Swifter, more effective action is taken against nuisance generated by developers, licenced premises and others
• No loss of existing social housing in the borough.
• A successful Further Education College with a sustainable future in North Kensington.

What we will do

• Prioritise supporting economic recovery following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Create an environment where entrepreneurs and micro-businesses can flourish.
• Support our young people to achieve their potential through increased learning and employment opportunities locally.
• Adapt and enhance the learning opportunities in our public libraries to meet the needs of all our residents, even those digitally excluded.
• Continue working with partners and employers across the system to influence skills provision and vocational training opportunities, including apprenticeships, for local residents and priority groups.
• Lead by example as an employer in the borough, creating employment opportunities directly and through our contractors.
• Develop a key worker housing strategy, targeting a proportion of our existing housing for key workers, as part of the new build programme.
• Make our housing services more professional, visible and accessible to all residents, giving residents the power and ability to solve problems.
• Build more new Council homes for social rent on our own land and use planning policy to encourage developers to build more homes at genuinely affordable rents.
• Increase the quality and provision of temporary accommodation for those who are facing homelessness.