Our priorities
Our cross-cutting themes and five priority areas set out the key priorities for the Council, recognising what our residents have said is important to them and learning the lessons from the Grenfell tragedy.
- Grenfell recovery
- Making Kensington and Chelsea a great place to live, work and learn
- Safeguarding and supporting vulnerable residents
- A healthy, clean, safe and sustainable borough
- A place of culture to visit and explore
Cross-cutting themes
These are the three themes which underpin our priorities.
Community involvement
We are actively making decisions with our residents and service users based on what matters most to them. We will continue to find new ways to involve and listen to residents and service users as well as advocating for them. We will do this through our ongoing resident-led work with those most affected by the Grenfell tragedy as well as forums for directly engaging with users of our services such as our tenants and leaseholders; our development of a new approach to partnering with our faith and voluntary and community organisations; and our Citizens’ Panel.
We will also be increasing our engagement work with young people, for example, by working closely with the Youth Council on decision making and co-designing elements of our new Children and Young People’s Plan. During the pandemic the great civic spirit of our residents shone through, and so we will continue to work with local people to create opportunities to enhance civic life thorough initiatives like City Living and Local Life and the Community Leadership Programme.
Narrowing the gap
Covid-19 has exacerbated inequalities in a number of areas within our borough. We will focus our resources and efforts on those who experience the worst outcomes, as we look to mitigate the ongoing impact of Covid-19 on residents from disadvantaged backgrounds. We have made a commitment that equality, diversity and inclusion will be at the centre of our decision making and service delivery. We will review evidence and make the best use of local opportunities by connecting different communities together to help each other and lead change, as well as celebrating diversity as a strength of our communities. We will focus on those with the most urgent and pressing need, such as young people and those from ethnic minority and deprived backgrounds.
Prevention and early intervention
The need for increased and effective upstream prevention and early intervention has been highlighted and compounded by the pandemic. To genuinely support the longer-term resilience and wellbeing of our communities, we will use evidence to focus our efforts to have the best impact and prevent needs from escalating. We will build on people’s existing strengths, instead of simply focusing on challenges, to promote independence and help communities to support themselves and thrive.