Our Council Plan

In 2019, we set out our priorities and commitments to the borough in our Council Plan, reflecting what we had heard from our communities. We are proud of what we have achieved against this plan, and of how we have continued to deliver our priorities at the same time as responding to the challenges of Covid-19.

Grenfell recovery

• We have established a Dedicated Service for bereaved and survivors of the Grenfell tragedy, working in partnership with them to adapt the support we provide to make sure it meets their changing needs.
• Over 1500 people are reached monthly via the Recovery Programme and we have continued to provide targeted support for children and adults in the local community.
• Residents are leading decision-making for local projects, with £0.7m allocated to 56 community projects in 2020 and the next round of the Grenfell Projects Fund now underway, overseen by a Resident-Led Panel.
• We have worked with the bereaved, survivors and local community to adapt the services and initiatives in place, hearing over 1,100 views from people between January and November 2021.

A great place to live, work and learn

• We have committed £8m of funding for our Covid Recovery Programme, in response to business and employment challenges, as well as the mental health and wellbeing needs following the pandemic.
• We have continued to support our schools, providing an extra £1m of funding during the pandemic. 98% of our schools are rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted and we have made sure every child in the borough, had a digital device and access to the internet to support on-line learning.
• We have transformed how we work with local businesses and with new and established business forums. Over £105m has been given to businesses through schemes, such as business rates grants, the Local Restrictions Support Scheme and the Council’s own Business Interruption Fund, to help them through the impacts of Covid-19. The Council has also issued a £372m business rate retail discount to local businesses during 2020/21 and 2021/22
• The Council’s New Homes Programme delivery has started with four schemes starting in 2021 to deliver 98 homes, including 50 for social rent, and completions are forecast during 2022 and 2023.
• We will have invested £290m through our capital programme in our local streets, schools and homes over 2019-2022.
• We have continued to work with partners and the community to develop the New Local Plan and we have worked and consulted on design codes for developments at Latimer Road and Lots Road.
• Business Improvement Districts are being developed, in partnership with local firms and the initiatives have secured an extra £16m in funding for local businesses to spend on improvements and high street revitalisation, with three ‘yes’ ballots to date, including Kensington High Street.

Safeguarding and supporting vulnerable residents

• During the pandemic we have increased our support to those who are most vulnerable, protecting our care homes and setting up the support hub for our clinically vulnerable residents.
• We provided extra support to our vulnerable families, including access to devices for education, wellbeing check-ins with tenants and coordinating with our voluntary and community partners to provide mental health services, and setting up local testing sites.
• We have opened 2 Schools, including the building of the new Barlby and Kensington Queensmill for children with autism and learning difficulties in North Kensington.
• Over 275,000 first, second and booster covid vaccination doses have been administered in the borough. We were one of the first councils in the country to partner with the NHS, directly contacting our residents to support access, supporting the set-up of vaccine pop-up sites, resident Q&A sessions, online events and accessible literature.

Healthy, clean and safe

• The Council has committed to being carbon neutral by 2030, with £10m of initial funding committed as part of the Green Plan, £8m for greening our schools and £6m to be spent on some of our Council sites.
• We have commenced this work by introducing our own use of electric vehicles, LED streetlights and the lowering of our carbon emissions.
• We put in place new measures to protect our streets and environment, including new wardens, CCTV, single borough virtual parking permits and noise cameras.
• We have delivered new active travel arrangements, with reduced speed limits, participating fully in the London e-scooter trial and introducing School Streets.
• A new waste collection and street cleansing contract has been procured which delivers an enhanced specification with value for money, maintaining twice-weekly waste collections, throughout the pandemic.

A place of culture to visit and explore

• Delivery of our Culture Plan for 2021-22 has supported an adapted digital Notting Hill Carnival offer in 2021, Carnival Culture in the Park events, the Summer of Love Campaign which brought visitors back to the borough and the K&C Arts Festival, with over 30,000 people engaging in-person.
• The new Markets Plan 2021-2026 has been developed together, with traders, businesses, residents and the community to increase the number of trading sites in the borough and we have supported 160 traders with grants to mitigate the financial impact of Covid Restrictions during the pandemic.
• We are making al fresco licenses available permanently through the summer to support our local economy, creating vibrant and attractive outdoor spaces and we have continued to invest in our parks, in recognition of their importance during the pandemic and following consultation.

We have recently produced a more detailed Progress Report which sits alongside the updated Council Plan, to demonstrate key progress against our priorities since the inception of the Council Plan in 2019, and in particular the progress made by the Council since the Spring 2021 update. You can find this report on our committees site.