Corporate Plan 2025 - 2030

We want to make Gateshead a place where everyone thrives. We want it to be a great borough, with vibrant communities, where businesses can grow, residents feel supported and live fulfilled lives, and our environmental impact is minimized.

Our Corporate Plan outlines our priorities for the next five years and aims to address inequality, whilst championing fairness and social justice in Gateshead. Each year we will refresh our delivery plan to set out how we will take our strategy forward in that year and what we expect the impact to be.

We are working with partners and others, to achieve the right outcomes for people and families who need support. Our services are either universal for example bin collections, libraries and highways or targeted like social care. People and families need different support at different times in their lives and our Corporate Plan shows how we intend to provide this.

We are committed to running an organisation that puts our residents first, delivers value for money, and works with our communities to ensure we focus on what is important. However we also need our residents, community organisations, partners and stakeholders to join us in our bid to make Gateshead a place where everyone thrives.

Welcome to our updated Corporate Plan for 2025-2030. This plan sets out our priorities and areas of focus over the next five years. The identified priority areas will guide our work and outline our response to what we believe will deliver good outcomes for the people of Gateshead.

The original corporate plan 2023-2028 set out the world as we saw it, this updated plan has been informed and shaped through meetings, consultation and engagement with a range of stakeholders since that time. We have also engaged in or been subject to inspection and assessment by a range of bodies during 2024/25 which has informed the development of this plan.

We know that 'The strength of Gateshead is the people of Gateshead' because, when faced with adversity, we come together and deliver for one another, working tirelessly for the benefit of the communities of Gateshead. We are stronger together and will continue to place people at the heart of everything we do. We know Gateshead is a special place, sitting at the heart of the North East, it is unique and different to many other places in the United Kingdom. We are a borough of contrasts - we're two thirds rural and have large expanses of green space. We then have densely populated urban areas and towns.

We also have different levels of health inequality with life expectancy varying depending upon where you live in the borough. Lives in Gateshead are being cut short. In our poorest areas people's lives are up to 10 years shorter than in our better-off areas. This can be as much as 15 years shorter than the wealthiest parts of England. People in poorer areas also live more of their lives in bad health. This is not right, nor should it be acceptable.

Wherever you live or chose to be in Gateshead, we want you to know that the council is relevant to you, it has a role in the life you lead, and that it delivers a good level of service for you.

We provide hundreds of services each day, some of which you'll see and have a direct impact on your life such as bins and local roads, some of which you'll only need when you request it, such as social care. Some people need the council more, others less so. Whenever you do interact with us though, we want it to be a positive interaction or experience. This isn't saying we'll always say yes or respond in the way you want each time. However, when we do reply, there'll be a clear rationale or reason sat behind the decision.

We're a big, complex organisation and recognise that won't always get things right first time. What we can promise to do though, as a learning organisation, is to listen and take on board your feedback and apply improvements along the way.

As a council we continue to work towards a sustainable budget position. In working towards this, it does mean we have a reduced level of budget available to spend on the services we deliver, which means that we cannot deliver everything that we used to, or that you might want us to. We are having to make extremely challenging decisions, but ones that are necessary to ensure we can continue to deliver statutory and essential services for residents. A programme of ongoing reviews will ensure that we're as efficient and effective as possible.

We launched Thrive in 2018 as our approach to ensuring we put people at the heart of everything that we do. Thrive is as relevant today as it was then, whilst recognising that the world in which we operate has changed significantly. Our Corporate Plan is the immediate response to prioritising our offer, and ultimately our available budget, to local people. This plan will evolve, and we will look to engage residents and our partners further in the refinement of this. In doing so, reaffirming our commitment to Gateshead and you.

Councillor Martin Gannon
Leader of Gateshead Council

This plan sets out our strategic approach and priorities for 2025-2030 so that employees, councillors, residents, partners and other stakeholders understand:

• the strategic priorities of the council - so that resources, delivery plans, strategies and operational activity can be aligned to them; and
• how the council will continue to transform and drive improvement in services to deliver our priorities and operate as an organisation in the most effective, productive, and impactful way.

Supporting strategies and plans

This plan and the priorities in it are supported by a range of strategies and policies (both current and new) which set out how and what we will deliver, including:

• delivery strategies and policies - strategies (some of which are statutory plans) that set out detailed actions and outputs which will help deliver priorities for example Health and Wellbeing Strategy and many more.
• place-based strategies - for priority areas such as the Local Plan and River Tyne Renaissance
• a Corporate Plan Action Plan - setting out our key actions in the coming year and updated annually

There are also plans and programmes which support and enable the council to deliver priorities in an effective, efficient, and productive way - including:

• the Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy sets out how the council's financial resources will be deployed. The Budget outlines the council's financial income and expenditure, and the Medium-Term Financial Strategy sets out how the council intends to deploy its financial resources
• plans to improve the council's effectiveness and modernise its ways of working, for example through its Workforce Development Strategy (PDF, 621 KB)

We will be developing a Delivery and Performance Plan which will outline the key actions, activity and metrics that support the delivery of the Corporate Plan priorities.

Our strategic approach, Making Gateshead a place where everyone thrives, aims to redress the imbalance of inequality, whilst championing fairness and social justice in Gateshead.

As a council we are working with partners and others, to achieve the right outcomes for those people and families who require support. Many of our services are either universal such as bins and roads or targeted like social care. People and families need different degrees of support at different times in their lives.

We need our residents, community organisations, partners and stakeholders to join us in our bid to make Gateshead a place where everyone thrives.

The Corporate Plan is our guide and sets our priorities and direction of travel. Each year we will refresh a delivery plan which will set out how we will take our strategy forward in that year and what we expect the impact to be.

We want the Corporate Plan to remain current and relevant and ensure that it is a living document, which everyone plays their part in delivering.

A great borough, with vibrant communities, where businesses can grow, residents feel supported and live fulfilled lives, and our environmental impact is minimised.

We are committed to running an organisation that puts our residents first, delivers value for money, and works with our communities to ensure we focus on what is important.

Our pledges

• People Gateshead: Putting people and families at the heart of everything we do
• Fair Gateshead: Tackling inequalities so people have a fair chance
• Communities Gateshead: Supporting our communities go support themselves and each other
• Prosperous Gateshead: Investing in our economy to provide sustainable opportunities for employment, innovation and growth
• Future Gateshead: Working together and fighting for a better future for Gateshead

All underpinned by

• good customer service
• sound financial planning
• inclusivity
• good governance
• continuous improvement
• culture

Gateshead is a place that offers opportunities for all residents to live healthy and fulfilled lives and achieve their ambitions. This starts by giving all children the best start in life.

In doing so improve outcomes and opportunities for all. We will think long-term and adopt a preventative approach in determining our response to local need. The aim being to have access to services for those who need them, social care where required, alongside population health improvements for all.

This will require the wider Gateshead health system and partners to empower good health outcomes across the life cycle.

We will provide integrated and targeted family support where it is needed and reduce risks of harm to young people.

With an increasing older population, it is essential we ensure people start life well, live fulfilling lives and enjoy later life in good health. We will work with health partners and agencies to develop strong delivery plans tailored to local need.

We want residents to be able to make informed decisions over their life and will ensure information and advice if available and accessible. This will promote independence through enablement; promote independence through technology; be based on strength base practice; all with a home first prioritisation.

Poverty and deprivation still have too big an impact upon too many of our residents. We want to tackle those inequalities, so people have a fair chance to achieve their personal goals and ambitions. Our aim is to be a borough with reduced inequalities where residents having improved access to social and economic opportunities, enabling them to live fulfilling lives.

To truly enable our residents to Thrive we must create the conditions for fairness and equality - maximising the wellbeing of our communities.

We will continue to tackle the actions set out within our Health and Wellbeing Strategy. In doing so strengthening the role of ill health prevention and ensuring a healthy standard of living for all.

We all want children to have the best start in life and will champion and support the delivery of high quality, inclusive education for Gateshead's children.

Through an integrated, intensive and effective offer, we aim to reduce the need for children and young people to come into our care and to ensure all children and young people in our care have the best care and stable homes.

We will also improve outcomes for children with SEND through the delivery of strengthened and inclusive services alongside our local partners.

Ensuring that people are safe and feel safe is a wellbeing requirement. The strength and ability for communities to adapt to change and deal with shocks and emergencies is essential. Through being more resilient we can reduce the negative impact on individuals, reducing the direct intervention needed by the council to provide a fix.

We cannot achieve the ambitions of Thrive alone and in recognition of the contribution they make, we will strengthen the support provided by the voluntary, community and social enterprises sector within Gateshead.

We also recognise the support of Gateshead's caregivers and want to continue to support those who choose to care as both a profession and those who look after relatives, friends or loved ones.

We also want to work with our communities to ensure we have the range and choice of high-quality homes for children who need care.

We will support and invest in the development of stronger and more resilient communities, enabling residents and partners to tailor service delivery to the local need - in Gateshead this is locality working: delivering a local range of services in response to the direct needs of our communities. These will be evidence led and informed by feedback on the ground, we will deliver a range of tailored service in collaboration with our partners.

We want Gateshead to have a strong local economic outlook, with more businesses, good jobs, and inward investment.

With this strong economic outlook, we want to tackle unemployment and ensure residents have the skills and qualifications to enable them to access opportunities.

We will support regeneration and development opportunities that come forward and will support investors to do so, creating a fairer, green and more resilient economy at the heart of this work.

It is important to maximise the visitor and rural offer that exists within the borough and embrace the wider regional cultural offer.

The council will work with neighbouring councils and the North East Combined Authority to maximise the opportunities that devolution for the North East provides residents, business and partners.

All of which provides a strong platform for our ambitions to tackle health inequalities within Fair Gateshead.

We want Gateshead to have an aspirational outlook and visionary future, whilst reflecting the needs of local people and building for our future generations.

We want to ensure that there is a broad range of homes available for our residents. We will work with partners to meet housing needs now and for the future. We will invest to build new council homes and improve our current offer.

It is important that residents have access to improved connectivity within Gateshead and the region, allowing them to travel for both work and pleasure purposes.

We will also look to protect the environment as we move towards a low-carbon future, helping the community minimise its carbon footprint and encourage the reduction of borough wide carbon emissions.

We want Gateshead to be a place where people have pride in their local area and will work to introduce minimum environmental standards within the borough.

We also want everyone to be an ambassador for the Gateshead - having civic pride, where diversity is embraced, and people are proud of their community and home creating a positive outlook for all.

We will champion the work of the council, together with encouraging our communities to play their part in local democracy and to understand how they can influence local decision making and have a say in local improvements.

The priorities in this plan are interconnected. Many of the priorities and the outcomes from the pledges are dependent on one another. For example, we know well-paid employment, affordable homes and transport, clean air and access to green spaces can all contribute to good physical and mental health.

Inclusivity

We will:

• embed our organisational values and behaviours
• promote, champion and advocate diversity
• demonstrate inclusive leadership, partnership, and a clear organisational commitment to be a leader in equality, diversity, and inclusion
• involve and enable our diverse communities in our decision-making processes
• encourage and build a skilled and diverse workforce to build a culture of equity and inclusion in everything we do

Customer experience

We will:

• put our customers at the heart of everything do
• provide a consistent quality of service to our customers
• reflect customer feedback in the design and delivery of services
• continue to adopt a digital by default approach, enabling self-service where achievable
• co-design and collaborate with partners where possible, to deliver for local communities
• effectively communicate and engage residents and partners in the work of the council

Financial sustainability

We will:

• ensure effective and prudent use of the council's resources
• provide value for money through efficient and effective service delivery
• provide services without the use of reserves
• continue to identify and develop new and appropriate income generating opportunities that are in keeping with our Vision
• maintain an investment strategy that preserves and improves the financial resources available to the council
• rigorously manage the council's risks
• have sound governance arrangements in place

Culture

We will:

• ensure our refreshed core values are incorporated into how we work and everything we do
• continue to embed our Workforce Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy across the council
• promote communication and transparency
• welcome challenge and learn from our mistakes

Continuous improvement

We will:

• review and strengthen our performance management framework, including regular reporting and clear accountability
• develop a clear programme of transformation and improvement activity
• recognise and celebrate good performance and address poor performance through a strengthened Appraisal and Development framework for employees
• develop a council-wide awareness and culture of continuous improvement in every aspect of council activity

Good governance

We will:

• review the council's constitution to ensure it is accessible, comprehensive, and meets the needs of the council in the delivery of this Corporate Plan
• promote awareness of the seven principles of public life ('the Nolan principles') and ensure effective application of the respective codes of conduct for councillors and employees
• review the council's overview and scrutiny function to ensure it is robust, challenges constructively, and contributes continually to the delivery of this Corporate Plan
• ensure the revenue budget and capital programme remain balanced and sustainable over a rolling five-year period
• maintain a programme of reviews for our services to ensure they are delivered efficiently and effectively

• focussing on our residents' needs
• engaging with all our residents, and partners, to understand what matters to them
• working in partnership to benefit Gateshead
• providing quality public services that are accessible to all
• making best use of our resources and look to invest in the future of the borough
• adopting modern and efficient working practices
• promoting a culture of fairness, openness and transparency
• providing equality of opportunity in all our activities and ensure that discrimination does not occur
• lobbying for Gateshead's interests both regionally and nationally

• Purpose of the Corporate Plan
• How we will deliver our Corporate Plan 
  • Our pledges
  • Our priority areas
• What we achieved in 2024/25
  • People Gateshead
  • Fair Gateshead
  • Communities Gateshead
  • Prosperous Gateshead
  • Future Gateshead
• Our priorities
• What we will deliver in 2026/27 to achieve our Corporate Plan objectives
  • People Gateshead
  • Fair Gateshead
  • Communities Gateshead
  • Prosperous Gateshead 
  • Future Gateshead
  • Priority area: good customer service
  • Priority area: inclusivity
  • Priority area: sound financial planning
  • Priority area: good governance
  • Priority area: continuous improvement
  • Priority area: culture

We want to make Gateshead a place where everyone thrives. We want it to be a great borough, with vibrant communities, where businesses can grow, residents feel supported and live fulfilled lives, and our environmental impact is minimised.

Purpose of the Corporate Plan

This plan sets out our strategic approach and priorities for 2025-2030 so that employees, councillors, residents, partners and other stakeholders understand:

• the strategic priorities of the council - so that resources, delivery plans, strategies and operational activity can be aligned to them; and
• how the council will continue to transform and drive improvement in services to deliver our priorities and operate in the most effective, productive, and impactful way

Our Corporate Plan outlines our priorities for the next five years and aims to address inequality, whilst championing fairness and social justice in Gateshead. This is our action plan to set out how we will take our strategy forward in the next year and what we expect to deliver.

How we will deliver our Corporate Plan

Our pledges set out our focus for the next five years in five key areas and outline what we are going to deliver. We have also identified six priorities which will support how we deliver our plan and how we work as an organisation.

'The Strength of Gateshead is the People of Gateshead' - Gateshead Council Corporate Plan 2025-30

What we achieved in 2024/25

To progress our Corporate Plan pledges and priorities we delivered the following achievement in the past financial year:

People Gateshead

• Ofsted reviewed Gateshead's children's social services in December 2024 and judged the council to be 'Good' across all areas and our Adult Learning and Skills Service received a 'Good 'rating from Ofsted.
• We approved a new Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) strategy, with positive progress made including delivery of events to show support available for CYP (Children and Young People) with SEND.
• We opened nine multi agency Family Hubs to support access to early help within local communities.
• We increased the number of health visiting reviews with families from the nationally required five reviews to eight. This now includes additional reviews at three-to-four months, six months and school readiness contact at age three-to-five.
• The Care Quality Commission recently inspected our adult social care services, where we have been rated as 'Good' in meeting our statutory responsibilities and duties to ensure people have access to adult social care and support.
• We reduced waiting lists for adult social care assessments, including social work and occupational therapy, and increased capacity in reablement so more people could have support to help them regain their independence.

Fair Gateshead

• Our Director of Public Health's annual report focused on the impact of lives lost in Gateshead to alcohol, drugs and suicide, allowing the voices of people with lived experience to be heard, and showing the urgent need for action to support those suffering.
• The Health Determinants Research Collaboration in Gateshead played a key role in a study by Lancaster University, which proved our planning policy on preventing new hot food takeaways had been linked with reducing childhood obesity levels.
• Increasing numbers of people are accessing specialist drug and alcohol treatment in Gateshead.
• We established a new regional Local Drug Information System to act on emerging/immediate threats from substances and communicate with partners, and have a new Rapid Review process for suspected drug- and alcohol-related deaths.
• We increased take-up of free school meals (FSM) through targeted promotion including within all council Tax bills to eligible benefits recipients and other channels, and have expanded the rollout of the Holiday Activities and Food programme to FSM families.
• We have developed a sexual health training model within the Gateshead Recovery Partnership (GRP) to improve contraceptive access for women in recovery services.
• Improved support is now in place for children impacted by the substance use of others through the children and young people's substance misuse service.

Communities Gateshead

• We showcased the best practice work of our Armed Forces Outreach Service (AFOS) partnership project with a visit by the Minister for Veterans and People. Led by Gateshead Council AFOS offers support and guidance to veterans, serving reservists, spouses and their family members.
• We launched our 'East Locality' innovation site; as part of our community-based support approach, to introduce convenient talking points into locations close to where people live.
• We commissioned and implemented our new all-age caregivers service and recommissioned our home care contracts and review of our placements sourcing activity and capacity.
• Our partnership with GLL to deliver leisure services in Gateshead was launched following a full procurement process.
• We implemented Gateshead Exchange, a new service designed to bring suppliers, together with voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) groups, to provide social value to the communities of Gateshead. We have delivered £1.25m of social value through procurement activity.
• We awarded over £1m in grants to VCSE organisations in Gateshead to support the health and wellbeing of residents.
• We launched the Gateshead Food Partnership via our first Food Summit event, and secured accreditation as a 'Sustainable Food Place'.

Prosperous Gateshead

• Over 1,000 businesses received support from the council. As a result, 31 start-ups are newly trading, 60 existing businesses have completed investment projects, and we have had five inward investment successes. This delivered £14.65m of private investment into Gateshead, creating 575 new jobs and safeguarding 321.
• We provided over 1,000 residents with employment-related support, 420 of whom were helped into work, achieving 475 job starts.
• We appointed a town centre manager for Gateshead to work in partnership with the private sector to support local businesses.
• We achieved Silver in the Investors in the Environment accreditation.
• We have reduced our measured operational carbon emissions by 74% from 2010 levels and will deliver our tree planting target of 100,000 trees by 2030.
• We secured £365,000 from the North East Combined Authority (NECA) to deliver an events programme for Gateshead Quays and the Railway Quarter.
• We have secured £53m of funding from NECA, including £40M for transport improvements.

Future Gateshead

• Work started on a new joint venture housing scheme, transforming the quality and choice of homes across Gateshead. A development of 49 family homes is to be built by Gateshead Regeneration Partnership, on the site of the former Hookergate School, at High Spen.
• We made progress in acquiring properties on Gateshead High Street to enable a future regeneration scheme.
• Formal governance arrangements are now in place to deliver a joint vision for expansion of the MetroCentre and the MetroGreen development.

Our priorities

Our focus has remained on our council priorities of: good customer service, inclusivity, sound financial planning, good governance, continuous improvement, and culture. We have:

• Achieved improved face-to-face customer service at the Civic Centre with a joint customer service and housing reception point, a meet-and-greet service, digital services, enhanced security presence and monitoring of face-to-face contact.
• Launched a new digital tool, "Do I need planning permission", and have reviewed our pre-application planning processes with feedback from service users.
• Increased the number of digital contacts and self-service and improved our online services, with high satisfaction rates from customers.
• Established a new Women and Girls' Committee, led by elected members, that aims to raise awareness of and tackle gender inequalities and the impact they have on the lives of women and girls in Gateshead.
• Supported Out North East to successfully deliver a festival of Pride in Gateshead during August 2024. The programme included talks, discussions, celebrations and exhibitions to raise awareness of, and pride in, our LGBTQ+ communities.
• Have agreed to treat care experience as a protected characteristic in Gateshead, acknowledging the significant inequalities and stigma faced by people who have been in the care system.
• Set a balanced budget for 2025/26, including an investment programme of £620m over five years, to address residents' priorities of new homes, jobs, green spaces and investment in the local environment.
• Undertaken a review of internal governance and decision-making, supported by the Local Government Association (LGA), to enable improved ways of working across the organisation, in order to deliver additional savings and improve our customer service.
• Worked with the LGA to undertake a corporate peer challenge that presented the council with a feedback report and key recommendations. We have developed an action plan to address these recommendations and will welcome the LGA back later in 2025 to demonstrate progress against their findings.
• Delivered an employee survey in 2024 working in partnership with Best Companies. Employees across all of our teams and departments had the opportunity to share anonymously how they feel about working for the council. Questions covered themes including leadership, pay and personal development. We were named as one of the best organisations to work for in 2024, and we are working to develop action plans with all services to further improve our employee experience.
• We launched a new Integrated Impact Assessment tool to ensure new policies and key decisions address issues such as equality, diversity and inclusion, socio-economic disadvantage and health and wellbeing as soon as possible in their development.

What we will deliver in 2026/27 to achieve our Corporate Plan objectives

1. People Gateshead

Our pledge to put people and families at the heart of everything we do

2. Fair Gateshead  

Our pledge to tackle inequalities, so people have a fair chance.

3. Communities Gateshead

Our pledge to support our communities to support themselves and each other.

4. Prosperous Gateshead

Our pledge to Invest in our economy to provide sustainable opportunities for employment, innovation and growth.

5. Future Gateshead

Our pledge to work together and fight for a better future for Gateshead.

Priority area - Good customer service

We are committed to:

• put our customers at the heart of everything do
• provide a consistent quality of service to our customers
• reflect customer feedback in the design and delivery of services
• continue to adopt a digital by default approach, enabling self-service where achievable
• co-design and collaborate with partners where possible, to deliver for local communities
• effectively communicate and engage residents and partners in the work of the council

Priority area - Inclusivity

We are committed to:

• embed our organisational values and behaviours
• promote, champion and advocate diversity
• demonstrate inclusive leadership, partnership, and a clear organisational commitment to be a leader in equality, diversity, and inclusion
• involve and enable our diverse communities in our decision-making processes
• encourage and build a skilled and diverse workforce to build a culture of equity and inclusion in everything we do

Priority area - Sound financial planning

We are committed to:

• ensure effective and prudent use of the council's resources
• provide value for money through efficient and effective service delivery
• provide services without the use of reserves
• continue to identify and develop new and appropriate income generating opportunities that are in keeping with our Vision
• maintain an investment strategy that preserves and improves the financial resources available to the council
• rigorously manage the council's risks
• have sound governance arrangements in place

Priority area - Good governance

We committed to:

• review the council's constitution to ensure it is accessible, comprehensive, and meets the needs of the council in the delivery of this Corporate Plan
• promote awareness of the seven principles of public life ('the Nolan principles') and ensure effective application of the respective codes of conduct for councillors and employees
• review the council's overview and scrutiny function to ensure it is robust, challenges constructively, and contributes continually to the delivery of this Corporate Plan
• ensure the revenue budget and capital programme remain balanced and sustainable over a rolling five-year period
• maintain a programme of reviews for our services to ensure they are delivered efficiently and effectively

Priority area - Continuous improvement

We committed to:

• review and strengthen our performance management framework, including regular reporting and clear accountability
• develop a clear programme of transformation and improvement activity
• recognise and celebrate good performance and address poor performance through a strengthened Appraisal and Development framework for employees
• develop a council-wide awareness and culture of continuous improvement in every aspect of council activity

Priority area - Culture

We committed to:

• ensure our refreshed core values are incorporated into how we work and everything we do
• continue to embed our Workforce Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy across the council
• promote communication and transparency
• welcome challenge and learn from our mistakes