Corporate Plan 2025 - 2030

• 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