We wish to implement our policies and manifesto pledges for residents. This is done through the R4U councillors that residents elect. The more R4U councillors that are elected to each council, the more we can do.
Where we are a minority party on a council we cannot set the agenda. The means our councillors try to influence what that council does.
Where we are the majority party, we set the agenda. R4U is currently the majority party on Uttlesford District Council and Saffron Walden Town Council. We are a minority party on Great Dunmow Town Council and the many parish councils in Uttlesford.
Working with councils
Our operating model is quite simple and we use best practices that have been proven to drive delivery in the private sector.
- Policy Development with Residents: Residents are our ‘customers’. That means it all starts and ends with them. Our policies and manifestos have been built with input from more than 600 residents through engagement at town and village hall events, surgeries and online.
- Accountable Portfolio Leadership: Our policies are grouped into logical portfolio areas, such as Planning, Environment, and Economy. On councils where we are the majority party, we appoint a councillor to lead each portfolio. They are the person responsible for delivering our policies and manifesto at that council.
- Focused Council Delivery: Each policy is delivered through many initiatives. At Uttlesford District Council (UDC) we have many 100s of initiatives to deliver on our pledges. Our party uses a Balanced Scorecard model to prioritise and track the delivery of these initiatives. The Balance Scorecard approach allows us to say with confidence that “we promised X and delivered it by doing Y and Z”. Our party officers and advisers work with our councillors and senior council officers at each council to build our policies into that council’s plans. At UDC we have created a Residents Charter to set the council’s strategy (called a Corporate Plan) and our initiatives into each year’s operating plan (called an Annual Delivery Plan).
Our operating model allows us to directly align, manage and track what residents desire and have voted for with what we will do and have done. A single portfolio holder assures accountability. Continuous engagement between our officers, councillors and council officers creates focus and speeds up delivery. The adoption of our programme of initiatives via formal Corporate Plans and Annual Delivery Plans makes sure there is transparency with high levels of democratic governance and scrutiny.
R4U uses a balanced scorecard approach to manage and track delivery of policy initiatives through the councils it leads