An ambitious new Strategic Plan has been approved by Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council – after a consultation which reached out to every household in the town.
The four-year plan, which was approved on October 22, sets out the Council’s ambitions to revitalise the town centre and to deliver more local control of community services and assets.
Those ambitions include:
- Working through the Town Centre Regeneration Partnership to strengthen project delivery, helping to create conditions to strengthen the retail offer and bring a greater variety of uses into the centre.
- Using devolution powers to transfer control of 14 valued local parks and green spaces to Sutton Coldfield.
- Stepping in to help avoid reductions in services currently provided by Birmingham City Council, such as library and community services.
- Working with others to create a new Trust to oversee Sutton Park and using reserves to instigate a programme of investment to improve the Park’s facilities and infrastructure, if appropriate assurances on future arrangements for managing the beauty spot can be secured.
- Progress the Sutton Coldfield Active Travel Delivery Plan to offer residents and visitors genuine transport choice and enhanced walking and cycling opportunities which also support related health and well-being objectives.
To help fund this ambitious new era of local delivery in Sutton Coldfield, the Town Council also proposed an increase in the annual Precept for the first time since its inception in 2016.
The council approved the Strategic Plan after one of the largest consultation exercises ever carried out in the Royal Town. The consultation showed significant majority support for the use of the proposed increase in the Precept to help maintain libraries, community services, parks, play areas and open spaces in light of projected cuts by Birmingham City Council.
Consultation Results included:
- Over 70% of respondents either strongly agreed or agreed in spending additional Precept monies towards providing support to libraries / community services, rising to over 80% for parks, play areas and open spaces.
- There was less opposition to raising the Precept. 14% of residents either strongly disagreed or disagreed to spending the Precept to take on more responsibility for the library services and buildings.
- On the town centre, the most popular request was for a more diverse variety of shops, with many residents saying they would like to see a mix of popular chain retailers and local independent traders and enterprise.
- Residents also wanted to enhance public green spaces and play areas and called for a focus more on police presence and safety.
Using the results of the consultation, a final version of the Strategic Plan was drawn up and presented to Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council on October 22, where it was approved.
The timescale of the Plan has also been extended from 2024-2027 to 2024-2028, due to it being brought forward for approval later in 2024 than originally envisaged, partly as a result of the General Election.
A Strategic Plan is a document that helps set the direction of travel for a local authority, which can be shaped by all its stakeholders to identify priorities and commitments.
Councillor Simon Ward, Leader of Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council, said: “Royal Sutton Coldfield is about to enter an exciting new era of local delivery for residents, bringing more control of valued assets and services into the Royal Town.
“The Strategic Plan sets the ambitions for the Town Council over the next four years, so we wanted to make sure that residents had the opportunity to have their say.
“The consultation we launched was one of the biggest ever carried out in Sutton Coldfield, reaching out to every household, and I would like to thank everyone who responded for taking the time to have their say on this important plan.  We received more than 2000 responses to our survey which shows how much residents care about our Royal Town”
“The document sets out ambitions to revitalise the town centre and renew Sutton Park, reflecting the responses we got from residents. We want to transfer more than a dozen valued green spaces and parks across Sutton to local control, and to potentially step in to support services threatened by reduced budgets at Birmingham City Council too.
“Residents’ responses showed a clear majority in support of these ambitions, and using the increase in precept (the first in 8 years since the establishment of the council) to help pay for them.
The next four years will herald a new and exciting period for the Town Council. As the level of local government closest to residents we look forward to continuing to deliver for residents.”
About the consultation
Launched on Monday 2 September and running for four weeks until Friday 27 September, the consultation included a special edition newsletter and survey being delivered to all households in the town, with drop boxes for returns placed at 16 churches, community centres and libraries.
The survey included questions on topics such as using the Precept increase to support services, the future of the town centre, improving the environment and protecting heritage.
Councillors and officers attended meetings of community groups, as well as organising and attending six ward meetings, while 140 local organisations were contacted via email, including voluntary, community and faith groups, to encourage them to share the survey with their members.
The Council organised a pop-up event at the Gracechurch Shopping Centre on Saturday 14 September to encourage conversation about the draft strategic plan and to encourage residents to fill out the survey.
The consultation was supported by an extensive four-week Public Relations campaign which included traditional media, online coverage, messaging on social media and paid-for advertisements.
Following a request from Ark Community Church in Mere Green, the Town Council enlisted a translation service, formatted the survey into Cantonese and provided 100 printed copies to be distributed to residents at a Community Coffee morning.
Across the four weeks, the level of interest shown in the consultation was very high, with more than 2,100 responses received.
Notes for editors:
About Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council
Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council was formed following a consultative postal ballot in 2015, in which 70% of the votes cast supported the establishment of a town council.
The Town Council is the first tier of local government and is funded by a precept, which is paid by the residents of Sutton Coldfield via council tax to Birmingham City Council and given to the Town Council to commission and provide certain local services.
The Town Council jointly funded Sutton Coldfield’s Town Centre Masterplan, a visionary plan being led by the Sutton Coldfield Town Centre Regeneration Partnership, which has been adopted by Birmingham City Council as a Supplementary Planning Document.