Agenda item

Councillor Andrew Curtin, Cabinet Member for Culture, Towns and Communities, introduced the report

In January 2007 Cabinet approved an over-arching 5 year Culture Strategy for the borough. The life of this strategy has now come to an end, and a new 3 year Culture Strategy has been produced to cover the period 2012-2014.

The core ambition of the Culture Strategy is ‘to transform lives through participation in, and enjoyment of, culture’.  The strategy sets out 3 objectives and 4 underpinning principles which outline our priorities for achieving this (see section 3.0 below).

Primarily, the Culture Strategy provides a strategic direction for the Council, but it also provides a framework for the wider development of culture in the borough through partnership with agencies in the public, private and voluntary sectors.  The strategy also clearly demonstrates to external partners and funding agencies the key priorities for the Council and the community.

The strategy includes an analysis of the current service and identifies emerging opportunities and areas for development over the coming years.  It also includes a high level action plan for Culture & Leisure.  Both the analysis and action plan will be used to inform service planning on an annual basis and in turn be reflected in individual work programmes.

Reasons for the decision:

The approval and formal adoption of the Culture Strategy will provide a context and focus for the work of culture services in Havering over the next three years.  The approval of the document will support the service and wider culture sector to i) access external funding, ii) influence other strategies and agendas, iii) communicate our priorities to the wider public, and iv) provide strategic direction for annual service planning.

Other options considered:

No alternatives have been considered.  Without these strategies the Council would be disadvantaged by not having a defined focus and strategy for improving the provision of culture in Havering.

Cabinet AGREED the 2012-14 Culture Strategy