Council priorities

We are in the process of developing a new corporate plan that, once finalised in the summer of 2024, will set out initial work over the next three years to progress these three long-term missions:

• Reduce inequality – ensuring we make Swindon a fairer place, reducing disadvantage, making poorer areas richer and eliminating big disparities in life expectancy, education levels and social justice
• Build a better Swindon - creating a town ready for the challenge of the coming decades and understanding what facilities and infrastructure we need. Understanding our direct and indirect role in improving the town centre and in creating more affordable housing while supporting and brokering support from the private sector.
• Achieve net zero – ensuring we fully play our part as a council and a town in combatting climate change. Working with communities to find new ways of doing things that help not hinder the natural environment.

After agreeing these missions in July 2023, the Council’s Cabinet approved a draft version of a new corporate plan in December 2023, which informed a borough-wide engagement exercise called ‘Let’s talk Swindon’ with residents, council partners and staff. 

The engagement exercise, held in January 2024, involved seven community events using our online engagement hub to give residents the opportunity to feedback on the draft corporate plan. We also shared the results of the 2023 Swindon resident survey and sought residents’ views on next steps to act on these.

You can read a paper summarising the results and key themes from the engagement exercise that has been tabled for discussion at the Council’s Cabinet meeting in March 2024.

All the feedback from the engagement exercise will be reviewed and used to inform the production of a final version of the corporate plan that will be reviewed by the Council’s Cabinet later in 2024. 

Progressing each of the three missions is being supported by a specialist Policy Development Committee, made up of a cross-party group of 13 Borough councillors. 

Each Committee agrees a work programme setting out the topics it wishes to look into during the coming year, with the aim of producing evidence-based policy recommendations for Cabinet to consider. 

These will be informed by public open forums, consultations, task and finish groups, peer reviews and reviewing good practice elsewhere. Each Committee held a dedicated meeting in January and February 2024 to review and feedback on the draft corporate plan.

Find out more about the work of the Reduce Inequality Policy Development Committee, Build a Better Swindon Policy Development Committee and Achieve Net Zero Policy Development Committee.