Council Plan: Introduction and context

Three years ago, we agreed our Council Plan for 2022-25. We have already made great progress and achieved so much. Continuously working with our partners and residents to provide support across every area of the borough, we have successfully delivered on our priorities:

Our local teams continuously work with councillors and communities to deliver on local priorities, working to achieve vibrant and thriving neighbourhoods where residents feel happy, safe and proud.

• Produced and delivered annual ward plans informed by local communities.
• Improved 23 local towns and villages across the borough through our Towns and Villages Fund and engaged with residents and communities to hear their priorities for the £4 million Our Places Fund.
• Repaired 727 (approximately 99 miles) of estate roads (the unclassified network) across the borough through our £24 million to 2024 roads programme.
• Hosted cultural and sporting events across Rotherham for all ages and backgrounds, from the Women’s Euro 2022 to the Reytons sell-out home coming concert in 2024, as well as the annual Rotherham Show.
• Invested over £900,000 to enhance the CCTV service – significantly increasing the capability and number of cameras deployed across the borough.

Focussing on prevention, we have continued to support those in crisis and those affected by the rising costs of living, as well as working with local partners to ensure that local people live in good physical and mental health for as long as possible.

• Started work on a major new in-house day service for people with learning disabilities.
• Created more new Council homes – 630 council rents and shared ownership properties have been completed and a further 102 homes are already under construction or in the process of being purchased.
• Delivered £17.9 million cost-of-living support packages to residents, including committing £4.8 million to support households with their fuel bills, allocating an additional £7.4 million for the free school meals, supermarket voucher scheme and providing financial assistance to families were struggling with school uniform costs.
• Adopted a new approach to commissioning our public health services that promote healthy living, aiming to reduce stigma for users.

We continue to ensure that all children and young people are supported to achieve their potential and improve outcomes. This is inclusive of those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The opening of new residential homes for children in our care also means that, where appropriate, more children and young people can be supported locally within the borough.

• Services provided to children and families were rated as ‘good’ in all areas by Ofsted in June 2022, with an Ofsted Focused visit in May 2024, focused on arrangements for children subject to a Child in Need or protection plans.
• Ensured that more children can live safely in the borough by acquiring, developing, and registering two new in-house children’s homes.
• We have reduced the number of children requiring access to a social worker, as well as those in our care, by providing support for children and their families at the earliest opportunity.
• We achieved the highest rating following an Area SEND inspection of Rotherham Local Area Partnership in September/October 2024
• 375 activities have been co-produced with young people, attracting 357,000 participants in the build-up to Rotherham becoming the world’s first Children’s Capital of Culture. 120 young people have also been employed as trainees, hosted by 17 different organisations, 70% of whom have gone on to further education or employment (since October 2021)
• Established three main Family Hubs and additional wider Family Hub networks where children, young people and families can go to when they need help, advice, and support across a wide range of areas. Between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, 1,900 group sessions were delivered to families with children aged up to 5 years.

Significant regeneration schemes have been completed both in the town centre and across towns and villages, helping our economy to grow and creating a great place to live, work and visit. We have also been focused on creating opportunities for people to learn and develop new skills, as well as creating more local jobs paid at the Real Living Wage or above.

• Secured more than £100 million of government investment to fund key regeneration schemes across the borough and create jobs. Being awarded the country’s first Investment Zone, means that South Yorkshire is set to benefit from an estimated 8,000 new jobs and £1.2 billion of private funding by 2030.
• Delivered our flagship Forge Island scheme in the town centre, which saw the opening of the Travelodge hotel and Arc Cinema in 2024, with the first eateries due to open in spring 2025. Forge Island canal barrier has also been operational since 2022.
• The Employment Hub pathway and Employment Solutions Services have supported more than 1,700 residents. Of these, 879 participants have secured employment and a further 825 have secured accredited education or training.
• Delivered our award-winning approach to Social Value, which has led to commitments of £27.8 million in social and local economic value in the first three years of the Council’s Policy being adopted. The Council is also proud to retain its Real Living Wage employer status.
• Created 64 new starter apprenticeships at the Council in the last 3 years.

The Council is helping to create a healthier environment for everyone by improving the cleanliness of the borough, establishing better transport systems and contributing to reducing carbon emissions.

• Invested over £1.8 million towards cleaner streets (since 2022) and ended seasonal contracts, which has meant staff working through the winter seasons in communities. 284 areas of enhanced cleaning were undertaken in the last 12 months as a result.
• Green Flag award achieved in 2024 for Clifton Park; Greasbrough Park; Rother Valley Country Park; and Ulley Country Park.
• Completed the £44 million of works to widen the Parkway and opened the new £11.5 million Parkgate link road. We have also undertaken repair works to Centenary Way Viaduct.
• Delivering actions to reduce carbon emissions. For example, in March 2023 Cabinet approved plans to commit to buy 64 new vehicles to meet modern emission standards as part of the ongoing commitment to reach Net Zero.

We continue to work with our partners to improve outcomes for the people of Rotherham, as well as working with communities to provide modern and efficient services that are accessible to all.

• Rolled out new high-level customer standards to improve the customer experience which has resulted in call wait times to the corporate contact centre being reduced to under 4 minutes on average.
• Working with organisations across the borough, through the Rotherham Together Partnership, we have successfully delivered the Rotherham Plan 2025. This has resulted in a range of improvements for people and places across Rotherham, from joint commitments on social value and climate change, to cultural events and hate crime projects.
• The Council was awarded Most Improved Council at the 2022 LGC Awards.

Our new plan builds on these successes and sets out our ambitions to forge ahead to 2030!