A total of 84 Key Priorities were established by the Council following the elections in 2017, with the aim of providing a blueprint to guide all Council work over the following five years.
Transformational projects like delivery of the Bellfield Centre and the introduction of free sanitary products at schools were highlighted as some of the crowning achievements, with the Council on-track for an 86% completion rate by March 2022.
"Incredible achievements"
Speaking after Thursday’s Full Council meeting where the report was shared, Stirling Council Leader, Cllr Scott Farmer said: “This is a really positive report which showcases some incredible achievements. It’s even more remarkable to be heading for near-completion when we consider the last 21 months have been dominated by our response and recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic.
“The work delivered under these Key Priorities has genuinely changed people’s lives and it has only come about through the efforts of our staff, with the strategic support of Councillors.
“I want to put my thanks on record to the people of this organisation, who’ve worked tirelessly over the past four years to get us to this stage, and I’m looking forward to seeing more projects cross the finish line before the end of March 2022.”
The Council’s six Key Priorities are grouped under the following headings:
- Looking after its citizens through education and social care
- Tackling poverty and welfare cuts
- Creating more affordable housing
- Delivering inclusive economic growth
- Creating and implementing environment and infrastructure improvements
- Making Stirling a must-visit destination
Thursday’s session, available on YouTube, was the last pit-stop assessment before the final stretch of work leading to the local government elections next year.
A proud list of landmark achievements have so far been recorded under each theme, with 43 priorities completed and a further 35 on-track to be completed by the final quarter of 2021-22.
Amongst the successes are introducing a Rapid Rehousing Transitions Plan to move homeless people quickly into settled, permanent accommodation, rolling out a gigabit internet connection across the city and protecting and adequately resourcing mobile libraries.
Lasting success for Stirling
Depute Leader, Cllr Chris Kane, said: “We are coming to the end of a long journey here and it’s important to make sure we take time to pause and measure our success against the pledges we’ve made as a Council.
“There remains work to be done but this report just showcases the power of positive work that’s been carried out in the past four and a half years, and I hope these achievements have a lasting success for Stirling.”
You can read the report as item 9 on the Full Council Agenda from Thursday, 9 December.