Powering Our Future

To ensure we are set up to achieve the priorities in this plan, we have developed a new, cross-cutting Mission Statement for the Council to Power Our Future.

Our Mission Statement is:

we will be a bold, brave and innovative Council
together with our partners, we will make sure Stockton-on-Tees is a fair and equal place where everyone is proud to live and work, and where our communities flourish and people feel they belong
we want everyone in our Borough to participate in building a brighter future for all of us

Our Mission Statement is underpinned by five supporting Missions that provide a high-level picture of success.

Communities Powering Our Future

We will empower communities and increase individual, family and community level activities, helping people and communities to be independent and have less reliance on Council services.

Place Making Powering Our Future

We will lead the renewal of our six towns where it's needed, and work with communities on the improvements they want to see, to ensure they are vibrant spaces that attract residents, shoppers, leisure visitors and businesses.

Partnerships Powering Our Future

We will collaborate with other organisations for the benefit or our residents and communities.

Transformation Powering Our Future

We will improve the way we work and deliver efficient, effective and value for money services within available financial resources.

Colleagues Powering Our Future

We will enable and empower our workforce to do the best they can for our communities.

Design Principles

A set of Design Principles will act as 'guard rails' for the Council and be embedded across our ways of working to deliver our Mission Statement and Stockton-on-Tees Plan priorities.

Reduce inequality and prioritise prevention

We talk to and listen to people to understand their needs, prioritising tackling the causes of inequality rather than tackling its effects.

For example, extensive consultation with the travelling community has informed the development and delivery of a new on-site Community Hub and the bespoke services they can access there, including health advice and services, employment advice and welfare rights.

Put communities at the heart of everything we do

The starting point for developing any new project or designing a service is always our communities and we make sure everything we do is planned with their best interests at the forefront.

For example, we use data and insights to understand the customer when re-designing a service and test prototype designs with them for feedback on how we can make them better, such as with the Making it Real Board in Adult Services.

Enable communities to help and support each other

There are a lot of talented individuals and groups in our Borough who work together to deliver much of the activity and support our communities need. We continuously look for opportunities to encourage this and acknowledge that we aren't always best placed to provide the support an individual or community needs - where this is the case, we work with partners and help others to do this.

For example, community support networks are designed into our support and referral services.

Have a 'place-based' approach

We work closely with our partners to deliver services that help make our Borough a better place to live, work and visit. We coordinate activity which contributes to good quality that is accessible and affordable; environmental sustainability; a growing economy, and a thriving leisure and culture offer.

For example, we involve communities in deciding how best to invest in their neighbourhood using the funds we have available.

Have efficient processes and be digital by design

We look for opportunities to deliver services and communicate with our communities digitally, unless we know that the communities we need to reach are digitally excluded.

For example, we seek to communicate with our customers digitally through e-mail, text and social media rather than sending letters or calling them.

Use data and intelligence to inform our decisions

We capture data and intelligence, and review it regularly to help us forward plan and make the right decisions. We use data and intelligence to evaluate to monitor the impact of our services and functions, always striving for continuous improvement.

For example, we will use behaviours intelligence gathered from regular surveys to direct and inform the targeted communication and engagement campaigns for the introduction of new waste services.