Our Council Plan is where we set out our priorities for the next five years. It sets out what we will be working towards in the medium term (whilst considering our vision for the long term future of Wrexham County Borough). 

Within the priority areas we have identified 6 to 8 outcomes that we want to work towards. The outcomes set the direction for our improvement journey for Wrexham County Borough, the people of Wrexham and our communities. 

How the plan was developed

The plan was developed during 2022/23, through:

• Discussion with the people who deliver our services.
• Workshops with our council members to consider the proposed outcomes based on their knowledge of the people living within their wards.
• A public consultation with people across Wrexham; including those with protected characteristics. 

We also looked at a range of evidence including:

• Published data and statistics (Census 2021 data, for example).
• What we know about our communities from local research about people's health and well-being.
• Messages and feedback from involvement activities that we have run over the past year (with service users and communities)
• Progress against our existing council priorities and other work areas.

Public Services Board (PSB)

Alongside the evidence mentioned above, our council priorities have been informed by the Wrexham Public Services Board Well-being Assessment. The assessment was produced following extensive research and engagement with people across Wrexham. 

The work carried out by the PSB helped highlight key areas of focus for us to consider when choosing our council priorities. We then developed the priorities alongside the PSB Well-Being Plan and objectives. The PSB Wellbeing Plan aims to improve social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being across Flintshire and Wrexham.

Developing our equality outcomes

During 2022 we carried out lots of research, reviewed our previous equality objectives and considered data and evidence (from national reports, North Wales information and localised information). This analysis suggested a number of areas that our outcomes could focus on. 

The steps we took to help us decide our proposed equality objectives included:

• A review of our previous strategic equality objectives.
• Review of research and data including the census, council equality data, PSB Well-being assessment, national strategies/reviews, as well as local and national data.
• Feedback from officers through our current Priority Boards (find out more about Priority Boards on our Performance Management Framework page).
• Member workshops to gather feedback based on their knowledge of people living in their wards. 

Consultation

We carried out a public consultation during February and March 2023 to get feedback on our proposed council priorities and outcomes. 

We asked if the priorities and outcomes we had identified in our draft Council Plan were the right areas to focus on and if there were any other things we should include. 

To check if our proposed equality objectives were based on relevant issues which people thought needing addressing, we spoke with representative groups of those with protected characteristics (as defined under the Equality Act). 

We also asked what actions we could take and if there were any other issues we should focus on. As part of our consultation we asked for feedback from representative groups and individuals within specific communities and focus groups.

Consultation methods included:

• Online survey on ‘Your Voice’ platform.
• A printed survey available for those unable to engage digitally.
• Engagement with community groups as part of their own regular meetings (for example Warm Spaces and other groups supporting people with differing needs).
• A focus group held with Senedd Yr Ifanc Wrecsam/Wrexham Youth Parliament.
• Engagement at community events, with community councils, our own workforce and trade union representatives. 

You can find more information in our full consultation report.