Citizens' Panel - Let's Talk K&C

Kensington and Chelsea Council has taken up the challenge to become the best Council, in all that we do, so the borough is greener, safer, and fairer for everyone who lives here. To achieve this, the Council Plan sets out the vision and priorities for the Council over a four-year period. As part of development for the new Council Plan for 2023-27, the Council embarked on a far-reaching community conversation with residents to hear from them about what they love about the borough, the issues and challenges they face and what they feel the Council’s priorities should be over the next four years.

The ‘Let’s Talk K&C’ initiative was launched at our first ever Citizens’ Panel event in September 2022 and included engagement events, staff conversations with residents at a number of venues across the borough, and a more formal consultation involving a survey of the Citizens’ Panel and a survey of residents more generally.

The main areas that emerged from the Let’s Talk K&C community conversation were used to develop a series of priorities under the following six themes:

• Becoming the best Council in light of Grenfell
• Being a caring Council
• Fairer
• Greener
• A great place to live
• Being careful with your money

These priorities were subject to a more formal consultation through a survey with the Citizens’ Panel and residents more generally.

These are some of the key themes to have emerged from the Let’s Talk K&C engagement. Residents told us:

• The availability of affordable housing and the maintenance of the existing housing stock needs to be addressed.
• It needs to be easier for residents to access advice and support from the Council with excellent customer service. Residents need to be listened to and treated with dignity and respect.
• Support needs to be provided to local independent businesses and our high streets need to be improved to help the local community thrive.
• There needs to be increased opportunities and support for young people in the borough, as well as support for the more vulnerable and general cost of living support.
• Continue to keep the borough safe with increased community safety presence and enforcement against antisocial behaviour.
• Ensure the streets are kept clean and maintain the much-valued parks and green spaces in the borough to a high standard.

The feedback from the community conversation with residents, as well as from service users, community groups, partners, businesses, members of the Youth Council and other stakeholders have been used to develop the Council Plan for 2023-27. Its key priorities include:

A greener Kensington and Chelsea

• Clean air, clean streets, and greening
• Parks and open spaces

A safer Kensington and Chelsea

• Safe homes
• Crime and community safety
• Support and safeguard adults and children

A fairer Kensington and Chelsea

• Housing
• Advice and support
• Celebrate, promote, and improve Kensington and Chelsea
• Education, economy, and employment

Improving customer care and how the Council does things, runs as a theme throughout the plan and is a focus for its staff, so that whenever people speak to or meet someone from the Council that person feels supported and listened to.

The Council Plan was adopted at the full Council meeting on Wednesday 1^st March. You can find the full Council Plan on our website.

The Council would like to thank all residents who took part in the Let’s Talk K&C community conversation, your feedback has been invaluable in developing the Council Plan and ensuring a greener, safer, and fairer Kensington and Chelsea.

To deliver the Plan we need to continue listening to and talking with residents, communities and our partners in the public, private and voluntary sectors, as we take on the challenge to become the best Council for a borough that is greener, safer, fairer.