Performance Improvement Plan 2025-2026 document p4
Our Improvement Objectives
Our Improvement Objectives for 2025/26 are:
- People: We will help to prevent violence against women and girls.
- Place: We will help boost our local economy and town centres.
- Planet: We will all play our part in making Mid and East Antrim a great place to live in and visit.
These objectives are:
- Legitimate: They make a demonstrable contribution to one or more Aspect of Improvement, as defined in the Local Government Act (NI) 2014:
- Strategic effectiveness
- Service quality
- Service availability
- Fairness
- Sustainability
- Efficiency
- Innovation
- Clear: They set out the visible improvements citizens can expect.
- Robust: They have defined terms of success.
- Deliverable: They have established links to individual service programmes and budgets.
(Please note, due to high levels of internal transformation and external uncertainty, the actions described within this plan are subject to the availability of funding and finance throughout the year). - Demonstrable: They are capable of being supported by objective evidence.
Statutory Indicators and Standards
The statutory indicators and standards specified by the Local Government (Performance Indicators and Standards) Order (NI) 2015, also form part of our Improvement Objectives.
Improvement Objective 1:
People - We will help to prevent violence against women and girls.
Why:
- Evidence shows most women and girls in Northern Ireland have experienced some form of gender-based violence from everyday misogyny and sexual harassment to extreme physical and sexual violence.
There have been over 20 domestic homicides with a female victim since January 2020, and these numbers continue to rise.
A whole-of-society and a whole-of-government approach is needed to end this, there is something everyone can do. - The Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG) Strategic Framework was launched by the Northern Ireland Executive in September 2024.
The focus of this strategy is on prevention.
Tackling the underlying causes of violence, abuse and harm towards women and girls and stopping it before it starts is vital. - The Strategy includes a first Delivery Plan (2024-26), which includes the launch of the Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Change Fund, which has been made available to local councils and is aimed at the community and voluntary sector.
The key outcome of the Change Fund is changed attitudes, behaviours, and cultures – Everyone in society understands what violence against women and girls is, including its root causes, and plays an active role in preventing it. (Source: Northern Ireland Executive). - Our citizens have indicated their support for programmes and activities to address this issue.
What you will see:
- Roll out of the Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Change Fund within the Community and Voluntary sector.
- An awareness and training programme to ensure everyone understands what violence against women and girls is, including its root causes, and plays an active role in preventing it.
- Our organisation will know how to recognise and respond to domestic violence or abuse.
How we will measure improvement:
- The Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Change Fund delivered by 31/3/26.
- An Ending Violence Against Women and Girls awareness and training programme delivered by 31/3/26.
- Platinum level Workplace Charter on Domestic Violence by 31/3/26.
Who is responsible:
- The Director of Community
- The Interim Director of Corporate and Support Services
Wider strategic links:
- Programme for Government:
- Ending violence against women and girls
- Safer communities
- Community Plan:
- Prioritising the most vulnerable
- Community safety and cohesion
- Progress in education and employment
- Corporate Plan:
- People
- Aspect of Improvement:
- Fairness
Improvement Objective 2:
Place - We will help boost our local economy and town centres.
Why:
- Our citizens would like to see more inward investment, higher value jobs, and support for businesses to start up and grow.
- Productivity in Northern Ireland has been below the UK average for decades.
To create an economy that works for everyone, the Northern Ireland Executive plans to address four key challenges of productivity, good jobs, decarbonisation and regional balance.
Prioritising these areas will help to transform the economy, help businesses to thrive, ensure rewarding work for everyone regardless of background, help boost wages and spread economic prosperity across all areas. - Through the Sub-Regional Economic Plan, we will play a central role in enabling this change, through the creation of the Mid and East Antrim Local Economic Partnership, with a dedicated funding pot to deliver on our agreed priorities.
- Our citizens have indicated their support for actions that will help to drive footfall and support our local businesses.
Our town centres continue to face many challenges, with high operating costs, businesses closing, dereliction, vacant units and cleanliness identified as some of the key issues. - There appears to be a lack of awareness of our offering, such as programmes for leisure, socialising, outdoor recreation, arts and cultural activities, town centre events, skills development, employment academies, volunteering opportunities and poverty support.
People would like to know more about what is going on in the area and would like us to use some more traditional forms of communication, such as town centre notice boards.
All information should be provided in alternative formats to ensure equal access for everyone.
What you will see:
- The submission of the Mid and East Antrim Local Economic Partnership Action Plan.
- A range of events within our town centres to boost footfall and support our local businesses.
- Installation of town centre information notice boards to improve communication and awareness of opportunities.
- Business start-ups and growing businesses through the flagship Go Succeed service and other tailored supports.
- An effective and efficient Planning Service.
How we will measure improvement:
- The submission of an agreed action plan for the Mid and East Antrim Local Economic Partnership, in line with the Regional Balance Fund Project Guidelines by 31/3/26.
- 15 events or activities held within Ballymena, Carrickfergus, and Larne town centres by 31/3/26.
- The installation of 3 information notice boards in Ballymena and Carrickfergus town centres by 30/6/25.
(A notice board is already in place in Larne town centre). - 50 jobs promoted through business start-up interventions by 31/3/26.
- A processing time for major planning applications within an average of 30 weeks by 31/3/26.
- A processing time for local planning applications within an average of 15 weeks by 31/3/26.
- At least 70% of planning enforcement cases concluded within 39 weeks by 31/3/26.
Who is responsible:
- The Acting Director of Development
- The Interim Director of Operations
Wider strategic links:
- Programme for Government:
- Grow a globally competitive and sustainable economy
- Community Plan:
- Progress in education and employment
- Tourism and the economy
- Community safety and cohesion
- Good health and wellbeing
- Corporate Plan:
- People
- Place
- Aspect of Improvement:
- Service availability
- Strategic effectiveness
- Innovation
Improvement Objective 3:
Planet – We will all play our part in making Mid and East Antrim a great place to live in and visit.
Why:
- Everyone has a part to play in creating a borough that is clean and safe for everyone who lives in, works in or visits Mid and East Antrim.
- Our Street Cleanliness score is 70%, an ‘acceptable’ level.
Our citizens identified litter and dog foul as key issues throughout the borough and would like to see more cleaning of our town centres, parks and playparks, pitches, leisure centres and housing developments. - There are currently two dry recycling household collection models operating within the borough, a twin-stream blue bin and kerbside boxes.
Our household recycling performance for dry recycling and organic waste is currently 50.67% and falling.
Our kerbside recycling rate is 17.7%, one of the lowest of all Northern Ireland councils.
Our citizens told us through our survey that they would like recycling to be simpler. - Amendments to the Waste and Contaminated Land (NI) Order 1997, introduced in 2020, impacts the statutory recycling targets for local councils.
Municipal recycling rates must reach 55% by 2025, 60% by 2030, and 65% by 2035.
There will be a 10% cap on landfill waste by 2035, and by 2028, a ban or restriction on biodegradable waste sent to landfill.
What you will see:
- A communications campaign to encourage everyone to play a part in making Mid and East Antrim cleaner, safer and more attractive.
- Simpler recycling.
How we will measure improvement:
- The development of a communications campaign to help people to play their part in looking after Mid and East Antrim by 31/3/26.
- The launch of a fully co-mingled dry recycling collection service by 1/11/26.
- At least 50% of household waste collected sent for recycling by 31/3/26.
- A maximum of 16,387 tonnes of biodegradable collected municipal waste sent to landfill by 31/3/26.
- Less than 79,500 tonnes collected municipal waste arisings by 31/3/26.
Who is responsible:
- The Interim Director of Corporate and Support Services
- The Interim Director of Operations
Wider strategic links:
- Programme for Government:
- Protecting Lough Neagh and the environment
- Community Plan:
- Good health and wellbeing
- Community safety and cohesion
- Tourism and the economy
- Valuing our environment
- Corporate Plan:
- People
- Place
- Planet
- Performance
- Aspect of Improvement:
- Service quality
- Efficiency
- Innovation
- Sustainability