Our design principles

They should be embedded in our activity across the Council, and we should use them as a checklist when we are service planning. This includes planning an individual piece of work or a project.

All six design principles won't apply equally in every circumstance. Some will be more relevant than others to individual service areas. However, we should never do anything that contradicts any of them. 

The six design principles include:

• reduce inequality and prioritise prevention
• put communities at the heart of everything we do
• enable communities to help and support each other
• have a 'place-based' approach
• have efficient processes and be digital by design
• use data and intelligence to inform our decision

Reduce inequality and prioritise prevention

When planning a piece of work, project or service we should always:

• talk to and listen to people who have experienced inequality so we understand their needs
• prioritise tackling the causes of inequality rather than tackling its effects
• work with our communities so we can help them to help themselves

Put communities at the heart of everything we do

The starting point when considering a new project or designing a service should always be our communities.

We must:

• understand who our communities are
• listen to their needs and circumstances
• make sure everything we do is planned and delivered with their best interests at the forefront

Reduce inequality and prioritise prevention

We should always work to limit the impacts of inequality for our residents. In doing so, we should prioritise our resources on early help and prevention. Your work, project or service should contribute towards some, or all, of the following:

• improved income and living standards
• improved quality of life and life expectancy
• improved housing choice and quality of housing

Enable communities to help and support each other

There are a lot of talented individuals and groups in our Borough who can work together to deliver much of the activity and support our communities need. 

We should look for opportunities to encourage more of 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 should work with partners and help others to do this.

Have a place-based approach

We should work closely with our partners to deliver services that help make our Borough a better place to live, work and visit. We should coordinate activity which contributes to:

• good quality housing
• environmental sustainability
• a growing economy
• a thriving leisure and culture offer

Have efficient processes and be digital by design

We should always 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
• standardise and bring together similar processes
• stop processes that aren't helping us to provide efficient and effective services

Use data and intelligence to inform us

Understanding our residents needs so we can work with them in the best way is essential.

One of the ways we will do this is by capturing data and intelligence and reviewing it regularly to help us forward plan and make the right decisions.

We should also use data and intelligence to evaluate so we can monitor the impact of our services and functions, striving for continuous improvement.