Budget Consultation for 2025-2026 - Page 1 of 5 - City of Wolverhampton Council

Our City Our Plan

Our annual budget is used to deliver priorities set out in Our City: Our Plan.

Our Priorities

The plan sets out the ambition that ‘Wulfrunians will live longer, healthier lives.’ Delivery of this ambition is supported by six priorities:

Strong families where children grow up well and achieve their full potential
Fulfilled lives with quality care for those that need it
Healthy, inclusive communities
Good homes in well-connected neighbourhoods
More local people into good jobs and training
Thriving economy in all parts of the city

Our Principles

Our six priorities are supported by four principles.

Climate action
Driven by digital
Fair and equal
Wolverhampton Pound

Click here for more information about each of the six priorities Click here for more information about each of the six priorities

Thriving economy in all parts of the city

The city is enjoying record levels of public and private investment. Our aim is to ensure that all residents and businesses can benefit from this investment and the new opportunities it will bring to the city. We will deliver this aim through inclusive growth, increasing access to good quality jobs, raising skill levels and improving health and wellbeing outcomes for all in our city.

Our economy has growing sectors in professional services, creative and digital as well as green technologies and sustainable construction which have the potential to create new local jobs with higher wages. We’re building on the city’s long history of innovation and entrepreneurship to support residents who want to become entrepreneurs to start their own businesses. In July 2022, in partnership with the Black Country Chamber of Commerce and University of Wolverhampton, we opened IGNITE, a new business workspace and start-up centre in the heart of the city. A report from the British Business Bank in November 2022 identified Wolverhampton as the top local authority in the West Midlands for start-ups. Supporting the growth of new enterprise in all parts of our city to drive inclusivity and equality across the business base, ensuring ethnicity, gender and socio-economic background are not barriers to starting and growing a business.

Strong families where children grow up well and achieve their full potential

We want all children and young people in our city to grow up happy and healthy and to realise their full potential. Families, wider social networks, communities and schools are important to helping children and young people achieve this, but at different times in their lives they may face challenges and need different types of support. Our aim is to help families early, preventing problems from becoming entrenched and responding to early warning signs so that children and young people have the right support to thrive.

Fulfilled lives for all with quality care for those that need it

We want all residents of the city to live independent lives for longer and to have a good quality of life. Being in good health for as long as possible impacts on our relationships with family and friends, and our ability to fully participate in the community and to contribute to the local economy. Staying in good health into older age is also closely related to how much support and care a person needs and their use of services such as adult social care.

Healthy, inclusive communities

A good start in life, high-quality education and employment, and a decent home in a thriving community are the strongest factors that influence both how long a person is likely to live and their quality of life. Getting these factors right, coupled with enabling access to high quality health and care services, will have a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of our residents.

Good homes in well-connected neighbourhoods

The home in which a family lives is one of the most important factors in determining their wellbeing and prosperity. We are committed to ensuring that every resident has a safe, stable and affordable home so they can achieve their full potential and build communities where everyone can thrive.

More local people into good jobs and training

All residents in the city need an income which can support them and their family. We want all local people to have the right support and opportunities to get a stable job with decent pay so that they can build a future and help us grow our city together. Wolverhampton is home to thousands of businesses which offer fantastic employment opportunities. We know that some of our residents find it harder than others to access good quality work and face a range of barriers to employment from poor health, lack of skills or caring responsibilities.

Locally and nationally our economy is changing, and the skills local people will need to be successful in the workplace is changing with it. Having good digital skills is now more important than ever to support the rapid shift to digital technologies, the climate change challenge is leading to increasing demand for skills to support the low carbon economy whilst our aging population means our reliance on our critical health and social care workforce will continue to rise. We must ensure we have a flexible, adaptable and resilient skills system which is able to respond to these emerging opportunity areas. We will do this by joining up activity across schools, further education, training providers and other organisations to ensure that there is a seamless, whole-system approach to education, work and skills.

1. Are you responding as:

(Required) A resident of the City Part of the Voluntary and Community Sector in the City A business in the City Someone who works in the City A student in the City Other (please specify in the box below)

2. Please rank the council’s priorities – shaped by the public - in order of importance to you:

Please rank them in order with 1 being the most important and 6 the least important.

(Required)

Thriving economy in all parts of the city

Strong families where children grow up well and achieve their full potential

Fulfilled lives with quality care for those that need it

Healthy, inclusive communities

Good homes in well-connected neighbourhoods

More local people into good jobs and training

3. Please rank our core principles in order of importance to you:

Please rank them in order with 1 being the most important and 4 the least important.

Click here for more information about each of the four principles Click here for more information about each of the four principles

Climate Action

The climate emergency remains one of the biggest long-term challenges facing the world today. Our climate change strategy ‘Future Generations’ sets a target to make the City of Wolverhampton Council carbon-neutral by 2028. We are committed to delivering on the recommendations of our Climate Citizen Assembly and to upholding the promises we made when the Council declared a climate emergency in 2019.

Fair and Equal

We will continue to tackle the inequalities in our communities which impact on the opportunities of local people. The Council’s ‘Excellent’ rated equalities framework is at the heart of this plan. Everybody in our city, whatever their background, should have a pathway to achieve their potential and succeed. No community will be left behind as we transform our city together.

Wolverhampton Pound

The Wolverhampton Pound is an initiative supporting community wealth building. At its core, community wealth building is a place-based approach which uses the strengths and assets of Wolverhampton to drive economic change. Through the Wolverhampton Pound we want to use the combined power of institutions, businesses and communities to retain local wealth, creating new jobs and opportunities. We’ll do this in partnership with the city’s anchor institutions.

Driven by Digital

The city is at the forefront of digital infrastructure and innovation. Wolverhampton is one of the first cities in the world to host a 5G accelerator hub making us truly a world leader in emerging technology. Now more than ever digital skills and connectivity are vital to ensure our residents can access services, interact with friends and family, and enter the job market.

(Required)

Climate Action

Fair and Equal

Wolverhampton Pound

Driven by Digital

4. Please rank the top five services in order of importance to you:

Please rank them in order with 1 being the most important and 5 the least important.

(Required)

Adults Services - including caring for elderly and vulnerable people and helping them to stay in their own homes.

Children and Young People Services - including child protection, and children and young people in care.

Education - school standards and school place allocation. (Please note the Council does not control individual school budgets – funding for this comes directly from central government).

Streets and Traffic Services - including street lighting, road surfacing, pot hole repairs and road safety

Bin collections and recycling

City Environment - including street cleansing, fly tip removal, litter picking and grounds maintenance.

Sports and Leisure - There are three WV Active Centres across the City which offer competitive membership packages, public swimming and other sporting activities.

Parks and open spaces - Our parks and open spaces provide important space for leisure and relaxation, host sporting and cultural events and offer playgrounds and other facilities like fitness trails, which encourage people to exercise and improve their health and wellbeing.

Food, Environmental and Consumer Protection - delivery of a range of statutory services that are aimed at protecting the general public from the adverse impacts of unregulated premises, goods and services.

Housing Services - provides a greater choice of accommodation for housing needs and inclusive economic growth for Wolverhampton. The service also works to prevent homelessness.

Libraries, Archives and Community Centres

Economic Development and Regeneration - attracting jobs and inward investment.

Learning, Employment and Skills - The Adult Education Service and Skills Services deliver further education and skills training across the City to help individuals gain necessary qualifications and skills that are beneficial to the workplace and communities.

Public Health – Initiatives to support public health and wellbeing (for example, tackling obesity and drug/alcohol misuse, and increasing the number of health checks offered).

Cultural Venues - including Civic Halls, Art Gallery and Bantock House.

If there is anything is a priority for you that is not listed above, or a community issue that requires specific attention, please say so here.

There is a limit of 250 characters