When we created BCP Council, our priority was to ensure that we continued to provide efficient and quality services to residents and businesses, while we worked behind the scenes to combine the staff, systems and processes of the previous local councils. In our Corporate Strategy, we set out this extensive range of work in line with our efforts to become a "modern, accessible and accountable council."

The work to harmonise services and modernise the council has continued. However, the challenges of managing the COVID-19 pandemic, the threats and opportunities of Brexit, along with the already significant constraints on our finances, means that we are now accelerating our plans to review what we do and how we do it. This will mean we can provide services and facilities efficiently and effectively in a way that is more modern, efficient and affordable.

A one-off investment of up to £38 million will be made by 2023, in order to realise savings of more than £40 million a year, which will help to close the budget gap and allow us to invest in our services and regeneration.

Our aim is to establish the foundations for a sustainable future for the council, where we focus on what matters most to our customers and adds most value to their lives. We will increase the automation of services and the speed and ease with which our customers can access them. This is in line with the way many of us live our lives and go about our business, and as a council we must keep pace with the changes in modern life.

This will allow us to focus on the more complex issues and challenges we face, and the needs of our most vulnerable customers who are more likely to need face-to-face support.

It will also mean that we can reduce the size and cost of our workforce, which in turn will contribute towards large-scale financial savings, helping to tackle our medium-term financial pressure.

What our transformation means for you

Modern, efficient, flexible ways to access services

We are making a major investment in technology, to make it easier for residents and businesses to transact with us online, on any device and at a time of your choosing, with information and services online wherever possible. Anything that you can pay for, report or apply for online will be there. You’ll be able to track your interactions with us and see the status of your reports and applications.

Looking after those who need us most

We will increase our focus on the more complex issues and challenges we face, and the needs of our most vulnerable customers. That means children at risk, adults with disabilities and older people with care needs, the homeless or those facing homelessness. Our community hubs will be in places where people go and live, and you won’t always have to come to our civic centre to get the vital help you need.

Looking after the planet

We will create a carbon neutral position for our operations and activities by 2030. We will do this by:

• procuring all of our electricity from zero-carbon renewable sources
• reviewing energy project funding options
• assessing the energy efficiency of council buildings
• installing energy saving and renewable energy measures in retained council buildings

Find out more about our climate change actions.

Creating a financially-sustainable council

We will make financial savings, tackling the medium-term financial pressure by reorganising ourselves into a slimmer, more flexible and agile organisation. We will review what we spend on external contracts and suppliers so that we cut waste and get the best deal from our contracts. We will create a single Civic Centre in Bournemouth, supported by a number of community hubs across the heart of the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, enabling us to reduce the size and cost of our offices.