A bold and confident vision to shape Birmingham’s future approved

Shaping Birmingham’s Future Together (SBFT) approved at full council (17 June 2025) – which is a partnership plan for the next decade – aims to address challenges, grasp opportunities and tackle inequalities Birmingham and its residents face.

This vision - produced through consulting and engaging partners and communities across Birmingham and which will be delivered by working closely with city partners - is for Birmingham to be a city that has a thriving economy, tackles inequality, where all communities can enjoy greater opportunities and the wellbeing that brings.

The SBFT has helped shape the  city council’s Corporate Plan 2025-28 which sets out how the council will strengthen Birmingham’s position as a thriving, young, diverse and creative global city - a place where everyone is included in the opportunities that the city can offer.

The council’s strategic priorities and outcomes are aimed at responding to the city’s challenges and opportunities so it can best serve the city and citizens and achieve.  The following are the key missions set out in SBTF, which will guide how the council delivers its priorities:

• Growth and prosperity for Birmingham – Focusing on investment and economic growth that benefits all people and places in the city.
• Knowledge and opportunity – For all children and young people to have a good start in life and a great education, and with lifelong learning accessible to all.
• Safety and sustainability – Ensuring more affordable homes are built, housing standards are improved, and homelessness prevented wherever possible.
• Health, education and inequalities - For all children and young people to have a healthy start in life, and encouraging physical activity and healthy living, so everyone can live and age well.
• Connected Birmingham – The provision of a safe and sustainable transport network, good access to online services and support to develop digital skills.
• Improvement and Recovery – to stabilise and strengthen the council’s financial position to ensure it becomes a well-run, high performing council

The Corporate Plan for 2025-28 incorporates the Improvement and Recovery Plan for the council.  It will guide how the council delivers, enables and influences these core missions over the next three years.

It also includes a performance framework, against which the council’s progress against these priorities will be measured.

Cllr John Cotton, Leader of BCC and Chair of Chair of Shaping Birmingham’s Future Together, said: "The Corporate Plan is a clear demonstration of our ambitions for the people and communities of Birmingham. For too long, our story has been a Tale of Two Cities: a booming city centre with cranes dotting the skyline, in stark contrast to neighbourhoods with high levels of poverty and unemployment just a stone’s throw away.

“That’s why we feel it’s important to have shared ambitions for Birmingham, which both address our challenges and harness our incredible collective potential. Through our work on Shaping Birmingham’s Future Together, we have created a shared vision for Birmingham, which draws from our rich history and maps out a bright future.”

Joanne Roney CBE, the city council’s Managing Director, said: “This Corporate Plan marks an important shift towards embedding sustainable improvements and ensuring that the council is fully equipped to meet the challenges ahead with confidence and accountability.

“Its success will lead to improved outcomes for citizens and communities – and ultimately ensure that Birmingham City Council becomes the organisation that our citizens, communities and partners deserve.”