I was delighted to be re-appointed as the leader of Wiltshire Council this week and consider it a real privilege to lead our organisation and work with all of you for the next four years. It will be four years of challenge and opportunity and one thing for sure is we will need to be innovative and forward thinking to ensure we can continue to provide critical front line services.
It’s also great to be writing my blog again and to have the opportunity to update on the key events and happenings in the county.
On Tuesday I announced my new cabinet and their areas of responsibility. John Thomson will continue as my deputy leader and Toby Sturgis, Fleur de Rhe-Philipe, Dick Tonge, Stuart Wheeler and Keith Humphries will be joined by two new members; former portfolio holder (children’s services) Laura Mayes and Jonathon Seed. You can find out more information on the responsibilities of cabinet members and their work on the Wire.
The new cabinet meets for the first time next week (Tuesday 21 May). We will discuss and make decisions on a number of items including the recommendation from the three corporate directors to implement a voluntary redundancy (VR) programme. Whilst I realise that this proposal may have caused some concern; particularly as it has hit the media this week, we have to find £27 million of savings this year. It was always planned to find £4 million by reducing the number of posts across the organisation. The proposal for a VR programme will help to deliver the savings and avoid placing staff at risk of redundancy. I will update more on the first cabinet meeting in my blog next week.
The new cabinet has also started work on producing a business plan that will set out our priorities and key actions for the next four years. One of our priorities will be how we continue to boost the local economy and keep Wiltshire buoyant. On Thursday I attended a meeting of the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). The focus of the meeting was looking ahead at what’s really important in the local economy and the actions that need to be delivered. It’s vital that we make our local economy stronger and more resilient.
Today I attended a sub-group meeting of the LEP chaired by Sir Christopher Benson to discuss the South Wiltshire Life Sciences Cluster Consortium in Salisbury. As you are aware it is planned to deliver a £60 million science park at Porton, which will support the development of life science businesses in the region and create jobs for local people. We have made a bid for £10 million to central government to support this initiative and hope to have more news on this next week.
To help councillors in their new role as community leaders we have been running an excellent induction programme. The programme has included sessions on safeguarding, licensing, development, law and governance, and area boards. I have attended many of the sessions and was pleased to see how well attended they have been by both returning and new councillors. I would urge all councillors to sign up for the workshops running over the next two weeks.
As the cabinet member responsible for communications and reputation management, I attended a workshop yesterday aimed at helping councillors gain a better insight into communications, the use of social media channels, and as local community leaders the importance of managing your reputation. I know the feedback from the session was really positive and some councillors have requested further training on handling communications and managing the media. I will ensure these sessions are organised.
I know many councillors attended a service fair, hosted by the corporate directors in the atrium at County Hall. It was a great opportunity to meet the senior team and gain an understanding of the range of services we deliver. I would like to thank everyone involved in making the fair so informative and lively. The public health team offered the opportunity to have a health check; testing cholesterol and blood pressure. I took the opportunity and thankfully, despite the full council meeting, my blood pressure proved quite healthy!
I am really looking forward to another four years of working with so many committed, hardworking and talented people.
More next week
Jane
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