A recent
trip to London, reminded me of the importance of democracy and how tough
choices need to be made if we are to live in a healthy society. My trip to the
capital was to see the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta, which are placed
together in the British Library – our “own” copy, the one which normally
resides at Salisbury Cathedral, was by far the most splendidly intact.
To see these
four relics, in this the 800th year since Magna Carta was written, really
brought home its significance and made me feel rather proud of our national
record when it comes to living in a democratic society. Magna Carta marked a
watershed for ordinary British subjects and ultimately it sparked our
parliamentary democracy and rule of law, but maybe most importantly, it also
stands out as the first time the people of this nation had their voices heard.
Our voice
has been heard ever since, and that’s just as important today as it was 800
years ago.
As you will
know I am proud to promote openness and transparency and local views are both
helpful and influential in helping the council to make the tough choices. Over
the last few weeks we held a series of public meetings to discuss the
challenges we face and to set out our budget proposals, ahead of them being
discussed and approved by full council on 24 February. More
than 250 people attended these meetings to hear how we plan to save £30 million
over the next year, and it was an opportunity to hear people’s views and to
answer their questions.
Let me be clear – we weren’t just there to be seen to be listening. We
were genuinely listening, and I was impressed with what we heard. Yes, of
course there was criticism of the council – we all know you can’t please all of
the people all of the time – but there was also truly constructive community
energy; a sense that we’re all in this together and people were aware of the
financial challenges that we have to address. The majority of people seem to
understand the difficult financial situation we’re in. As I explained in my
last blog, Wiltshire Council currently spends around £900 million each year on
more than 350 services. Changing demographics, such as people living longer
coupled with inflation and further severe cuts in funding from central government
means we have to find more savings.
The Budget
presentation and details
of the Budget Q&A are available online for those
who couldn’t make it to one of the events, but may be interested in finding out
more.
We have identified more
than 100 areas where savings can be made and we want to do what’s best for the people of Wiltshire,
and we recognise that to suggest an increase on council tax – whilst acceptable
to some – would put huge pressure on many households.
One of the
criticisms raised at the meetings is our proposal to charge for garden
waste. We have
resisted bringing in a charge until now, despite many other authorities having gone
down this route. It is
unfortunate that we need to propose charging for this service; particularly
after we asked people about changes to garden waste collections last year, and
charging was not their preferred option. The reality is that we now know the
budget situation is more challenging than when we carried out the consultation.
I have publically apologised to everyone
who took the time to respond to the consultation and I’m genuinely sorry that the
preferred option – to only collect in the summer months - is no longer viable.
But it’s not
all been doom and gloom - a Growth Deal package of Government money of £11.5m has been
unveiled for Wiltshire - which will fund improvements to the busy Yarnbrook
junction near Trowbridge and encourage innovative start-up businesses as part
of the Digital Corsham project. This funding is in addition to the £129.3
million committed by the Government on 7 July 2014.
Over the lifetime of this new deal (2016-2021) the Local
Enterprise Partnership estimates that up to 2,500 new jobs could be created and
2,100 new homes built. The new commitments in this deal also have the
potential to generate up to £80 million public and private investment.
So looking
on the bright side – those “green shoots” that television reporters like to
talk about - are pushing through in our county.
This takes
me back to the thoughts that I had when I stood before those extraordinary
800-year-old documents in the British Library. Confronting a medieval king and
demanding greater rights can’t have been easy for the barons in 1215. But having
a voice and speaking out, particularly at times when tough choices need to be made can result in our proudest moments.
You can find
out more about Magna Carta 800-themed events here in Wiltshire at www.visitwiltshire.co.uk or explore the subject further by downloading a copy of the Magna Carta 800 trails leaflet
