An exciting year of challenges

Welcome back and Happy New Year!

There comes a time – maybe it has already passed - when is it too late to say and wish people a happy new year? But as this is my first blog for 2015, I don’t want to miss the opportunity to say it, as I firmly believe that this year is going to be an exciting and interesting one.

Sometimes it’s easy to feel a little deflated in January – the festive decorations are being taken down, all the twinkly lights that so brightened up the long winter days have been switched off, and Christmas trees, stripped of their baubles, are being taken away by our recycling teams.

But, on the positive side, it’s also a time to start afresh and focus on the year ahead and what it will bring. There is no doubt that there will be plenty to keep us all busy this year and we have a lot to do. In amongst the challenges we face there will be some big events happening – from the county marking its link to the Magna Carta as part of the 800^th anniversary of its origination - to the general election and what the results may mean for the council.

For the next few weeks though my key focus is on the financial challenges we continue to face as a local authority and in this context setting a budget for the council for 2015/16. Our grant from central government continues to reduce – we now know that next year (2015/16) our grant will be cut by a further £15 million. This reduction, combined with rising inflation costs and service pressures, means that we need to find around £30 million of savings.

Last year we successfully delivered savings of more than £25 million. We did this by reviewing all our services, reducing the number of senior managers, delivering services more efficiently and by sharing resources with our key partners; and, in the last four years we have saved over £125 million.

We have always tried to protect our key front line services; particularly those that help the most vulnerable in our communities. But this challenge gets tougher each year as we have to look at the 354 services we provide and the changing demands for these services. We all know that the number of older people is increasing in the county and that this will place pressure on services both for the council and the health service. Reducing services and saving money is not an easy task and the choices and final decisions that we will have to make, will be tough.

It’s down to all of us to look at how we can make these savings and be as innovative as possible in our approach. We remain committed to protecting those who are most vulnerable, as well as continuing to take action to boost the local economy and to work with local communities to help them get even stronger and more able to do more for themselves. In my view the more that communities can do to reduce the pressure on public services the more we can allocate resources where they are most needed.

I firmly believe the challenges we face and the reality of the situation is a discussion that we need to have with the wider Wiltshire public – after all, the decisions that we make will impact on local people and the services we provide to them. That’s why we’re organising a series of public meetings to discuss the challenges we face. These meetings, scheduled around the county, will start later this month ahead of the budget being agreed at full council in February. We want to hear everyone’s views and suggestions for tackling these challenges.

Of course finding efficiencies – a bit like the New Year – offers a fresh approach, a rethink and positive challenge to how and why we do what we do. We’ve got a track record of being innovative – some would say radical – in our approach to delivering change and challenging what we do – just look at our transformation programme; it’s changed how we work, where we work and who we work with by rationalising the office buildings and creating three hubs. 

Our community campus programme is consolidating community assets to provide fit-for-purpose, efficient premises, with the services that a local area needs in accessible locations.

We are being forced to be even more radical and I say bring it on! Gone are the days of doing what we’ve always done and being insular in what we do. Good local services will continue to be delivered but only if we continue to transform and evolve and do things differently and work with others to achieve this.

2015 promises to be an exciting year that will undoubtedly challenge us all and keep us on our toes, and I know that this organisation has talented people who respond well and make what appears the impossible – possible!

Thank you so much for everything you do…

Jane