Friday 28 September 2012

Hello everyone,

It’s been an incredibly busy and uplifting week this week. The first two manager forums were held in Chippenham and Salisbury and both were really well attended.  The forums take a look back at many achievements that we have delivered this year and a look forward at what we will face, and, I’m sure it won’t come as a surprise to hear that there are some challenges ahead. The forums bring a lot of what we are doing to life through the use of some great film footage, which acts as a reminder that whilst we continually work in a challenging and often tough environment, we can, and do, deliver outstanding work that is improving the quality of life for our Wiltshire residents and communities.

Talking of communities, this week I’ve also been continuing my presentations to area boards on the 2012 legacy. The enthusiasm and positive feedback from all those attending reaffirms the need to continue to work with our communities to keep the spirit and momentum that was so palpable this summer alive. All the communities have expressed an interest in keeping the legacy going, so I am looking forward to discussing how we can do this at the first Legacy Steering Board meeting next week.

I’m thrilled that our new customer centre in Snuff Street, Devizes opened this week and I’d like to personally thank all the teams involved in the smooth running of yet another part of the transformation programme.

As you may be aware we are undertaking a huge amount of work to address the concerns raised by Ofsted in relation to safeguarding children.  On Tuesday I interviewed for a new chair of the Local Safeguarding Children Board. The Board’s role in a nutshell is to make sure that all the key agencies work together to keep children safe and promote their welfare. The chair’s role is vital in ensuring that this work is coordinated. Hopefully I’ll be able to update you on the appointment in next week’s blog.

Last night (Thursday) I spoke at the Wessex Chamber of Commerce AGM about Wiltshire’s economy and the many things we are doing to help reinvigorate this in the current climate. I focused on the Wiltshire Apprenticeships Campaign, to help local businesses understand the benefits of apprenticeships; the support we continue to give to improving Trowbridge, Chippenham and Salisbury as part of delivering a vision for these towns and city, as well as the support our economic development team provides for small and local businesses. I also mentioned all the work we do with the newly established Local Enterprise Partnership and the Action for Wiltshire (A4W) programme, which has already supported businesses and communities in the recession with programmes to assist with re-skilling, long term unemployment, loans to businesses, personal debt and help and advice for those experiencing difficulty.

And, finally this morning (Friday) I was asked to be on a panel for a question time style business breakfast where I was put under the spotlight responding to questions from business representatives – more on my experience of this next week...

Look forward to seeing some of you at next week’s forums,

Jane

Friday 21 September 2012

Last night I attended the 2012 Wiltshire and Swindon Sports awards at the Steam Museum in Swindon and was delighted to be asked to speak on behalf of Wiltshire Council. This gave me the opportunity to reflect on the outstanding work of Team Wiltshire this year and the impact of their work. The Team focused on sport, activity, heritage and art and they delivered a wide ranging programme of inspiring events that engaged hundreds of young people and our communities. I made it clear that this year was just the start - now we need to create a lasting legacy that captures the wealth of enthusiasm and that unique community spirit that many of us experienced this year. The evening was hosted by ex-England rugby captain Phil de Glanville and Shelley Rudman was the special guest speaker, which some of you may recall, she was the skeleton bob silver medallist at the 2006 winter Olympic Games. As a local Pewsey girl she spoke with passion about being part of her community and thanked them for their support and encouragement.

It was a really good event that incorporated gymnastic performances and fencing displays as part of the award ceremony.  I was both inspired and overwhelmed at the dedication and self sacrifice made by those shortlisted for the awards, and would like to extend my congratulations to John Bedbrook, Pat Harris, Malcolm Miles, Geoffrey Russell and Ian Wheeler who were the winners of the Outstanding Contribution to Sport in Wiltshire awards.

This year has seen a renewed enthusiasm to take up a sport or activity, especially in many young people, which is just great. We cannot underestimate the affect and impact that the Olympics and the Paralympics Games has had on the whole country and on our county.

It wasn’t just about taking up a sport or being inspired to be more active, and it wasn’t all about winning medals – although we did do really well in Wiltshire with a number of medals won by our local Olympians with Ed McKeever, Heather Stanning, Aaron Moores and Stephanie Millward – it was also about the spirit of the Games and what this spirit did for our local communities.

Our challenge is how we keep this spirit and renewed enthusiasm alive into 2013 and beyond. In my blog last week, I mentioned setting up a Legacy Steering Board to ensure that we do keep the momentum and energy of this year going. The board will have its first meeting soon and I am really looking forward to discussing this further and exploring how we can do this. In the meantime, I am attending most of the area boards to reflect on this summer’s unique events, the impact they had on our county, and to promote and hopefully inspire our local communities to consider what they can do to keep the spirit alive. The feedback, so far, has been encouraging and it is clear that those communities that came together this year want to continue coming together. As I always say a strong community is a thriving community that will do more for themselves.

Which reminds me, yesterday morning I chaired the Action for Wiltshire board which was established to help reinvigorate the local economy and support those affected by the recession. The board has a number of projects and its success has been down to strong partnership working. One of the projects is looking at how we work with local businesses and colleges to create jobs for young people through apprenticeships, graduate schemes or trainee roles.

We also discussed the forthcoming Welfare Reform and how critical it is to raise awareness with those who will be directly affected and to ensure that we can provide the support that will be needed to help these people.

Following this board meeting, I chaired the Military Civil Integration partnership board meeting where we heard about the Army’s new structure, following the announcement of the national defence cuts, and, how this will affect Wiltshire. Given that we are a unique county with the largest military population, which is set to grow with the implementation of a Super Garrison at Tidworth, it is important that we continue to work closely with the Army to assist and support their continued integration in our communities.

Finally, the manager and staff forums start next week. These will take a look back at what we’ve achieved over the last few months and a look forward to what’s coming up; the challenges and opportunities we face. As always, there will be plenty of time to ask questions and to find out more about what’s happening in the council and I am really looking forward to seeing you all.

Jane.

Friday 14 September 2012

Hello everyone,

The last time I spoke to you it was at the end of a fantastic and extremely busy time for Wiltshire. Hopefully, you’ve all recovered from the excitement of this summer; the Olympics and Paralympics, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the events that we delivered here in Wiltshire to celebrate the Torch relay and the Jubilee.  We always said that this year would provide the opportunity to create a legacy and at Cabinet on Monday, we agreed that to keep the momentum of 2012 going, with a key focus on boosting the economy, encouraging healthy lifestyles, working with our local communities and continuing to build on the great relationships that were established this year both within teams here and with our partners. We agreed to establish a Legacy Steering Board. The Board will deliver a programme of events, activities and support to ensure a tangible legacy is delivered for future generations to come in Wiltshire.

Well we’ve now moved into the newly refurbished County Hall and more of you are set to move in throughout autumn. It’s been amazing to see it take shape and I’m sure you’ll agree it’s looking really impressive and definitely has the wow factor. I’m confident that all of you who have the opportunity to work in the new offices will enjoy the new environment – feedback so far has been excellent. It’s a modern office that promotes flexible working and an open and far more communicative environment. I see more of you now and so do my cabinet members and it’s great to catch up and find out what’s happening without having to arrange meetings. It really is a different atmosphere and way of working.

As part of transforming County Hall, we officially opened the brand new Trowbridge library this week. The new library, which is located adjacent to the bright, airy atrium and great cafe, provides thousands of new books, computers for people to use, new DVDs and a fun children’s section. I think it’s a real achievement that not only have we managed to keep all Wiltshire’s libraries open but we’re also opening new state-of-the art libraries, and I would encourage all of you to visit the library and see what it has on offer. Customers visiting this week were so positive and I think it will be a really busy library and my thanks go to the libraries’ team for all their hard work to make this new facility so welcoming and exciting.

I know it’s too early to focus on Christmas, especially as we’ve only just got over a busy summer, but would you believe there’s 15 weeks to go!   The reason I mention Christmas is that as a thank you to all of you, for your continued hard work, particularly throughout this year, when many of you took on other roles to support the events, or to keep services running in the offices, Christmas Eve will be an additional day of annual leave. I thought it would be useful to give you advanced warning, as I know many of you will already be thinking that far ahead already and will be planning  holidays and emergency cover for our front line services.

I still can’t quite believe this summer is over and so are the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Our athletes have made us so proud and it’s great our own Wiltshire-based athletes have excelled. We've had confirmation already that Stephanie Millward, Paralympic five medal winning swimmer from Corsham, will be attending the official opening of County Hall on 1 November, along with Torch bearers who carried the torch through sixteen of our towns this summer. We are really hopeful, and are awaiting confirmation, that three other Olympic/Paralympic athlethes will be coming too. I will keep you all updated on what’s happening as this will be our next milestone in our major programme to transform the council and it will be a big event.

Jane

Friday 13 July 2012

Well what can I say about this week’s wonderful events?

It has been a time of real celebration for our county. The Olympic Torch revisited Wiltshire on Wednesday coming into Ludgershall and was carried through the south of the county arriving to a crowd of over 30,000 at Hudson’s Field in the evening where the 2012 Festival of Celebration was well underway. Yesterday morning at sunrise, I was fortunate enough to see a real moment in history when the world renowned Olympic 400m sprinter Michael Johnson held the Olympic Torch at the iconic Stonehenge monument.

Then there was real excitement and large crowds at Salisbury Cathedral to see Michael start the torch route through Salisbury as it made its way out of our county through Wilton and our beautiful villages of Barford St Martin, Fovant and Ludwell into Dorset.

The atmosphere over the two days was overwhelming as thousands of people in our  local communities gathered to celebrate and welcome the Torch and I felt so proud to be a part of this. It was a once in a lifetime event and we made it both memorable and successful.  I would also like to personally thank all of you who stayed in our offices and delivered excellent services while so many of your colleagues were taken out to work on these events.

The torch went through the county without delay or incident and the weather was amazing! The sun shone for us and so did our hundreds of marshals who were true ambassadors for the council supporting the towns and villages and keeping the spectators safe and ensuring they enjoyed the occasion. I really enjoyed the opportunity to speak to so many of you on the route.

The Festival of Celebration at Hudson’s Field started at 7am with a business breakfast for over 200 guests and ended at 10.30pm with the most spectacular firework display choreographed to music. The day was a huge success and I really cannot express my thanks enough to each and every one of you who had a role in making all of these events so successful.

I am aware many of you worked until very late on Wednesday night and were out on the route by 6am yesterday and I am very appreciative and hope that you will all rest this weekend and take a pride in being part of this extraordinary time and these unique and special events.

My heartfelt thanks,

Jane

Friday 25 May 2012

Hello everyone,

We’ve been waiting for this week for so long and it hasn’t disappointed! On Tuesday and Wednesday the Olympic Torch Relay passed through seven of our communities and it was an incredibly proud moment for us all.

From Southwick to Royal Wootton Bassett our communities shone, and I’d like to thank everyone who worked hard to make sure everything went as smoothly as possible. From the start we knew marshalling the route was always going to be very important as this is such a high-profile event and millions of people across the world were watching as the torchbearers carried the torch through our county. I’d like to thank our extremely professional staff and volunteers who cleaned our towns, managed the parking issues, marshalled the route and supported the towns and schools to deliver the most incredible and memorable event.

I was delighted to be invited to be part of the lunchtime stop at Clarendon College in Trowbridge on Tuesday. So many young people will have great memories of playing a major part in the Olympic Torch Relay.

I still can’t quite believe the thousands of people who lined the streets to support the torch and were part of showcasing their towns. The weather this week has been beautiful and our towns and communities looked fantastic and each of them had an atmosphere I shall never forget.

We now know what to expect when the torch returns to our county on July 11 and 12.  It’ll be more of the same as communities really embrace the spirit and show quite literally the world just what a great county Wiltshire is and we have another major event with the 2012 Festival of Celebration in Hudson’s Field on July 11 to celebrate the torch’s overnight stay in Salisbury. This will be a fun-packed summer event for the whole family. More acts have been finalised and Bjorn Again is the headline act. If you’ve been watching the Torch Relay evening events you will be aware of the big crowds turning out to watch the LOCOG concerts. We have estimated around 20,000 people and seeing the reaction to the Torch we think this will be about right. We will need a lot of support from many of you for these two days as we want this event and the Torch relay route to be another huge success for Wiltshire.

Even though July 11 and 12 seems a long way off the time will go very quickly and there is still a huge amount of work and planning that needs to be done.  I hope all of you that have been involved in working the events this year have found the experience enjoyable and a good opportunity to work with colleagues in a different environment.

I visited almost all of the towns on the route and had the biggest sense of pride. I was quite choked at how County Hall looked with hundreds of children picnicking and enjoying the entertainment on the lawn. It was great to see the building and grounds being used for the public – that’s how it should be.

I for one am so excited to welcome the Torch back in July and I look forward to seeing many of you as you help to keep our towns safe whilst everyone enjoys this once in a lifetime event.

Jane

Friday 4 May 2012

It’s been a busy but hugely exciting time since I last managed to sit down and write my last blog.

2012 – A Year of Celebration is in full swing and started in style with the fantastic Diamond Jubilee Celebration Event in Salisbury on Tuesday.

The day was a great success. It brought all the community areas together. I was incredibly proud that Her Royal Highness the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited eight of the medieval-style tents each showcasing one of our community areas. They both saw just how interesting our county is as they viewed everything from Pewsey’s Wiltshire-horned sheep to Westbury’s prehistoric sea reptile fossil!

We were overwhelmed by the number of staff who wanted to be part of this historic day and helped to make it run as smoothly as possible. I have to say a huge thank you to all of you who braved the elements and were there on the day. It’s a testament to the great job you all did that as I walked around Cathedral Close I saw so many happy, smiley and contented people in the crowds.  It was a long day but all the hard work from everyone involved was really appreciated.

It may have been torrential rain in the morning but as soon as the Queen arrived at Salisbury Train Station the sun came out and families from across the county attended and enjoyed everything from battle re-enactments to Morris dancing. It really was a very special occasion and one I, and I know thousands of others, will never forget.

This year is all about making memories and creating a legacy and this happened when Wiltshire communities came together to celebrate and showcase what they do so well. The event received huge media coverage and really put us in the spotlight.

There will be plenty more happening soon, as no doubt you are aware the Olympic Torch comes to Wiltshire in a little over two weeks and we have our festival of celebration taking place in Salisbury on July 11. There is so much still to plan and lots to look forward to.

We’re extremely privileged as the Olympic Torch is coming in and out of our county for two legs of its relay around the country. This will be another opportunity for us as a council to really showcase Wiltshire and all the great things it has to offer.

This week we were able to confirm Wretch 32 as LOCOG’s main headline act at the 2012 Festival of Celebration in Hudson’s Field. Now I can’t say I’m overly familiar with his music but I know a lot of people are really pleased he’ll be there.  You never know, after hearing his performance, I may be first in line to buy his new album! Already confirmed to perform at the festival are the Shine 4 Wiltshire winners the Salisbury Plain Military Wives Choir and the bands These Days and City Stereo. We’ll be confirming lots more exciting acts soon so please keep checking the festival website www.wiltshire.gov.uk/festivalofcelebration

Finally I’d like to say thank you for all of your hard work during this busy and important time for the county and I look forward to updating you again very soon.

Jane

Thursday 5 April

I am very aware that I have not blogged for a while and can only apologise and put it down to finding the space to reflect on what’s been happening and translate this into something readable and hopefully interesting and informative!

I can’t believe that in less than four weeks the Diamond Jubilee event in Salisbury will take place. Block out your diary on 1 May as we know following a recent meeting with all the communities across Wiltshire that this is going to be an event to remember. We invited all the community areas to update on their plans for exhibiting at this event and how they will promote what makes them unique and special. I have to say I was overwhelmed by their response. People are brimming with ideas about how to showcase their communities at the medieval themed event in Cathedral Close which will be packed with jousting tents, entertainment and activities.

A senior member or members of the royal family will also be attending the event and I am just so proud that they will get the chance to see what makes Wiltshire so very special.

This year is a real opportunity to showcase everything our city, towns and villages have to offer, promoting businesses and showing visitors just how great this county is – I can’t thank everyone enough for seizing this opportunity with enthusiasm and creativity.

The Diamond Jubilee event and the Olympic Torch Relay Route, which will be travelling through the county in May and July, means we will be in the spotlight this year. The torch route has been announced along with the list of torch bearers and the towns are planning how they will bring the route to life.

And the Festival of Celebration at Hudson’s Field in Salisbury on July 11 will be the culmination of the torch route. I’m sure many of you will be aware that the Salisbury Military Wives won the Shine 4 Wiltshire competition and will perform alongside LOCOG’s act as part of the entertainment programme. We will be announcing all the full line up of acts soon and it promises to be a great event for Wiltshire.

To make sure all the events are a success, we need support with marshalling and other key roles. I understand that the corporate leadership team has asked all the service directors to nominate 8 or more staff to be involved in the events. This will be a great opportunity to work alongside people you don’t normally get the opportunity to work with and to build some lasting relationships. I know you will enjoy the experience and your help is most definitely needed and vital to making this year a success!

Without a doubt the next four months are going to be very busy and exciting but we need to all recognise the impact these events will have on the economy. In these tough times we all need to use every available opportunity, and what better way than making sure the millions of people from across the world who will be tuning in to watch the Olympic torch route and the royal visits can see for themselves just how beautiful and vibrant our communities are.

Speaking of the economy ...we have had some good news; we found out we were successful in a bid for up to £4m funding to help create and support up to 450 new businesses in Wiltshire and Swindon. It was announced as part of the government’s budget. Swindon and Wiltshire Local Economic Partnership will be part of a pilot to support local people to start up new businesses, with a focus on military personnel and their spouses – we are very proud of our close ties with the military and this scheme is great news.

This just goes to show there are all sorts of innovative ways in which we can boost our economy; from securing multi-million pound grants to showcasing communities as the Olympic Torch followed by the world’s media visits.

I would like to talk a bit about our services and the steps we take to continually improve. We are a listening council.  We talk to a lot of people, organisations and businesses in so many different ways and we act on what is said. Last month Ofsted inspected our safeguarding and looked after children services. Councils don’t often talk about inspections before reports are published but I want too. These inspections are tough but absolutely necessary and we are determined to learn from this. We are awaiting the official report which will highlight areas where we need to make improvements, as well as parts of the service that we are doing well. We are already taking action to make improvements.

And...the campus programme, which will totally transform how services are provided in local communities, took another step forward when the planning application for the new Corsham Campus was submitted. This is a radical programme which will see key services brought together reducing our need for out dated and inefficient buildings. This will save taxpayers millions as well as improving services. The programme is about finding out what communities want and need and then supporting them in delivering it. Each campus will be as individual as the community it serves – we are listening to local people and empowering them.

More soon....I promise...

In the meantime, have a good Easter break everyone!

Jane.