At last the Easter break...

I don’t know about you but the weeks just seem to fly by and I can’t believe we are almost into May!

 

My apologies for not writing before now, but between council commitments and being chief midwife for my heavily pregnant ewes, I’ve had little space to take a pause and put pen to blog.

 

Spring is always a positive time in the annual calendar – it’s a time to embrace new challenges, to spring clean and to look forward to warmer, sunnier and longer days ahead. It’s also a time to make pledges and to do something that makes a difference either to yourself or others. I know lots of you have already made a Big Pledge, along with hundreds of other people in communities across Wiltshire, to get more active, lose weight, run a marathon, raise money for charity and to give your time to help others. These are just a few of the great things that people have committed to do. It's always good to have a prompt to do more and to be motivated to take up a challenge. It is always inspiring to see the targets set and sacrifices and time that people are prepared to make for the good of others.

 

This got me thinking…. I should also do something that will make a difference and hopefully motivate and inspire people to get involved. I have therefore decided to have a leaders charity, and will be supporting Hope for Tomorrow, which provides mobile cancer therapy units that can travel to rural locations. This means that people suffering from cancer can avoid the long and often painful trip for regular cancer treatment at their nearest hospital. One of the Hope for Tomorrow cancer therapy units was at County Hall recently – for the launch of the health and Wellbeing Strategy – and it inspired me to want to do more so that other units can be purchased to support those in need across Wiltshire.

 

My first fundraising event will be a quiz and curry night, which I am aiming to host in the atrium in June – so watch this space for the date and details as I hope many of you will take part! I am also delighted that one of our corporate pledges is to start a choir and I am hoping this will be up and running in time for the launch of my leaders charity and for the quiz evening – a bit of live music always lifts the spirits. Another pledge – by several of you, but I hasten to add, definitely not me – is to take part in the rides as part of the Cycle Wiltshire event on Saturday, 3 May. Staff and other keen cyclists will be cycling 20, 60 or 100 miles around the beautiful countryside in the Salisbury area, and I will look forward to welcoming them all back at the Five Rivers Leisure Centre for a well-earned lunch. If you haven’t signed up and would like to cycle one of these distances, it’s not too late as you can sign up right up to the day.

 

And, finally, I know I need to challenge myself more, and I have decided to take up the Wiltshire Challenge, which has just launched, and try to walk a lot more and clock the 10,000 steps each day. I promise to try and not lose the pedometer in the washing machine as I did last year and will keep you updated of my progress!

 

Whatever you decide to do this spring - I’m sure it will make a difference and if you haven’t decided a pledge - maybe the pledges made by others will provide you with some inspiration.

 

I’m lambing all this Easter weekend, and will be thinking of all of you having a well-earned break and my thoughts will also be with those of you on call providing the essential services needed by our communities. Thank you for all you do.

 

More soon, I promise – or, should I say, I pledge!

 

Jane.

 

PS I’m looking forward to seeing you all at the staff forums in May!

Building on success

Isn’t it great when a plan comes together and the outcome makes a positive and tangible difference? Last night the seed of an idea that started almost a year ago, saw 220 business representatives raise £30,000 when they came together to help support the next generation of Wiltshire sports stars at our first Business and Sporting Gala Dinner.

We had always intended to build on the success of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the impact that special year had on our county and our local communities. It was the year we shared in the journey of our Wiltshire athletes and felt such pride when they won their gold, silver and bronze medals. We couldn’t help but be inspired by their immense dedication and outstanding achievement.

We also recognised that this year had a huge impact on the local economy when more than half the population of Wiltshire took part in local events. We knew we had to continue to boost the local economy and support local businesses and we have done this by hosting a range of networking events to encourage and support new connections and opportunities. But last night was about connecting businesses with Wiltshire’s rising sports stars for mutual benefit and it was a new idea that we hadn’t previously tested.

Our future Olympians and Paralympians need support and even the smallest amount of funding can make a huge difference in supporting their journey to success. We wanted to host an event that would encourage new connections between businesses and rising sports stars and we wanted to raise funds to establish a foundation trust to support those athletes who will represent Wiltshire in national and international competitions in the future.

Whilst we have supported rising sports stars since 2011 through our Future Funding scheme, the amount we contribute is a modest £5,000 each year and although this has helped to support five athletes each year we knew that with the support of local businesses we could do so much more.
The benefits for a local business if they support a future Olympian or Paralympian are huge. I don’t just mean the publicity and raising awareness of their name and product – it’s also about their demonstrable commitment to the local community as well as the excitement of being associated with a rising sporting star and following their journey to success; you only have to look at the recent publicity that Walter Rose butchers in Devizes received as a result of their support for the British bob sleigh team to know that this formula works and is mutually beneficial.

And last night the first ever Wiltshire Business and Sports dinner was held and the businesses through their sponsorship, attendance and generosity made it a great night. This combined with Phil de Glanville (former England Rugby Team Captain) as the MC for the night and Mark Colbourne (Gold medal Paralympian Cyclist) – who I have to say is one of the most inspirational speakers that I have ever listened to – and the attendance of many aspiring and elite local athletes made it a night that I will personally remember for some time to come.

A good plan doesn’t just happen - it’s about believing in an idea, seizing the opportunity, being prepared to take a risk and connecting others to make it happen. And when it works and it delivers the outcomes you intended – it really does feel good!

Now on to the next idea….
Jane

Today we set the budget at Full Council

Today, we set the budget at full council and whilst difficult decisions had to be made, the meeting was extremely constructive and I was really pleased that the majority of members agreed to the overall budget and to an amendment put forward by Jon Hubbard. The amendment, to reduce the amount spent on member’s council paper copies of agendas, reports and minutes, as well as their training budget, would allow £250,000 to be allocated to supplement the proposed cut of £0.5 million* in youth services. This means the overall reduction to the youth services budget is £250,000*. Future youth service provision is currently out for consultation so that we can find out what young people want in their local community.


Unlike many other local authorities, I was able to announce where we will be investing in services both next year and in the future and I did set out what we have achieved since this time last year.

We have a good track record of success and delivery and I am looking forward to the challenges and opportunities that we will face this year.

A full copy of my budget speech is below.

Leader’s speech – Budget – 25 February 2014

Last year, two months after the local elections, we published our business plan that set out our focus and what we planned to deliver in the next four years.

Our vision; to create stronger and more resilient communities – agreed when we became a unitary council in 2009 – remains at the heart of everything we do.

We will continue to prioritise those who are most vulnerable and we will do all we can to continue to boost the local economy, and working with local people and organisations we will encourage and support our communities to do even more for themselves.

I am confident that next year’s budget for 2014/15 will help us to deliver this vision and our key priorities.

Since publishing the business plan, we have not stood still – the pace of change, I believe, reflects Wiltshire Council as a dynamic organisation that is transforming how it works and how it gets things done.

Working with others – our key partners, businesses and local communities – we have made good headway to deliver the twelve actions that we set out in the plan. By working together we are becoming more efficient and the services we provide to the people of Wiltshire are continuing to improve.

We know that we have to continue to work differently as the situation gets tougher and there are no signs of improvement in the funding for local public services for at least the next four years.

Difficult decisions will need to be made as funding continues to reduce and the pressure for our services continues to increase - particularly for vulnerable adults and children.

We realise that there are few easy options available; but, by working together with communities and partners we can make better use of our resources and save money to lessen the impact on vital front line services.

Last year we saw huge changes in the National Health Service, including public health being integrated into the council and the establishment of the Health and Wellbeing Board. The role of the board is to look at how healthy Wiltshire’s population is, and how - by working together – we can provide the best services for health and social care. Although we are already one of the healthiest counties in the country – we still face a number of challenges and we cannot be complacent. The average life expectancy in Wiltshire is well above the national average, for the first time since records began, men in Wiltshire can now expect to live to an average of 80 years. This ageing population has needs and conditions that are associated with older people, such as dementia. We need to work together with our local communities and health providers to make sure that we can deliver the level of support that they will need.

We also want to increase the focus on prevention so we can tackle and prevent ill health for everyone. By focusing on prevention we can encourage people to be more active and healthy. We will also look at how we support people’s independence and how we can help people stay in their homes and local community for longer, which we know is their preferred option. And, we will continue to keep people safe from avoidable harm; protecting and safeguarding those who are most vulnerable. The government recently mandated all health and wellbeing boards to submit a Better Care Plan. The plan has to set out the vision for how we integrate health and social care services work and deliver better and more local services in our communities and will be aligned to the allocation of funding.

The funding is not new money - it is money previously used for the provision of health and social care. It will be allocated based on the plans and the actions that demonstrate how we will drive change and provide a different approach to care provision. Currently, around £800 million is spent on health and social care in Wiltshire. The Better Care fund could provide up to £27 million for the county for the integration of health and social care services. Working with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) we will need to invest additional resources in 2014/15 so that we can deliver our vision to provide care as close to home as possible – with home always as the first option.

It is vital that we protect social care services and that we are able to support people who are discharged from hospital and provide the services that are needed in their communities. These services will be 24/7 and there is a need to establish a single approach to sharing information between professionals in health and social care to ensure there is one single assessment and a lead professional in each individual case. We will hear the minister’s views on our better care plan in the spring.

Working differently with our partners has been on the agenda ever since the cuts in funding from central government impacted on the public sector. We know we have to look at how we can share resources and adopt a more innovative approach to delivering vital services. Last year we made a lot of progress.

As I’m sure you are aware we now share our Monkton Park offices with Wiltshire police and these offices are being modernised to reflect our joint needs and provide additional space for other council services.

We have also delivered a Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub – or MASH – as some of you may be more familiar with that term – here, in County Hall, that is housing all public sector agencies to address key safeguarding issues and to allow speedy access and sharing of key information that is needed to protect those who most need our help.

The newly refurbished County Hall has created a vibrant, busy and active community space and a state-of-the-art library that attracts all ages and a wide-range of events. It also provides a modern fit-for-purpose working environment for our staff and members.

Our transformation programme continues to streamline and make better use of the buildings we inherited when we became a unitary council in 2009. We are on target to reduce from 95 office buildings to 3 main hub offices, and we will sell assets worth £75 million in the next two years. We have already sold 12 buildings and surrendered leases on 18 others.

Currently, we have 16 buildings on the market and 27 more buildings will be released for sale when the three main hubs are complete. This not only means we are delivering savings of £5 million each year on running costs, but it has also provided us with the opportunity to do things differently in the way we work and how we do business.

Our hub environments should not be underestimated; the recent peer review said we were radical, transformational and a modern organisation that was setting a benchmark for others.

Last year we continued to work with our local communities; particularly looking at the delivery of local services and assessing what they want, in the location they say works best for them, and how they will get involved in the provision of these services.

The first campus will open in Corsham this summer and will be a focus for the local community providing public and voluntary services and space for a wide-range of activities and local events.

Development is also underway for campuses in Salisbury and Melksham which plan to open next year. Other campuses across the county are at various stages of development or public consultation but as you are aware the plan is to have a campus, if the community wants one, in every community area. Our county will continue to change and develop over the next four years.

The Army Rebasing programme announced in March last year will see more than 4,000 army personnel and their families relocate to this county over the next five years. Working with the MoD we are ensuring these moves are as smooth and successful as possible and that we have the right level of services and infrastructure in place. Consultation and awareness is vital, particularly within the local communities directly affected by the rebasing plans. The consultation process on the master plan started last week.

Working with these communities, we will maximise the economic opportunities the rebasing plans will bring. We are proud of our military links and the fact that this county will be home to largest Army base in the country and that already 12 per cent of our population is made up of service veterans.

For those who choose to leave the armed forces and remain in this county - we welcome them and we will support them as they make the transition into civilian life and suitable occupations. Their skills should not be underestimated and the training, work ethic and leadership abilities that they have make them a real asset to our communities.

Following Lord Heseltine’s review on local economic growth two years ago, the government asked all Local Enterprise Partnerships - or LEP - to develop a five year Strategic Economic Plan detailing how we will grow our local economies between now and 2020.

This plan will be used to allocate Swindon and Wiltshire’s share of the government’s Single Local Growth Fund, which is a new £2 billion annual funding stream. The amount awarded to each LEP will be based on the strength of its plan. We are currently working to ensure that our plan is innovative, ambitious and competitive and robust enough to secure funding. Job creation and achieving sustainable and appropriate growth within our county is at the heart of the draft Wiltshire Core Strategy – which outlines where growth could take place in Wiltshire by 2026.

The strategy, which has been shaped through local public consultation, is currently with a government inspector. Whilst other local authorities have had their core strategies dismissed, we have only been asked to provide more information around increasing our housing figures, as part of the government's growth agenda. Providing this information is another step in this important and extremely complex process.

As I mentioned earlier, the pace of delivery is both fast and dynamic reflecting national and local demands and the need for change.

Last September we invited a peer review team to assess how we were doing and to receive feedback on our focus for Wiltshire. I’m a great believer that it’s always a good thing for others to assess how you are doing and where you can do things better.

The reviewers, made up of a senior team including a chief executive, leader and the LGA, spent a week researching, enquiring and watching what we do and there overall view was that ‘Wiltshire Council is in a good place and it is going in the right direction’.

In proposing next year’s budget we have once again had to manage considerable challenges. Like all local authorities, we continue to face financial pressures with our funding from central government reducing, and the demands for services increasing; including those services that have been essential during the recent adverse weather.

I would like to take this opportunity to recognise and thank our local communities and staff - not just from the council, but our partners too - who have worked tirelessly to try and combat the impact of the recent extreme rainfall.

I would like to acknowledge the support that has been provided to local communities following the damaging flooding that has occurred. I know it's been a difficult few months and I have visited many parts of Wiltshire that have been affected including Aldbourne where I witnessed the effects first hand. There's no doubt that the impact of the relentless rain has been hard for many people.

In the last four years we have saved more than £90 million and we know that becoming a unitary council helped us to achieve this. Looking ahead, the next four years will undoubtedly continue to be challenging and we will need to find £120 million if we are to continue to deliver our key priorities.

Funding from central government will be cut by £9.5 million next year and we know that the demand on services plus inflation costs is more than £16 million. This meant we had to make some tough choices before proposing any investments as we needed to find £25.5 million. We have to continually look at how services can best be provided for the future.

An example of where we need to review how we do things differently is our current youth activities provision across Wiltshire.

We know that only a minority of young people currently use the youth services that we provide. Their preference is often to use facilities and activities provided by the community, voluntary and private sectors.

By asking young people what activities and facilities they would like in their local communities we can look at future provision. The needs of young people today are very different from the provision we put in place ten years ago.

We want more young people to access services and we welcome their views on the four options for future provision. We currently spend more than £3.4 million on youth services and we are proposing to save £500,000. This means that we will still be spending £2.9 million on youth services and we will not, like many other local authorities be stopping this provision.

Consultation is currently underway and if the option to deliver community led youth services is seen as the most appropriate, we will look at devolving funding and decisions for youth activities and service provision locally through our area boards. Many boards already deliver an exemplary youth service facilitating and supporting a huge range of activities and initiatives to engage young people.

Over the next few years we will inevitably have to make more tough choices if we are to deliver our priorities. This year we are proposing to continue to invest in essential frontline services, and as such we plan to spend an additional £18 million in priority areas as set out in our business plan. Feedback from more than 6,000 residents in our What Matters to You survey and focus groups showed people want more spent on roads, older people and adult social care, and affordable housing – and we are putting significant investment into all three of these areas.

We will continue to maintain our roads and pavements and we will invest an additional £52 million over the next six years which means we will spend a total of £21 million a year to improve the 2,765 miles of road in Wiltshire that we are responsible for. We have already begun working with communities through the area boards to identify those stretches of roads and pavements that they consider to be a local priority.

Wiltshire’s growing population of elderly and vulnerable adults means there is a corresponding growing demand for social care – but also a changing pattern of care. We are committed to providing care for our elderly and vulnerable people within their own homes wherever possible, helping them to continue to lead safe and better quality lives in surroundings where they feel most comfortable. To support that, we are investing a further £3.6 million in our adult frontline care.

To meet the demand in the number of children needing our care we will invest more than £5 million to accommodate this growing need. We will also continue to provide the essential short breaks scheme for children with disabilities and their families.

This is a nationally recognised scheme which is held in high regard by local parents and children. We intend to maintain our investment of £1 million, reflecting our priority to support those who are most vulnerable in our local communities.

Over the next four years, we will invest £44.9 million in modernising our council housing, plus a further £2 million a year will help towards the provision of much needed affordable housing. £16 million pounds of investment is already starting to improve broadband speeds across Wiltshire. As I mentioned before, the first campus will open this summer in Corsham, plus a further six are due for completion by end of 2016 – this equates to an investment of £54.5million over the next 4 years.

In recognition of the current economic climate and the impact that this continues to have on so many households, I am proposing that for the fourth year in a row we will not be increasing the council tax. This means that the average household has saved around £382.00 and that as one of the largest councils in the country we are pleased to be able to keep council tax level as low as possible by working differently and innovatively to deliver our vital front line services.

I mentioned earlier the impact of the adverse weather that has blighted the county since before Christmas. I am proposing a re-alignment of £0.5 million each year for the next four years from the highways capital budget into flood prevention and protection reflecting the need to support and work with those local communities that have been most affected.

This means that £1 million will be allocated to help protect these communities which is in addition to any government announcement and funding streams allocated for flooding.

I am also proposing that the council approves a transfer of £0.6 million from its transformation reserve to fund work on developing a single shared information system for Wiltshire with our partners in health. This funding forms part of the Better Care Plan submission to central government and Wiltshire's Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) will allocate with £0.5 million.

The new system will be used to drive out inefficiencies and improve preventative work with the delivery of a more responsive service that will meet the needs of local residents; particularly those who are most vulnerable, by asking questions just once – it is well known that people find it incredibly frustrating; particularly when they are unwell, to have to repeat again and again the same information. I would like to say a special thank you to the finance team, for the production of this year’s budget and all the supporting papers.

I would also like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to the three corporate directors and my cabinet for all their hard work last year and for their support in delivering a robust budget that builds on our innovative approach and our track record of success. It will help us to achieve the vision and continue to deliver our key priorities and make Wiltshire a better place to live and work in and visit.

 Jane

*medium term financial plan

*Figure is not inclusive of 2014/15 staff pay award

Friday 17 January 2014

What a start to 2014 - will it ever stop raining!

It may be one of the mildest winters we have had in many years and undoubtedly, it must also be one of the wettest! My thoughts are with those individuals, families and communities that have been affected by flooding and my thanks go to all our partners who have worked with the council to do everything possible to provide support, advice and to keep the roads as clear as possible; particularly in communities affected. As is always the case when Wiltshire faces extreme conditions or an incident communities come together and demonstrate both neighbourly support and their ability to cope and take action. I’ve always believed that Wiltshire has strength in its communities and building on this will help us to be more resilient and able to manage the challenges we face in the future; and there are a few of these…

Let’s start with looking at our growing aging population and their needs and expectations and how we manage this into the future. The government is asking local Health and Wellbeing Boards to take the lead in integration health and social care services. We all know that this makes good sense and that by working together we can provide a better service and one which is centred around the needs of an individual and is provided as near as possible to their home and in their local community. But, to be fully integrated, we will need to work differently and whilst that’s always a challenge - it’s also an opportunity - and the health and wellbeing board is keen to grasp this opportunity and look at what can be done to improve the care provided in our communities and particularly for our growing older population. Just this week we have heard from more than 100 key stakeholders, organisations and agencies on ideas and actions for how we can work differently, and together, to deliver better services and outcomes. All their feedback, combined with a financial plan, will form a Better Care Plan that will be submitted to central government in February. Our plan will be reviewed, and if supported, could result in funding allocation to help us deliver improved services that benefit everyone who needs them.

We all know that working together and sharing goals and actions leads to greater success and our local communities demonstrate this so often. Since returning from the festive break, we have been attending the area board meetings to update on a legacy for Wiltshire and what’s been happening since 2012 when a wave of positive change swept over the county and brought people together to celebrate and enjoy what’s so good about where they live. The challenge was to keep that enhanced community spirit alive and to encourage more people to come together to share interests or host events and to build on the unique cohesion that was prompted by the events of 2012. I have to say that I have been overwhelmed by the scale of activity and the enthusiasm of local communities to participate and deliver projects, activities and events that are helping to build a legacy; from the highly successful PHEW! Scheme in Malmesbury that’s getting more people active and healthy; to the Bradford in Business and Made in Bradford on Avon which is helping to boost the local economy; to the funding support in Pewsey for researching the fallen soldiers from WW1 so that they can be appropriately commemorated this year. There is so such happening and we hope that this year’s programme of events will help this momentum to continue and grow. This year we are focusing on events to support the local economy and I am delighted that the business and sports dinner (scheduled for 13 March) which will bring together local businesses and our future sporting stars in Wiltshire to support a foundation fund to assist them with their training, equipment and costs on their journey to the next Olympics and Paralympics, is almost sold out; a few tables remain and already we know that we should raise at least £20,000 to start the foundation and provide the support and encouragement that we know they need. Just shows that a shared goal and working together delivers results! This year we want to encourage and support all our local communities to do even more together and The Big Pledge, Cycle Wiltshire and the commemorations of WW1 all present an opportunity to do more to improve our sense of belonging and general wellbeing. I will talk more about these key events in future blogs as they will all have an impact on Wiltshire this year.

In the meantime, we’re not even three weeks into January and yet so much is happening - I think Malmesbury area have it right with their PHEW! scheme!

There really is so much to update on - more next week on cabinet decisions and working with communities. Hope the rain stops and that the county starts to dry out,


Jane

Happy Christmas and thank you

Christmas has arrived!

Christmas has arrived! Across Wiltshire carol services have been taking place and it was wonderful to see so many staff at the hubs and with the community in the atrium at County Hall participating in the service this week. On Tuesday, the county’s civic carols by candlelight service was held at Malmesbury Abbey and it was the first time that Swindon Council and all our public sector partners joined together to celebrate Christmas. The evening was truly magical with the police band playing all the well-known carols and Christmas songs and the choirs of the Abbey and local Malmesbury primary school that sang their version of Walking in a Winter Wonderland and Hallelujah. Everyone enjoyed the event and it was both uplifting and a short quality space for some reflecting in the midst of busy diaries!

Yesterday (Thursday) Christmas came to the atrium as hundreds of people visited the annual Christmas Fayre. Over 40 businesses took part selling gifts and produce; these Wealth of Wiltshire Fayres are proving to be more and more popular with the demand for stalls far outweighing the space available. As you all know, I’m a great advocate of promoting the local economy and its always good to see small local businesses have the opportunity to market and sell their products. The Fayre was lively and a great event with local choirs and live reindeer and lots of activities for the younger visitors in the library. The atrium is such a good community space and it’s at its best on days like yesterday. I always had this vision that council buildings should be open to the community for everyone to enjoy and use and it is so good to see this vision become a reality.

It seems a long time since we became a unitary council and it was interesting to reflect on our journey at a round table discussion at the RSA (Royal Society for the Arts) in London with the Rt. Hon Lord Heseltine CH this week. The attendees included other local authorities, the Local Government Association, central government departments and leading policy researchers and developers. The focus was how local government can be reshaped to deliver economies of scale and promote growth and opportunities. Wiltshire was upheld as an example of delivering savings and improved services whilst working closely with local communities to enable and support them to do more for themselves. It will be interesting to see how local authorities tackle the continuing reduction in funding and how they will be forced to join up resources if they are to refrain from cutting services. Whilst we have challenges ahead we are in a much better place and our programme of transformation will continue to deliver savings and efficiencies into the future, which is a direct result of us becoming a unitary council.

This week I decided to speak to the press about the councillors allowances as I was becoming increasingly concerned that there was a lot of misleading and inaccurate information that was impacting on the council’s reputation and the great work that we do. The member’s allowances are recommended by an independent panel and were last looked at in 2009, when we became a new council. The panel admit that they got the allowances wrong at this time, and that the amount did not reflect or recompense for the level of responsibility that some councillors have. For example; at that time the area boards were new and the role to chair the boards was unknown. Four years on and the level of responsibility is much clearer and as such the allowance has been adjusted to reflect this. Similarly, four years ago the health reform had not taken place and there was no requirement to establish a Health and Wellbeing Board. The board is now established and is critical to delivering the integration of health and social care and ensuring that the health services that are required are provided across the county. It is anticipated that millions of pounds will come through the board to provide these critical services to meet the needs of people in Wiltshire, this is a huge responsibility and commitment for the post of chair. I am fully aware of some of the public’s perceptions surrounding this issue but I do feel strongly that we need to focus on the posts and the responsibilities and not the people currently in these posts. Full council approved the panel’s recommendations after considering their evidence and reasoning. I am of the view that if we are expected to be responsible for vital areas of work and to do what’s best for people we must ensure that this is fairly recompensed, especially if we want to encourage a diverse and representative council in the future. Can I just say thank you to the many of you who have been extremely supportive in what has been a difficult time.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your consistently hard work and unerring enthusiasm. It is your passion, energy, creativity and can-do attitude that makes my role so worthwhile. It’s your level of commitment that keeps us all focused on our vision and makes round table discussions – like yesterday – fill me with immense pride as I talk about the sheer scale of our achievements so far, and our plans to do even more in the future!

Thank you for all that you do…it is very much appreciated,

Jane

 Link to vine clip of Santa's reindeer

Friday 15 November 2013

This week we held the first full council meeting in the newly refurbished chamber in the old County Hall building. It’s really impressive how technology has moved on since we vacated the building over a year ago - the chamber now has microphones that activate a camera and highlight who’s speaking on three large screens around the chamber, along with a clock that highlights how long each person is speaking. This new technology can do many things, and we will be using this more and more at future meetings, including possibly web streaming the meetings to make them more accessible and to hopefully engage a wider audience. I have to say though that it is slightly disconcerting seeing yourself on the big screens as you stand to make your contribution to the meeting and try to keep focused on the point your making and not on how you look that day! Full council was lively and long and we discussed a number of matters, including how we keep children safe in schools, whether there should be a levy on supermarkets for parking spaces, recommendations from an independent panel on members allowances, the allocation of seats on all the committees following the change in the number of Liberal Democrat and Independent councillors, and responding to more than sixty questions asked by councillors ahead of the meeting.

On the subject of new technology and access to meetings; the three corporate directors and I met more than a thousand staff at forums in Chippenham and Salisbury this week, and whilst it’s always good to see people face to face, we need to look at these meetings being available on web cast and play back in the future, for those staff who are unable to attend the face to face sessions. I have always valued these forums as an opportunity to keep everyone updated on our future plans and what’s happening in the organisation, as well as to hear your views and comments on how you see things; it’s always a good sense check. It became clear during this round of forums that we need to continue to support our managers and teams to work as flexibly as they can in the main hubs, and to recognise what this means in terms of home working, attending meetings, parking and feeling connected to what’s happening. We really do have to make the best use of the new technology we have. We will also be visiting all the depots soon to meet the teams and see how they are. Following this round of forums, I really would welcome your thoughts and ideas on how we can improve these in the future. We want to make sure that they are useful, informative and an opportunity to highlight the great work you all do; please do let me know your views and any ideas.

I mentioned last week a unique and moving exhibition in the atrium focusing on local Wiltshire soldiers who lost their lives in the Great War. The exhibition opened last Saturday (9 November) and in the first 4 hours more than 300 visitors walked through the “the Wiltshire trench”.  Next year marks 100 years since the start of the World War 1 in 1914 and Wiltshire lost more men in this terrible war than anywhere else in the country. Local historian and author Richard Broadhead has spent many years researching the impact that this war had on Wiltshire and he brings the history to life through exhibitions and films, including an award winning short film called Letters from a Small Town, which is based on the experiences of soldiers, their families and a nurse from Chippenham, who served their country in WW1. The exhibition, which has certainly set a benchmark for future exhibits in this atrium space, has been so popular that Richard has agreed to extend it for another week. If you haven’t had the opportunity to see it yet and you’re in County Hall it’s well worth a look. Next year the commemoration of WW1 will impact on our local communities and we are discussing how we can support a range of appropriate events that will help us all to remember and realise the huge sacrifice that was made for our country and freedom.

This weekend I’m heading up to Chester with the three corporate directors for the County Council Network (CCN) annual conference. These events are always a good opportunity to hear how other authorities are managing the challenges we all face and to share ideas. Whilst we have a lot to do in the next four years and not all of it will be easy, as the peer review team said; “Wiltshire Council is in a good place and it is going in the right direction.”

Have a good weekend,

Jane