Great to see you at the forums

Forums off to a flyer

The forums have been packed so far

Thank you to those of you who have attended this year’s staff forums so far – there’s only two sessions now (in Trowbridge on 6 December). It’s been great to see the sessions so packed. We changed the format so that the sessions are more informal, informative and interactive. We hope we struck a good balance between informing and engaging.

National Armed Forces Weekend plans launched…with a little help from a Panther

Excitement as we launch our plans

Last week was a milestone date in our plans for National Armed Forces Day 2019. The official national media launch was staged in Salisbury’s Market Square, with great military assets; a Rigid Raider boat and Panther armoured car, providing the backdrop for some good photo coverage.

The day started early with almost 100 businesses and charities attending a breakfast event where we outlined our plans and the range of opportunities for them to get involved and offer support. National Armed Forces weekend will celebrate the military and the role they play in protecting the country and their part in in helping Salisbury and Amesbury to get back to normal this year. The three-day programme will bring communities together and we estimate that around 250,000 people will attend.

Investing in our towns and rural communities

This week cabinet committed £8 million to support towns and communities across the county. A 12-month programme will deliver improvements to local high streets and highways including repair of potholes, improve white lining, weed removal, kerb and pavement improvements, verges and improved road signage will be implemented. The funding has been allocated from Government along with some council funding.

In addition, to support high streets and the local economy, cabinet has decided to suspend Sunday charges in all our Wiltshire Council run car parks throughout the county.

Conference raises lots of talking points

There was some great speakers at the conference

Terence attended the 2018 National Children and Adult Services Conference in Manchester last week.

There were lots of thought provoking speakers and discussions. Two that stood out for Terence were a hard-hitting and sobering presentation on the impact of poverty on families and in particular children; and a talk on the challenges facing local authorities with regard to Special Educational Needs and Disability services.

It’s a challenge we know all too well, and following lots of planning and discussion, we have outlined our future SEND vision, and hosted a number of briefings with stakeholders to talk them through the plans. One constant throughout the process is that children have been at the heart of all our planning. The proposals, which centre on two schools – one a new purpose build – will address the need for an additional 220 SEND places and ensure those pupils are getting the specialist support they need. Cabinet will discuss the proposals at their next meeting on 27 November.

County Council Network

This week Carlton and Alistair attended County Council Network conference along with other local authority chief executives. There will be more on this conference next week...

Welcome to Claire & Tom

We’d like to welcome a new director to the council. Claire Edgar has now started as the Director of Learning Disabilities and Mental Health.

Tom Dobrashian joins us this week to lead on the delivery of the south Wiltshire economic recovery and growth plan.  Tom will be based at the Bourne Hill council office working alongside a small team.

Council in good health

We were pleased to welcome Duncan Selbie to County Hall on Monday 12 November. Duncan is the Chief Executive of Public Health England (PHE) and he paid us a visit to talk about our local public health services, and how they work in Wiltshire. He also spoke about his vision for PHE and the role local authorities play in this. We had a productive discussion and Duncan was very positive about the work we’re doing in Wiltshire, which was very gratifying to hear.

Thank you for sharing your day on #OurDay

Our council social media feeds were full of fantastic contributions from you on Tuesday. Once again, we took part in #OurDay and it was lovely to be able to share so many snapshots of your roles at the council. #OurDay gives residents the chance to peep behind the curtain and see some of the faces behind our work, this brings us closer to the communities we are serving, and gives an insight of what it is like to work at Wiltshire Council – thank you to all those who got involved in the annual Tweet-a-thon, if you  missed it please take a look at the council’s Twitter feed to catch-up with all the posts – it’s inspiring. For those who don’t know, we’re also on Twitter as well where you can keep up to date on what we’re up to.

Alistair, Carlton, Terence