Salisbury – a year on
As you will no doubt be aware, a year has now passed since the incident in Salisbury, an incident that had such a huge impact on the local community and us as a council. We can’t quite believe a year has passed, and it has been one of the most intensive 12 months for everyone involved. We were very proud to announce recently that Sergei Skripal’s house has now been thoroughly cleaned and handed back to the council to bring it back into use. This normal home quickly became the epicentre of this international incident, so it’s a huge milestone and step forward that it has now been declared safe. Our priority is to return it to a family home, and work will begin soon to refurbish it to get it ready.
The resilience of the community in the area has been incredible and we continue to work alongside them and ensure they are supported – it’s hard to imagine what an upheaval and disruption it has been for them. Our focus now is looking forward and working with our partners to ensure Salisbury and the south of the county has a positive future.
Finally, we again just wanted to thank each of you who has provided support either directly or indirectly during this time. The incident had a knock-on effect for much of the work you do, and we know it’s not been an easy time as colleagues were taken from teams at no notice to solely focus on Salisbury. It has been an unprecedented time during which we have learned so much, all done under the glare of the international spotlight. But what we all mustn’t forget is that lives have been changed forever because of this, and one was tragically lost; our thoughts remain with everyone affected.
Good news for Melksham Community Campus
Moving on to business as usual, the Melksham Community Campus project has recently made positive progress. This is our most ambitious campus plan and as it’s a purpose-built facility, this has meant overcoming many logistical challenges along the way to get us to this point.We are now looking forward to submitting planning consent for the campus later this month and we expect it to be built by mid-2021. Last week our campus team met with members of the public at two events to show off the plans. It is going be a top-quality facility and we’re really excited to see it develop over the next couple of years. If you want to keep up-to-date on all the progress, a webpage has been set up dedicated to Melksham Community Campus.
Best in the west
Recntly, a number of staff TUPE transferred from the council to the newly formed Adoption West, which formally got under way on 1 March.The aim of this collaboration between authorities in the west is to deliver an adoption service that offers improved outcomes for both children, people who want to adopt, and people whose lives have been affected by adoption. The staff transferring over have worked for Wiltshire Council for a combined 238 years, and we thank them so much for all their service and hard work. We’re very fortunate that they will continue their great work at Adoption West, which will be to the benefit of families up and down the county and beyond.
Up for the challenge
We recently hosted the second task of the 2019 Local Government Association Challenge. The challenge is very similar to the TV programme, The Apprentice, for selected local government officers from around the country. Ten candidates competed in a Salisbury-themed challenge. Last year our very own Kartar Singh was the winner of the 2018 challenge and he was involved in the setting of this year’s challenge. The teams met councillors, members of staff and other stakeholders to help them research local information that will help them with their challenge. We’re very happy to play our part in the development of future leaders.
National apprenticeship week
Local area coordination team gets some visitors
Last week we were joined by some international visitors. Health workers joined us from Singapore to spend some time with our local area coordination team and find out about the good work they’ve been doing within local communities and to share learning. For those not familiar, we introduced local area coordinators in September and they are based within some communities in Wiltshire to work alongside members of the community to help them become more resilient, ensure they have the right support if required, and help them to identify and develop their strengths, talents and abilities. The guests from Singapore spent most of their time with the local area coordination team right in the heart of the community to hear directly from those people they have worked alongside. It’s proving to be a successful way of delivering positive outcomes, and we were only too pleased to welcome them here.Alistair, Carlton and Terence
