Never a dull moment

It’s been a little while since we last blogged and there’s plenty to talk about as the last few weeks have been particularly busy, and we’re sure that’s been the case across the whole council.

Planning for the polls

Something that’s unexpectedly taking up our time is the arrangements needed for the European Parliamentary Election. It was confirmed this week that the election will definitely take place, and in truth that doesn’t change things for us as we’ve been working with that assumption for the last few weeks. One of the main challenges so far is recruiting staff to help us at the polling stations, and at the verification and count. Of course, it doesn’t help that it falls on a Bank Holiday weekend as many people have rightly made prior

arrangements. If you’re interested in taking on a role at the election please email electionstaff@wiltshire.gov.uk and let us know which area you would prefer to work in. Despite the upheaval, running an election is a fun, full throttle experience and we’re always impressed, but never surprised, how our election staff rise to the challenge. It’s going to be a hectic couple of weeks but we work in a local authority and that comes with the territory.

In good stead for Ofsted

As you may be aware, our Ofsted inspection of children’s services is overdue, and we feel sure it will happen soon.  Our children’s teams continue to do an excellent job, and the teams are prepared for the arrival.  When “the call” comes and Ofsted arrive we will be ready to show them how far we have come since the last inspection in 2015.

Much like with elections, the inspection process is very intense, and when this starts many of the staff in children’s services will be working long hours – please be mindful of this and perhaps keep your colleagues in some extra coffee to show your support! 

Big Pledge is active again

We know many of you have taken part in Big Pledge over the years and we’re pleased to see it return again. This year’s challenge is called ‘It’s not just cricket’ but you don’t have to be handy with a bat and ball to take part, you can take part in any activity to get more active. We’d heartily recommend you challenge your colleagues as we know from previous years that healthy competition has spurred people on to keep going. Improving activity levels is great for both mental and physical health so please sign up today and get involved. Those in Salisbury and Amesbury are being asked to take part in Beat the Street and that’s another really fun way for all the family to get a little more active.

Soldiering on with fantastic plans

Not content with running an election, preparing for an anticipated Ofsted inspection and launching a new health and leisure campaign, we are also making good progress in the arrangements of the Armed Forces Day National Event in Salisbury, with 50 days to go until the big weekend. This event promises to do so much for the city of Salisbury and Wiltshire and we are working hard with our partners to put on a fantastic show for everyone. Not since the 2012 Olympic celebration event have we put on an event of this scale in the county. It’s been challenging for a number of reasons but things are really shaping up nicely. We were also pleased to hear that HRH The Princess Royal has been confirmed to attend and we’re delighted the event has had a royal seal of approval. For more information on the event please visit the website.  If you would like to volunteer to help at the event please email AFD19@wiltshire.gov.uk.

Just another typical few weeks at the council! No day is the same that’s for sure…

Alistair, Carlton and Terence