Elections and school admissions

Vote of confidence in our elections team

On Friday we formally published the notice of the European Parliamentary Election. It’s not something we had initially planned on having to do but obviously events at Westminster and beyond have brought us to this point. Even though there’s still a certain degree of doubt whether the election will actually take place, we have to follow the correct process and are working on the assumption it will happen. In short, that means we will be very busy until 26 May. We have to organise poll cards, polling stations and count venues and staffing, among many other actions. The election itself falls on a bank holiday weekend so that presents its own challenges, particularly as many people will have already made plans. It’s a real logistical headache but our hugely committed and passionate elections team are no strangers to working to tight deadlines. In 2017 the team successfully delivered local elections and a general election within the space of around five weeks. We are under no illusions the pressure we’ll be under but with plenty of support, and coffee, we should be ok.

An admission of success

Another busy team at the council at the moment is our school admissions service. They have the rather unenviable and very challenging task of allocating school places. This week it was the turn of primary schools. Just like elections, this is a hugely logistical process, and the result of which matters a great deal to many parents and carers. The team has once again done a great a job with 98% of families offered one of their top three preferences and 93% their first. The team is well aware of the responsibility they have as a child’s primary school education sets the foundations for the rest of their lives. We thank them for all their hard work.

Salisbury the place to be

We were delighted to see that Salisbury was named as the best place to live in the UK by

the Sunday Times. This is testament to everyone involved in helping the city recover from the incident last March and those communities who remained so resilient throughout. The city has taken great strides since then and with that in mind, we confirmed some changes to the current parking arrangements in the city this week. We now feel the time is right to end our ‘free after 3pm’ car parking initiative, but park and ride will remain free. Salisbury finds itself in a good place but we will continue to support the city and the south of the county as much as possible. We recently confirmed the OVO Energy Tour Series will be returning in May and we of course have the Armed Forces Day National Event in June, so there’s so much for the city to look forward to and many visitors to be welcomed to see the best place in the UK to live for themselves.

Looking forward to long weekend

We can’t quite believe we’re almost a quarter of the way through the year already. We probably sound like a broken record, but It’s been a particularly busy few months for everyone, so we hope that you have a relaxing long Easter weekend. Thank you as always to everyone on call or those having to work over the long weekend, we really appreciate your support.

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Solid structure to build on

As you will have read recently, we have now confirmed the new tier 2 senior management structure. The Hot Wire has all the details you need so we won’t go into specifics here, but thank you to all of you who provided feedback. Any structure changes at a senior level will invariably have an impact across the organisation so your perspectives on how you feel it will work day-in, day-out is really useful. We now believe we have agreed the right structure to put in place, which will help us continue to be resilient and visionary, and that is essential in these uncertain times. We will update you as soon as we have all the people confirmed in roles.

Continuing to work with families on our vision for special schools

We recently announced plans to extend our consultation into our vision for special schools, following discussions with local families. As we fully expected, over the past few months this issue has provoked a lot of discussion and debate, which we very much welcome, and we feel extending the consultation is the right decision and will help further strengthen the working relationship with families. We have always said we want the families affected by the proposed changes to be fully part of the process, and following further consultation this will ensure cabinet will be in a position to make a fully informed final decision, which is expected to take place this summer.

Melksham milestone 

For anyone with a vested interest in Melksham, you may have been tracking the progress of Melksham Community Campus over the years. It’s fair to say there have been some ups and downs in the project but we’re delighted that a planning application has now been formally submitted. We’re aiming for a mid-2021 opening if all goes to plan. It can’t be overstated how impressive the facility will be when complete, and we’re excited for everyone to see what’s planned. Leisure facilities have been improved up and down the county over the last few years and they will bring positive health and social benefits to our local communities. A new monthly newsletter dedicated to Melksham Community Campus has also been published which will keep you up to date on everything that's happening.

Making a bid to improve our towns and city

Chippenham town centre

We have submitted three Expressions of Interest for funding from the government’s Future High Street Funds to help support our ambitious plans for Chippenham, Trowbridge and Salisbury. With the prevalence of online shopping, town centres have to offer something a little different to compete and encourage people to take a trip out. If we’re successful, we will work with those towns and government to develop full applications which, if ultimately supported will, we think, greatly improve the offer for residents, businesses and tourists alike.

Trying to Brexit plan amidst the uncertainty 

Alongside our partners, we are still regularly having discussions about Brexit and the likely impact of the various possible scenarios, but as you can imagine it’s challenging given the current national uncertainty. Of course, by now we were meant to have left the EU, but we’ll continue to keep a close eye on proceedings i
n parliament and prepare as much as we can.


Electing to plan carefully
As we said, national uncertainty doesn’t help with our planning, and that’s certainly the case for our elections team as much as anyone. For obvious reasons the team is very much alert to the possibility of what could occur in the next few months – from referendums to elections, as well as staying on top of the day to day work.

Real assets for Devizes and Chippenham

The Devizes asset transfer was recently completed

There have been two recent positive updates for our programme of work to transfer assets to local communities. It has been confirmed that Devizes Market Place will have a dual role as a car park and community space, following discussions with local businesses and residents. We believe this is a great outcome for all concerned. We have also agreed to transfer a number of assets to Chippenham Town Council, including markets, play areas and streetscene services. Local councils are embracing this approach and during this programme, invaluable working relationships are being strengthened, all for the benefit of local communities.

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Reflecting on Salisbury

It’s a bit of a bumper blog this week with lots going on to tell you about.

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

Sticking with the apprentice theme, last week was National Apprenticeship Week. We’re huge supporters of apprentices and see it as a great opportunity to have a fulfilling career and we have many working with us at the council. We know many organisations who embrace apprenticeship schemes so there are plenty of opportunities out there.






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

Budget to be discussed at full council meeting

Budget to be discussed at full council

Next week the budget proposals for 19/20 will be discussed and debated at full council and by the end of that meeting an agreement should be in place. There’s still time for there to be changes and councillors will discuss it in great detail. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the budget process, it’s always a busy time of year and we appreciate everyone’s help and support. We’ll update you on the outcome next week.


Supporting Swindon 

We were concerned to hear the announcement that Honda plan to shut their factory in 2021. Although this is in the Swindon local authority area, it will have ramifications across the county, and we are already working with Government, Swindon Borough Council and the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership on this.

Consultation on special schools nearing conclusion

We are now approaching the final week of the consultation into our vision for special needs schools. The consultation closes on 1 March and before the deadline we are holding an additional public session in Melksham on 25 February to get people’s views. We have engaged with as many people as possible throughout this work and the discussions on our proposals continue to be very worthwhile and important. The cabinet will be meeting this spring to consider the proposals in the light of the responses to the consultation.

Our team don’t waste their time

There was a BBC story published recently which said that in 2018 there was more than 1.8m complaints received by councils from people about their waste not being collected. This is of course one of our ‘bread and butter’ services and often the very thing people think of when they are asked what does a local council do. We’re pleased to say we weren’t on the named
and shamed list and we have an excellent record of collecting bins on schedule. It only tends to be issues like the recent snow that causes any major disruption.

Having read that news story, a member of the public took time out of their day to email us to say that in 20 years of living in Wiltshire they had only had one missed collection and that was due to van parked inconveniently – the bin was promptly collected the next day. It’s always nice to get feedback and support like this and it’s a testament to our great waste team.

Convenience at a click of the mouse

With waste and recycling being one of our most visible services, their pages tend to be the most visited on the council website. This week we have launched a new waste digital system which offers huge benefits to residents, as previously people could only report a missed bin collection or pay for garden waste. There are lots of things you can now do – all with one sign-in. These features are also available on My Wiltshire app, but as that system is changing soon, we are guiding people towards our website. Other benefits now include being able to report missed bin collections as soon as they happen; and, crucially, people can get updates from the system at their request. Our aim is to make the online service simpler, quicker and better and we’re sure residents will agree that we’ve achieved it.

If you are a Wiltshire resident, it is also now easier to access and manage your council tax account online. We’re asking you to sign up and log in to access your council tax account online before the new system is made available to the public in March. You can sign up here.
Once signed up, you can see your account and payment history, change your details, set up or amend your Direct Debit, change your address and view documents sent to you.

This new facility is just one of the many ways our customers can obtain the information they need simply, quickly and easily. For further details about the system or to report any issues, please contact Sally.Kimber@wiltshire.gov.uk.

A bid for funding that we hope will be streets ahead

We recently announced plans to submit an expression of interest to bid for investment from the Government’s Future High Streets Fund. If we are successful we intend to use the money to support the improvement of Salisbury for its residents, businesses and visitors. The city has had a tough time over the last year so we hope any additional funding will help to compliment and support our ambitions. We’ve launched a survey to get people’s thoughts on what changes they’d like to see in the city. More recently, Government has allowed larger authorities more bidding opportunities and

Wiltshire is asking our other towns, who face their own issues, to express their interest in bringing forward two more bids for this fund. High streets are facing challenges across the country and people’s expectations from what they get from their high streets are ever-changing and it’s important we recognise that and strive to evolve alongside them.

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Hard work from committed staff

Snow joke – our teams responded brilliantly

For many the sight of snow is greeted with excitement and joy , but for us our immediate thoughts are ‘how will this adverse weather affects our services’? Because of the professional and fantastic work of our committed staff, we’re pleased to say the answer to that particular question is there was very little impact.

It’s fair to say we had more snow than forecast but our emergency and highways team stepped into action, working day and night to keep Wiltshire’s roads as safe as possible. From dealing with snow and then the inevitable ice, the team gritted the roads time and time again. Indeed, officers from so many departments put plans in place to ensure their services weren’t affected– from adult care workers checking on the vulnerable to library assistants determined to get to work so that they could continue to serve the the local community – so many of you went the extra mile and we thank you for your support, it doesn’t go unnoticed and it is really appreciated.

Flag flying high for equality and inclusivity

As a council we were proud to raise the LGBT flag outside of County Hall earlier this week. It’s a symbol that we are an open, welcoming and inclusive organisation. Many staff and members attended  to witness the flag being hoisted and it was a really positive start to the week. It’s LGBT History Month and if you pay a visit to the atrium at County Hall you will see an eye-opening display which just goes to show how far we’ve come as a society over a short period of time. It’s quite shocking to see how much attitudes have changed in the past 20 years. Please do take a look if you can.

Draft budget considered by cabinet

Cabinet took place this week and it was the latest meeting which saw the draft 2019/20 financial plan on its agenda. Rightfully so, the budget goes through a rigorous process before the council’s 98 councillors debate it on 26 February. We are an organisation that spends almost £1bn per year and every penny has to be accounted for. Cabinet endorsed the plan that focuses on delivering savings and managing the growth and services pressures. Each year the budget increases by around £10m from additional council tax, but the demand in some services including adult social care and children and families means there is a need to continue to find savings and efficiencies.

Just the job – achieving excellence

It really has been a week of hearing about the fantastic work that you all do. We were pleased to host  the latest Achieving Excellence Awards and as always it was an  inspiration. The awards highlight the variety of work that we deliver and how our staff often go beyond the call of duty. We heard a number of stories of staff looking out for vulnerable people, dealing with a major incident and a manager going above and beyond to be there for a seriously ill member of staff. The awards presentation is a highlight in our diaries and we hope all the nominees and winners also had a good time. Recognition from your colleagues and an award for a  job well done, really can make a difference and it’s a thank you from us too

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Budget published and preparing for snow

Finalising the finances

Last week saw the culmination of a lot of planning and hard work with the publication of the budget proposals for 2019/20. Of course, this doesn’t mark the end of the process by any means, but it’s a significant milestone and we’d like to thank everyone involved.

The papers set out how we propose to deliver the savings of £27.29m, while still investing in services where the demand is increasing. The proposals also include investment in digitisation and commercialisation which, as we move away from a reliance on central government grant funding, will help us to sustain service provision in the long-term. There will be challenges and opportunities in the years ahead and as this year marks the tenth year since Wiltshire Council was formed, we are of the view that this budget puts us on a strong footing as we move towards the next decade.

Team ready to weather the storm

Our gritters ready for action

With weather taking a cold turn this week, our emergency and highways team are ready should things get worse than expected. At this stage snow is expected but we are hopeful we won’t be too badly affected by it. But our advice to motorists is to always drive to the conditions, particularly as there is a high risk of ice. We have 24 gritters and 8,000 tonnes of salt at our disposal should we need them and will keep a close eye on the forecast.




Improvements in support for adults

As well as the roads, winter is a challenging time for the vulnerable adults that we support. Last year we launched our Adult Care Transformation programme with the aim of getting quality joined up support for those who need it as quickly as possible. We’re pleased that we’re already seeing positive outcomes as a result of this major programme of work. For instance, compared to last year our Delayed Transfer of Care (DTOC) statistics have improved by 25% which means less people are having unnecessarily long stays in hospital. There are still challenges to overcome but we’re recruiting good staff to an already quality workforce who are all committed to supporting people.

Managers look at the causes of work-related stress

We recently held our regular Managers’ Forum. It was the first one of the year so it provided a good opportunity to focus on some of the major projects we’re working on. One of the topics we covered was workplace health, and, in particular the impact that stress can have on staff and our effectiveness. We’re discussed what more we can do as an organisation to support staff and help to alleviate the issues that can cause work-related stress. It’s something we take very seriously and we’ll continue to work with you and your managers to tackle work related stress.

The staff engagement survey will provide a good indication of how healthy the organisation is and where the pressure points are. Thank you all for providing your feedback. The feedback and results will be published in March.

Welcoming some new faces

One of the calendar items that’s always welcome is the corporate induction, which took place last week. This is where we get to welcome those of you who are new to Wiltshire Council and hopefully we hope that our new recruits are finding us a great place to work. It’s always good to hear fresh ideas and perspectives as it helps the organisation to move forward and be innovative in its approach.

The kids are alright

It was heartening to see that Wiltshire secondary school students are performing above the national average following the publication of the Government’s annual school league tables. Our teams work closely with schools to ensure they have all they need to provide their pupils the best opportunity to reach their potential. It was particularly pleasing to see good results in Maths and English GCSEs. It shows we have some hardworking young people in Wiltshire and that will put them in good stead as they move towards the next stage of their life.

Support to give athletes more than a sporting chance

A great night celebrating success

While we’re on the subject of talented young people, we had the pleasure of meeting some at the annual award of our Sports Scholarship Grants. For a number of years now we have supported Wiltshire’s young and aspiring  athletes to help realise their ambitions. We have seen people such as Aaron Moores and Stephanie Millward perform at the pinnacle of their sports and they have turned into very impressive ambassadors for Wiltshire Council and the county as a whole. The money, from the Funding Future Olympians and Paralympians Foundation, raised from businesses at the annual Business and Sports Gala Dinner, helps the athletes with their training and competitions and to buy equipment – and that could make a crucial difference.
Having heard some of the stories behind the ‘class of 2019’, Wiltshire’s sporting future is looking very bright indeed and we will be following their journeys closely.

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

A new year brings new challenges and opportunities

Hopefully it’s not too late to say Happy new year to you all.

It’s always a struggle following the Christmas break to get back into the swing of things, but we’re looking forward to the year ahead.

This week we’ve been finalising the draft budget with cabinet, in readiness for the committee meetings where the proposals will be presented and discussed. We will of course share the proposals and most importantly the context for them.

Maltings milestone

The proposed development

A great start to 2019 is the major milestone of the Salisbury Maltings regeneration plans. A planning application for an 86-bedroom hotel, new library space, gym and restaurant has been submitted for this first phase of a multi-million-pound development. This really exciting project investment demonstrates the confidence in Salisbury as a location that has so much to offer to visitors and tourists.





Cold weather preparation and primary school places keeping teams busy

We just wanted to recognise teams as they head into a particularly busy period. The highways teams have already been in action this week with Wiltshire as a result of the cold snap. They are gritting the roads to ensure that the county can keep moving. We would like to reinforce the advice that they regularly issue to motorists - please always drive to the conditions.

And, with the deadline to register your child’s primary school choices looming next week, our school admissions team will begin the allocation process. This is a huge piece of work that affects many families across the county but our team always do an excellent job.

More time to feedback


Finally, you will hopefully be aware that the deadline for you to respond to the Staff Engagement Survey has been extended. We are committed to listening to your feedback and to taking action to deliver improvements based on what you tell us. If you haven’t already, please take a few minutes out to complete the survey. The deadline is now Monday 21 January.

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Thank you and merry Christmas

This week we have been tying up loose ends at work before a much-needed Christmas break – that this year more than ever we are looking forward to and, we know it’s the same for all of you.

As this is our last blog this year we wanted to take this as an opportunity to say thank you for all your hard work and commitment this year. We have been truly impressed with everyone’s resilience, hard work and continued good spirits in what has been the most challenging 12 months.  As you saw in the recent staff forum highlights video, we have achieved so much and continued to provide high quality services.

The video could have extended to at least three-hours to capture all the great work you’ve done this year. Editing it down was tough but a good challenge to have.

We are finalising the budget plans for next year and while there are savings to be made we still intend to invest significantly in big programmes of work.

Next year marks the tenth anniversary of Wiltshire Council.

We have grown as an organisation in this past decade and despite the current national uncertainty, we remain optimistic about what the future and what we can achieve in the next 10 years and beyond.

Christmas is a time to support one another and spend time with family and friends. County Hall will welcome those not quite so fortunate with open arms and a turkey lunch on Christmas day.  We want to thank those of you will be at County Hall on Christmas Day to support the annual lunch and those who need a friendly welcome and support on this special day.

Many of our services don’t run from nine to five and we know that many of you will also have to work or be on call over the Christmas period and we thank each of you who has to do that. It is really appreciated, not just by us, but also our residents.

We hope you have a merry Christmas and a great start to the new year. We’ll see you in 

2019…

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Get involved in this year's survey

How is it for you?

The 2018 staff engagement survey launched this week and is now open until 7 January.

We really appreciate you taking the time to complete the survey.

It matters how you feel about working for Wiltshire Council - what we are do well and where we can do better. 

This has been another challenging year with a high demand for on services and more than ever we want you to know that you are valued and have the right support to do your job well.

What you think and your feedback is important as it helps us plan how we do things in the future.

Changes to light up our streets

This week cabinet agreed to invest more than £12m in LED lighting for the county’s streetlights.

It’s been under consideration for a few years, and although it’s a big investment, it will pay dividends in the long term.

Our lighting stock is ageing but this upgrade will give us modern technology that is flexible, cost effective and uses a lot less energy.

Full council will consider the proposals and if approved the two-year installation will start next year.

Wiltshire College and Community First to discuss outdoor education provision

Our proposals to continue outdoor education provision in the county took a step forward with cabinet agreeing to formally progress with the preferred bidders - Wiltshire College and Community First.
Both proposals offer great opportunities for young people and we are looking forward to discussing their plans.

Budget process gathers pace

Our budget planning continues to gather pace and early in the new year it will on the agenda at a number of meetings. The papers are due to be published at the end of January and by the time it is presented to full council in February, the budget will have been discussed at a members briefing, overview and scrutiny meetings and a cabinet meeting, among others. This is a detailed, but necessary and democratic process, as we look to finalise the budget.  

Snail mail falls behind in this year’s canvass

A few months ago we put out a plea to residents to respond to this year’s annual canvass online or via telephone or text. It saves us a lot of money and time in not having to manage as many paper responses.

We’re delighted that for the first time ever more people responded digitally than those who mailed the form back. In fact, 21,329 extra households responded digitally – that’s a great result and we thank all those involved.

Who don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but let’s just say that the elections team could have a busy year ahead of them – so milestones like this are very helpful indeed.

No smoke and mirrors – we commit to tackling tobacco

This week the council pledged to do everything it can to reduce the impact of smoking on health, by signing the Local Authority Smokefree Declaration.

Carlton Brand, Jane Scott and Tracy Daszkiewicz sign the declaration

This is work we have been doing for a number of years, but this re-iterates that it’s one of our top public health priorities. Plans are also continuing to make our main hubs smokefree from March next year.

We know this will require a culture shift and won’t be easy, but we feel now is the right time to introduce this. For those who do smoke but want to quit there is lots of support, including a dedicated health trainer team and detailed information on our smoking support pages. Our public health team will host staff engagement sessions in the new year to talk in more detail about the plans so please keep an eye out for those. 

Keep calm and carry on

This has been another turbulent week for national government and we just wanted to reiterate what we covered at the recent staff forums – that our budget preparation is progressing well and we have done as much Brexit planning as we’re able to at this stage.

Clearly there is still uncertainty about how this will all play out but we are monitoring things closely and we will prepare for any scenario and challenge that could occur.

We’ll speak again next week for our final blog of 2018.

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Forums finale

Forums finale – it was great to see you

This year’s Staff Engagement Forums concluded with two packed sessions at Trowbridge.

We’re really pleased with how they’ve gone and we’d like to thank all the teams who helped to plan and run them so successfully.

As we said at the sessions, we will publish answers to all the questions that were asked and will notify you that they are available.

Please feel free to send any feedback on the sessions through to EPIC@wiltshire.gov.uk as we want these to be of value to you, so if we didn’t achieve that, please tell us what you think might work better. Your views are very welcome as they help us to plan future sessions.

Just a note that today is the last day for nominating the team and individual in our Achieving Excellence Winner of Winners.  If you haven’t already voted, please look at the winners and why they won an Excellence award – there’s some fantastic stories in there – pick your winner of winners.

 Wiltshire wares

County Hall this week hosted the annual Wealth of Wiltshire Fayre.

We are aware of a couple of comments on social media from residents querying why we host such an event and if it’s the best use of our resources. Every year we receive positive feedback from the traders and the event attracts people into the atrium, which is a community space.

Self-assess for future success

Today (Friday) Terence is taking part in the South West Region Self-Assessment Peer Challenge. This is a really useful exercise that involves assessing how your own authority works, and where you see yourselves, and then asking colleagues from other areas in the region to challenge that perspective.

We regularly take part in peer challenges as it’s important that we constantly review how we work, and ensure it’s the best possible way to be doing things. Ultimately this is all to the benefit of residents as our services and efficiency improves as a result.

As they say, every day’s a school day and we never want to stop learning. 

Meeting with public service peers

The Wiltshire Public Service Board took place this week. It’s always useful to meet with our public service peers and there was lot of good discussion on a number of issues including an update on our local plan, how we are each progressing on our budget setting, an update on the exciting plans for National Armed Forces Day, and the role we all play in combatting modern slavery.  

Catching up with the CCG

We had a useful meeting with Wiltshire’s Clinical Commissioning Group this week.

As partners our aim is to achieve a seamless join-up of health and social care services – which is a priority.  Winter is a challenging period for these services so we are talking through potential issues and how these can be addressed quickly.

Lights, cabinet, action

It’s cabinet again next week, and the papers are now published.

It’s another busy agenda including proposals for outdoor education provision, and a paper on putting the case for the council to convert streetlights to LED. The meeting will be streamed live, and we’ll highlight the decisions made next week.

Alistair, Carlton and Terence

Successful opening of new campus

Pewsey welcomes new community campus

The grand entrance to The Vale Community Campus

Our campus and hub programme reached another milestone this week with the opening of The Vale Community Campus in Pewsey. The centre has been busy from the off and people have been giving us some great feedback already.

Over the last few years we have invested in improving and delivering sustainable community facilities, creating multi-purpose services and facilities under one roof.

The new campus at Pewsey has state of the art facilities and the community has been at the heart of this project, from inception to realisation. The campus and hub programme is creating valuable community space and services.

The swimming pool is impressive

SEND services top the agenda at cabinet

Our vision for the future of special schools dominated this week’s cabinet meeting.

People care passionately about these services, as do we, and that was evident in the number of people who attended and spoke on this matter, including parents of children with special needs. It was an emotive meeting.

Cabinet approved the proposal to invest £20m in two new centres of excellence for pupils with special needs and a statutory consultation will now begin as part of the delivery of our vision.

Focus on local service delivery

Cabinet also agreed a scheme that will help smaller communities take on the ownership and running local services and facilities, such as play areas and allotments.

Where it makes sense for both parties, we want to continue to offer communities the opportunity to take over the delivery of services in their local area. Several parish and town councils have taken on services and facilities as they are best placed to deliver these with their local knowledge.

Alistair held briefings in September

Bourne Hill staff engagement session

Alistair will host a follow up staff engagement session at Bourne Hill on 3 December at 3:45pm on the ground floor area behind reception.

This session follows up from those held in September to provide an opportunity to discuss with staff and teams located in Bourne Hill if everything is ok and working well following the recent refurbishment.

Alistair looks forward to seeing you. Could please email events@wiltshire.gov.uk to confirm your attendance.

Forums are full – but watch for cancellations

We’re pleased that the final Staff Engagement Forums are now fully booked, but if you did want to come please keep an eye on the booking form for cancellations.

The last sessions are at Trowbridge’s Civic Centre on 6 December.

Thank you to everyone who has attended so far and for embracing the new format. They’ve been enjoyable and informative for us.

Think Rink for a family outing

The Salisbury Christmas Market and ice rink is officially open

As we’re (unbelievably) nearly in December we want to end on a festive note this week.

This year the council is delivering the Salisbury Christmas Market and Ice Rink experience, which officially opens on Thursday 29 November.

It’s a real winter wonderland and well worth a visit with lots of artisan and individual traders and live entertainment as well as the opportunity to skate on ice to Christmas tunes!

And if that doesn’t bring you festive cheer, next week (Tuesday 4 December) County Hall hosts the annual Wealth of Wiltshire Christmas Fayre, with more opportunity to purchase Christmas gifts and stocking fillers from local small businesses.

Alistair, Carlton, and Terence

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