Friday 21 May

This week saw the annual Council meeting on Tuesday where members decide whom will be chairing and serving on key committees across the organisation. Full Council also approved the Corporate Plan which will be in place for the next four years. This plan describes our vision, goals and the priorities and major work areas for the whole organisation. Our vision is to Create stronger and More Resilient Communities. It is underpinned by our three goals:

Deliver high quality, low cost, customer focused services
We must provide the services Wiltshire actually needs, of the quality our residents actually want, and do this in a cost effective way which represents value for money. We must make our residents and visitors, our customers, the starting point when designing and delivering services. Our focus, for everything we do, must be on the customer to ensure that people are satisfied with what we do.

Ensure local, open, honest decision making
To feel a sense of ownership and belonging, people must be able to contribute directly to the decisions that affect their local area. An open and honest approach is essential if we are to build trust in our communities.

Work together to support Wiltshire’s communities
The new council must work with its communities, focussing on their needs and helping them to help themselves. We will work closely with voluntary organisations, business and other public bodies. Working together to support communities and citizens, we can achieve so much more.

The Corporate Plan also describes our priorities and outcomes for the next four years

Our chosen priorities address the most pressing challenges facing Wiltshire. They respond to our customers and what they have said are important and need more attention.

The financial reality that we face means that we have to work differently. We must look at what we do, ensure we are doing the right things in the right way, avoid duplication, meet people’s needs and work in a more business like way to reduce costs.

We have identified the following priorities, as it is acknowledged that resources will not be sufficient to do everything we might want to do in the future.

- Focus on our customers and improve access to our services
- Work in partnership to support vulnerable individuals and families
- Local, open, honest decision-making
- Increase opportunities to help young people achieve their potential
- Support the local economy
- Meet housing needs
- Improve our roads and road safety
- Reduce our environmental impact
- Achieve savings, be more efficient and ensure we deliver value for money

We will review and design our services to reflect these priorities.

I'll come back to these priorities in future blogs, but for now have a great weekend and talk again next week.

Carlton