Elections

The election preparation is in full swing now and we are almost at the end of the nominations process. Nominations close at 4pm next Tuesday 4th April and by the same time a day later I have to publish the full list of candidates standing for election. At the same time those names will go straight to the printers where 65,000 postal votes will be printed and dispatched to electors across the county. The team have done a great job managing a large quantity of work and I thank them all very much.

Our Highways team have been recognised as performing and Band 3 level for asset management which means that we get an additional £1.4million per year for highways capital maintenance allocation. This is a super performance by the team, so very well done to the them all. The team had a very successful LGA peer review last year and the improvement programme to get to level 3 has been well delivered.

Our innovative community asset transfer to Salisbury City Council completed today. A wide ranging package of property assets, land and front line highway and environment services transfer to the city. This “double devolution” is the blue print for future such deals with our larger towns.

Speak again soon. For daily updates, discussion, personal opinion, comment or just to connect or keep in touch you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/drcarltonbrand.

Carlton