www.wiltshire.gov.uk
Members Update - 7th March 2008
Members Update – 7 March 2008
The Judicial Review appeal put forward by Congleton Borough Council & Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Councils was recently heard in the Court of Appeal. On Tuesday we heard that there was a unanimous decision to dismiss the appeal on all five arguments that were put forward.
A few days earlier the rules of the new council, the Statutory Orders, were passed by Parliament. This means that the monthly meetings of the Implementation Executive will now become formal. The first formal meeting takes place on 19 March.
So, the legislation is now in place and we can continue to work together to ensure that Wiltshire Council will deliver:
- Strong customer focus
- High quality, low cost services
- Strong and successful communities
- Transparent local government
George Batten
Transition Programme Director
Boundary Review Update
The electoral review to be conducted by the Boundary Committee for England officially started on 26 February, following the approval of the Structural Order to create the new unitary authority.
At this point two draft options have been prepared for each district area for consideration by the Boundary Review Working Party on 17 March. These proposals will be on the Extranet by the end of the day on Friday 7 March and consist of a map and explanatory sheet for each option showing community areas and outlining the component parts of each proposed electoral division. The boundaries are marked in colour to indicate the proposed electoral divisions. The percentage of electoral divisions that are coterminous with the community areas, and are within 10% tolerance of the average electorate per division, is given along with any other relevant comments. These proposals will hopefully go to formal consultation with district, town and parish councils after the meeting of the Boundary review Working Party on 17 March.
Further information on Wiltshire’s boundary review can been seen on the Towards One Council website
Members Seminars
View the full proposed programme of Members Seminars (Please note some may be subject to change). More details of each seminar will be sent out nearer to the date.
Workstream news…..
Resources Workstream
Resources Team days took place this week, with over 850 staff attending from the five authorities.
Jacqui White has been appointed to lead the Shared Services Team. Jacqui previously worked as Head of Customer Relations at Wiltshire County Council. If you have any questions about the Shared Services project then please contact Jacqui
Frontline Services Workstream (FLS)
Workshops to produce a framework for project plans have now taken place with almost all the FLS countywide working groups. The final PiD (Project Initiation Document) that will form the basis of the work of the FLS board is due to be finished in the next few weeks. The PiD will bring together the key actions and goals from each of the service area working groups.
Members have agreed to set up Executive and Overview and Scrutiny task groups to consider options for planning (development control and spatial planning). A planning seminar is scheduled for all Members on the 25 April.
Business Management Programme (BMP)
On 29 February Carlton Brand, Director of Resources at Wiltshire County Council, signed the contract to implement the BMP with Logica. Members of the Logica team introduced themselves to resources staff from across the five authorities at the Resource Team days held on the 3 and 4 March.
A visioning workshop for senior staff, Members and Logica will take place on the 10 March.
Community Leadership and Governance (CL&G):
The CL&G project board met on the 17 February. A report is now being prepared for the Implementation Executive to consider long-term goals and pilot areas for the new governance arrangements. The way that community areas work in the future and the way that services are delivered locally will be developed through the pilot projects.
The board is now preparing for Parish Meet and Great events that will take place across Wiltshire and for a workshop that will take place with the Frontline Services Workstream.
A report summarising feedback from the District and County Councillor seminar, held on 21 January at the Corn Exchange Devizes, on proposed local governance arrangements has now been produced and can be viewed within the Members Information section (pdf 148Kb) 
.
Customer Focus
The team is looking at how customers contact our councils, in other words the ‘first point of contact’. Work is also taking place to review consultation about customer access that has already been completed by all five councils. Discussions have also taken place with Wiltshire County Council’s Research Team to plan future consultation of different customer groups.
Contact Details
By Post
Programme Office
Wiltshire County Council
County Hall
Bythesea Road
Trowbridge
Wiltshire
BA14 8JN
By Email
By Telephone
01225 713017
Notes:This is a communication from the Towards One Council Joint Implementation Team on behalf of Kennet District Council, North Wiltshire District Council, Salisbury District Council, West Wiltshire District Council and Wiltshire County Council. Minutes of the Towards One Council Joint Implementation Team are available on the extranet or by contacting us at the Programme Office.
