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04 Dec 2008, Time:02:08
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Parish and Town Council Information Sheet - Towards One Council
The fundamental principles of One Council
“to create stronger and more sustainable communities in Wiltshire”
- putting the customer at the centre of everything we do
- having a highly motivated and effective workforce
- providing excellent low cost services
- developing Community Area Boards and supporting local members to ensure that services delivered respond to local needs
- having one single authority (greater clarity, less ‘plans’, less duplication, less bureaucracy)
- having one single organisation for all people and organisations to deal with
- achieving annual savings estimated at £18 million
Key Dates
- Nov 2007 – Bill becomes enacted
- Dec 2007 – draft generic orders in place
- Jan 2008 -Individual orders for councils approved
- Jan 2008 - Transition Cabinet becomes formally responsible for delivering the new council
- New boundaries adopted (98 single member wards)
- Apr 2009 – New Authority comes into being
- May 2009 – Elections for new authority (and proposed for parish and town councils)
Community Leadership and Governance
(One of the four main work strands of the transition plan)
- New constitution, including revised schemes of delegation to officers and members
- Up to 20 community Area Boards and Community Area Partnerships
- New Wiltshire Assembly and Public Service Board
- Boundary Committee review, including parishing the City of Salisbury
- Town and Parish Councils empowered to deliver council services as agents of the unitary authority
Membership of the Community Area Board
- Elected unitary councillors in the community area
- Cabinet member of the unitary council
The Board would be able to call in:
- Organisational representatives who have control of local resources and the authority to make a decision eg Police, Fire and Health at a senior decision-making level
- Service providers as and when required
Delegation to Town & Parish Councils
- We have had letters from some of our Town Councils already, expressing an interest in more detailed discussions about taking on local service provision
- KR has written to Town Clerks in September saying that more details on how we would take this forward would be made available at these meetings
- Clearly this is an area of work that we wish to take forward together with our District Councils; it is important to agree a way forward jointly, and ensure the timing is right
- A project leader and project manager will be appointed in early November to work with the Town & Parish Councils
- A joint project plan will be agreed between the County and District Councils
- A series of meetings will be held early in the New Year with Town and Parish Clerks and Councillors to begin to identify where there is the interest and capacity for the delegation of local service provision - and the best way to proceed
- We would encourage Town & Parish Councils to have some discussion to decide if/ what they may be interested in considering
- Possible criteria to consider:
- economies of scale/ cost effectiveness
- local suppliers?
- capacity for procurement and contract management - how a service would be improved
Inform, Influence and Deliver – your chance to get involved
For discussion at your council:
Inform, influence, deliver – an opportunity for parish and town councillors to discuss and identify those areas which they feel
- they would like to be better informed about
- those areas that they would like to have more influence over and
- those areas they could potentially see themselves delivering
We would like you to work with your council members and discuss the above topic. We will be contacting you in the new year for your ideas and feedback.
Keeping informed
- Parish and Town Council newsletter
- The Internet: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council/local-government-white-paper.htm
- Email: communications@wiltshire.gov.uk
- The Programme Office 01225 713017
