Councillor Jane Scott will provide a short overview of her role as Leader of Wiltshire Council. There will then be the opportunity to ask Councillor Scott questions.
Minutes:
Councillor Jane Scott provided a short update about her role and the position Wiltshire Council was in to manage Government directives. Councillor Scott had been elected Leader of Wiltshire Council in 2009 for a period of four years. She led a Cabinet of nine members from across the county, two of whom were Councillors Thomson and Sturgis. It was the responsibility of the Cabinet to set policies which were then agreed by Full Council. The challenge was then to deliver those policies within budget. Wiltshire Council’s gross budget came close to £1 billion, which was used to deliver 300 services. At present, the new coalition Government was likely to change the whole of the public sector.
There had been a 28.4% loss of grant from central Government to Wiltshire Council over four years. The majority of this would be front loaded and in the first year. Wiltshire Council already had a business plan based on a 25% grant reduction. This had to be reassessed to increase savings.
Front line services would not be cut or support services for vulnerable people, such as the elderly and vulnerable children. Investment would continue to be made in new services such as leisure, waste and recycling and fast broadband. As 2-3,000 people were likely to be made redundant from the public sector, investment in the economy would be important in order to retain and attract the private sector.
Savings would be made as 240 managers would be leaving the Council in the next three months. £354 million was spent on procuring goods and services and Wiltshire Council was looking to save each year over the next four years. A complete major services review would be undertaken. Councillor Scott urged the public to get in touch if they were aware of any savings that could be made to help the Council to become more efficient.
This was followed by a short question and answer session, which covered the main points below:
· Wiltshire Council was intent on a 0% increase in Council Tax certainly 2011/12 and hopefully 2012/13
· Progress on encouraging a wider range of people to become Councillors was difficult given the time commitment required by the role. It was up to political parties to encourage people in and divide their work accordingly
· The impact of 170 planned units to be built in Malmesbury, especially given the existing issue with the number of primary school places available in the town
· The attractiveness of new housing in terms of development gain. Wiltshire Council debated the revenue brought by new housing as it was accompanied by costs. Councillor Scott felt that Malmesbury was taking the correct approach with local planning and decision making
· The challenge of local planning to larger villages as well as the town. Some villages had existing services and development might help to sustain them in the future
· The next review on spending on the special needs unit would take place in 2012
· Councillor Scott had written to Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government regarding increasing revenue support for Wiltshire. His response had been that the Government would reassess local government funding in its second or third year. However as they had just reduced funding, an increase would be unlikely
Decision
Councillors Thomson and Killane would investigate how many primary school pupils living in the villages were coming into Malmesbury for their schooling and report back to the next Area Board meeting.