www.wiltshire.gov.uk

• Accessibility Help
• Main content of page
• Main navigation of page
• Turn off accessibilty style

Action Navigation

• About Us
• What's new
• News
• Whats On
• Links
• Contact Us

Secondary Navigation

Towards One Council

Wiltshire will soon have just one council instead of five authorities we currently have. The move to reorganise local government in Wiltshire has come about after the Department for Communities and Local Government gave the go ahead to the One Council submission.

On October 31^st 2007 the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill received royal assent. This means that the legislative framework is now in place to create unitary authorities. Nine bids from around the country (including Wiltshire) have been minded to be approved by the Secretary of State.

The next stage was for the ‘rules’ (Statutory Orders) for implementation of the new authority to be developed. The rules set out;

• When the elections will be
• What the governance arrangements will be to manage the transition
• How staff will be transferred to the new authority
• How the five organisations will be expected to work together up to the new authority coming into being

Currently three of the four district councils are considering their position regarding a judicial review (JR) of the process. The choices faced by the districts are; to pursue their own JR; support another district council’s JR; do both or do neither. Please visit Kennet, West Wiltshire, or Salisbury District Council’s websites for more up to date information.

However although the final legislative details have yet to be finalised, all five organisations are working very positively together on implementing the transition. A programme management structure (pdf 39Kb)  has been put in place and a first draft of an implementation schedule (pdf 19Kb)  has been produced.

As the programme progresses we will update the website on a regular basis.  Although if at any time you have a question or a comment regarding the move towards one council please do not hesitate to contact onecouncil@wiltshire.gov.uk.

Latest News

The order creating One Council for Wiltshire has now completed its passage through both Houses of Parliament and the local government minister has formally made the order.

This means that the Wiltshire Council will come into being on 1 April 2009. Elections will be held a month later, on new boundaries to be recommended by the Boundary Committee.

The Judicial Review appeal put forward by Congleton Borough Council & Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Councils was recently heard in the Court of Appeal. On Tuesday 4 March 2008 we heard that there was a unanimous decision to dismiss the appeal on all five arguments that were put forward.

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

• Electoral Review
• Four main workstreams
• October Town and Parish Council Meet and Greet Sessions
• The Wiltshire (Structural Change) Order 2008 - Draft Statutory Instrument
• Your questions answered
• The One Council bid
• News releases

The five authorities

• Wiltshire County Council
• West Wiltshire District Council
• North Wiltshire District Council
• Salisbury District Council
• Kennet District Council

Contact Details

By Post

Corporate Communications
Wiltshire County Council
County Hall
Bythesea Road
Trowbridge
Wiltshire
BA14 8JN

By Email

onecouncil@wiltshire.gov.uk

By Telephone

01225 713110 / 713003

By Hand

County Hall, Trowbridge

Opening Hours

Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm