Faces sought for poster campaign

8:30am Friday 5th September 2008

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FIVE 'faces of Wiltshire' are being sought for a new poster campaign.

Five local people are needed to feature in the posters that will promote discussion about the £800 million budget of Wiltshire's new unitary council.

Each of the five people chosen will receive either a free 2008 or 2009 family passport to Longleat.

From April 1 2009, Wiltshire's four district councils and the county council will merge to become a single 'Wiltshire Council'.

In its first year, the council will have a budget of approximately £800 million and leaders are urging local people to have their say about how the money is spent.

Across Wiltshire, local people will have the chance to tell the council which services are most important to them.

Consultation will take place at local events, road shows and on-line.

To promote the events a series of five posters will be made, using the faces of five local people who reflect the diversity within the communities of Wiltshire.

Jane Scott, chair of the Implementation Executive for the new council, said: "We consult on the budget every year but this year we want to do something different, to make sure that we hear from as many people as possible.

"From April 1 next year, the services previously run by the district and county councils will be brought together. Decision-making will be made even more local, through the creation of 'Area Boards'.

"The budget for the new council must reflect the needs of local people. In previous years our customers have highlighted roads, housing and community safety as issues that are important to them.

"Now that we are including services previously run by districts, such as refuse collection and leisure centres, we need to find out how priorities have changed.

"All of us are challenged by the credit crunch this year. In the same way that households are affected by higher fuel prices our services, such as refuse collection, are becoming more expensive to deliver.

"We won't receive any more money to cover the cost of these increases, so difficult decisions will have to be made about which services need the most money.

"We need to find out exactly which services are important to local people so we can share the information with Area Boards."

Entrants for the poster competition must live or work in Wiltshire. Send a photograph of yourself, name, address, telephone number or e-mail address, and a brief paragraph about why you should be a Face of Wiltshire to Budget@wiltshire.gov.uk or in writing to Budget campaign, communications department, Wiltshire County Council, Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, Wiltshire. BA14 8JN.

The closing date for the competition is Friday 12 September 2008 and the campaign photographs will be taken between the 15 and 19 September 2008.