Thank you for applying for employment with Spelthorne Borough Council. This leaflet gives a brief guide to the Borough and to the conditions of service that apply. Further information can be obtained from Human Resources.
Spelthorne is one of the 11 Borough/District Councils in Surrey, which, together with Surrey County Council, provide local government services to over one million people. The Borough has a wide range of responsibilities and provides services such as planning, environmental health, electoral registration, Council tax collection, leisure and recreation, parks and open spaces, car parks, housing for the homeless and refuse collection. The Council is proud of the levels of satisfaction it achieves in the provision of these services. We received an “Excellent” rating from the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) in December 2003. We are rightly proud of the excellent CPA rating which was following a rigorous Audit Commission inspection, which included discussions with organisations, and individuals we work with closely such as The Police, Voluntary Sector, businesses, schools, health service and members of the general public. We are one of only 16% of Councils in the country so far who have been rated this highly.
We are a progressive, high performing local authority keen to provide an even higher level of service to local residents and businesses. We are particularly proud that Spelthorne has been awarded a number of prestigious national awards in recognition of our staffs’ achievements and our commitment to local services.
Chartermark Award for Excellence in Public Service A number of Spelthorne’s services have been awarded Chartermarks. The Housing Benefits and Council tax teams have recently received the award for the second time.
Investor in People Spelthorne has held the Investor in People award since 1992, in recognition of the commitment to the development and training of staff and to communication. The award covers the whole organisation, with Spelthorne being the first business in Surrey to be awarded IIP status for the third time.
A number of other services have gained external accreditation for their services and procedures including the legal service (Lexcel). The quality of the Council’s work in recent years in providing a comprehensive range of elderly services was recognised with the award of Beacon Council status for Independent Living for Older People. These awards are a credit to all our staff.
The CPA inspection commented, “The council have a dedicated and committed workforce. The Council demonstrates a commitment to staff welfare through its Human Resources practices and this supports staff morale”. Overall they found Spelthorne to be “an improving, forward-thinking Council” and that “good service are provided to local people”.
Councillors
Overall council policy and strategy is determined by 39 elected councillors for the Borough of Spelthorne, who represent a total of 13 electoral wards. The current political split of the councillors is:
31 Conservative
8 Liberal Democrats
Decision-making is via a one party cabinet structure.
Our key priorities
As a local authority we do many things, a number of which are statutory requirements. We will always fulfil our legal duties. However, at a time of increasingly restricted resources it is necessary to be very clear as to what our organisation’s priorities are. This does not mean that we will not undertake any other work, but it does mean where there are competing demands we are clear as to which we will commit our time and resources.
Safer Spelthorne
Supporting Younger People
Cleaner and Greener Environment
Supporting Housing Needs
Help for Older People in Need
Economic Development
In order to achieve these we need to ensure success at:
Sustainable Financial Future and Value for Money Services
Continues to be a high priority for residents. Spelthorne has the highest rate of crime in Surrey, although this is in the county with the lowest rate in England and Wales. For the period 2009 /11 four priorities have been identified as follows:
Reduce crime
Reduce anti-social behaviour
Reduce re-offending
Improve confidence and provide greater reassurance
An annual strategic assessment is undertaken to identify current crime levels, patterns and trends; priorities could change in the light of this.
Perceived by local residents as affecting and affected by many aspects of everyday life. People are keen to engage young people in a positive way to help them develop their lives and citizenship.
Over the period of this plan we aim to:
Increase the level of satisfaction of young people living in Spelthorne
Increase the number of hours/week young people spend in healthy activities
Increase the satisfaction of the general population with the facilities available for younger people
Important at both a local and national level. Locally, contaminated land and air quality are significant issues given the previous land uses in the area and busy roads. Street scene issues – cleanliness, graffiti, etc - are important to local people. Residents are keen to recycle more, and the Council has to meet its statutory recycling target. We are conscious of our Carbon Footprint and are keen to reduce it as a contribution to combating the effects of climate change. Over the period of this plan we aim to:
Improve local bio-diversity
Encourage the early adoption of the Local Development Framework to help deliver the social, economic and environmental need of the Borough
Use the Home Energy Conservation Act provisions to tackle fuel poverty issues, helping individuals improve the energy efficiency of their homes
Boost our recycling rate to meet our statutory target
Improve satisfaction with street scene issues
Reduce our carbon footprint
Risk assess currently identified possible contaminated land sites
Analysis done to inform our Housing Strategy shows a serious shortage of affordable houses in the Borough. This has resulted in a high level of hidden homelessness where two or three generations of a family are still living together because of the inability to find suitable accommodation. We also wish to give applicants on our housing register greater choice in accessing social housing.
Over the period of this plan we aim to:
Encourage the construction of sustainable new homes – particularly affordable homes that meet family needs
Introduce and develop a choice-based lettings scheme
Increase the number of households prevented from becoming homeless
Encourage regeneration schemes to improve the quality of housing in the Borough and to achieve integrated sustainable communities
Recent opinion research with residents shows that help for older people (particularly the frailer older person) would now be a priority. We recognise the need and moral responsibility to enable people to lead independent lives. In particular we would look to help older people live in their own homes for as long as possible, whilst making provision for those less able to look after themselves.
Over the period of this plan we aim to:
Supply meals on wheels to those that need it every day
Provide a personal alarm service and telecare facilities to those in need
Increase the provision of extra care housing in the Borough
Facilitate the provision of day care activities to the frailer, older people in greatest need
Ensure we have a concessionary fares scheme that is affordable and attractive to users
Compared tonational and regional indicators Spelthorne is doing well, although compared to the rest of Surrey the picture is not quite as good.
Our aim is to take full advantage of Spelthorne’s geographical advantages (close to major transport links) to improve our economic situation. Over the period of this plan we aim to:
Undertake initiatives to improve our unemployment rate
Complete in partnership with Surrey County Council area regeneration schemes in Ashford, Shepperton and Sunbury Cross
Work with our partners to more effectively promote the Borough of Spelthorne as a place to visit and do business, particularly emphasising its key asset the River Thames running through the borough. Increased visitor numbers will bring economic benefits.
Make best use of Spelthorne’s natural geographical advantages (close to London and major transport links) to improve our economic competitiveness and promote Spelthorne as a place to visit
Working with our partners and with the Spelthorne Business Forum we will help improve awareness of employers as to support and training assistance available to them
Undertake initiatives that improve the employability of Spelthorne’s workforce
Sustainable Financial Future and Value for Money Services
Running through all 6 Priorities and of paramount importance to the future of Spelthorne is the need for a sustainable financial future and value for money services.
As an ambitious authority our level of performance, both direct and in relation to others, is important to us. Equally we know that we must continually improve and do more with fewer resources. In common with all public sector bodies our financial position is becoming increasingly challenging such that we will have to reduce our operating costs to live within our projected budgets. Procurement, project and risk management are important to us achieving what we want.
Customer satisfaction with our services is a high priority as is effective service delivery.
Over the period of this plan we aim to:
Manage our finances through a rolling budget that takes account of the various outside pressures on us
Undertake business improvement reviews and implement recommendations in order to reduce our operating costs
Actively review the use of our assets
Improve the use of all of our resources through:
Closely managing our finances on a short/medium/long term basis
Managing risk actively
Improving our project management
Increasing customer satisfaction
Improving performance management to ensure effective service delivery
Improving the value for money that we provide
Increasing the value of efficiency savings from our procurement operations
Seek out opportunities to deliver services more efficiently, effectively and with greater resilience by working in partnership with other bodies
Managing all staff in a respectful and professional way
Ensuring staff know what is expected of them
The full Corporate Plan and improvement plans is available on the council website.
Values
We will do our best to;
Operate with integrity, honesty and transparency,
Listen closely and communicate openly,
Strive for quality and excellence in all we do,
Provide equality of opportunity for all,
Treat our customers and staff with courtesy and fairness.
Employees
We currently employ approximately 330 staff.
Spelthorne – the area
Spelthorne is located 15 miles west of Central London. It is bordered by the M25 to the west, the River Thames to the south and west, the London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames to the east, and Heathrow Airport to the north. The Borough is at the inner edge of the Metropolitan Green Belt, with 45% of the Borough being urban and the remainder being protected as Green Belt. The principal towns are Staines, Sunbury, Ashford, Shepperton and Stanwell.
The area also includes 4 large reservoirs and Kempton Park racecourse. One of the main attractions of the Borough is the River Thames, and effort is constantly being made to preserve the river frontage and to improve the riverside amenities.
The area enjoys good communications to London and the southeast, via the M25, M3 and M4 motorway network and also by the excellent rail links (approx 30 minutes to London Waterloo), and of course Heathrow Airport is on the Borough’s doorstep. A sound commercial base, a Thames side location, easy access to London and open countryside, has all contributed to a quality of life, which has attracted many employers and people to the area.
Office Location
The main administrative offices are at Knowle Green, off the Kingston Road, Staines, and are sited in open ground near the Law Courts, Spelthorne Leisure Centre and Staines Park. The office building is attractive, modern and purpose-built, with ample staff car parking. The Council operates a ‘No Smoking Policy’ throughout the Council Offices. Knowle Green is approximately one mile from the town centre and within seven minutes walk from Staines railway station.
