Wiltshire council says community-based support will continue

WILTSHIRE Council has confirmed it is planning to expand its local area coordination service helping local residents in need, following our article about a valued Westbury officer’s redundancy. 

White Horse News reported Westbury mayor cllr Sheila Kimmins’ concerns for the town losing Steve Hubbard who has worked there for three years, building trust and contacts throughout the community. 

In a response to the article, Lucy Townsend, Wiltshire Council corporate director for people said, “We are currently in the process of restructuring the existing local area coordination service. We recognise the value of this type of community-based support and believe it is important that all Wiltshire residents are able to access this. We are therefore planning to provide an expanded service that is county-wide. 

“Residents should be reassured that the new service will be available to all communities across Wiltshire. Any individual receiving support within the current service will receive information about what support is available to them after the change, and we will minimise disruption to their support during this process. 

“As the process is still under way, we are unable to comment further at this point. We will be communicating further information to partners and communities as soon as we are in a position to do so.”