‘We’re a pretty social bunch’ is a campaign launching in the new year aimed at residents across the county, highlighting the new ways that people can get in touch with the county council and find out information about the services we provide.
We’re a pretty social bunch too – as well as being talented, driven and committed.
It’s been a tremendous year full of achievements and challenge – and an election – and as we draw closer to the Christmas break, it’s an opportunity for many of us to put our feet up, have a mince pie or two, and relax. However, our work doesn’t stop, whether its physical, such as gritting roads, or digital, providing online services so people can renew their library books; we’re expected to operate 24 hours a day,7 days a week. How we live is changing, and we need to change with it, whether it’s refocusing our direction (and our draft corporate strategy has now been endorsed by Cabinet), or a campaign to promote the many ways, whether through Facebook or Twitter for example, that people can contact us.
By providing choice to our residents and using social media in the same way that we would the telephone, we’re making the county council more accessible to people. We’re also adapting to what we know people want and using the opportunity to develop more cost effective ways of operating (it costs less for a resident to go on-line than it does them phoning us).
So over the break, many of you – and our partners in the health, police and fire service – will be working hard, and our residents using our services, perhaps checking when the school term starts, or when the February holiday begins, dreaming of sun! And being the pretty social bunch that we are, we should take a well-deserved rest with friends and family, ready for an ambitious and successful 2014.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!