Wiltshire Council

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Wiltshire is the most climate-friendly council in England and Wales according to new research.

Friends of the Earth assessed councils in different categories including renewable energy, public transport, lift-sharing, energy efficiency at home, waste recycling, and tree cover.

Wiltshire Council scored more than any other local authority.

You can find out how your local council was rated by looking at the full list by tapping here.

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National adoption databases must continue to be maintained, despite increasing numbers of regional services joining forces to find parents to adopt.

That is the warning coming from Wiltshire Council leader Jane Scott at her last cabinet meeting before stepping down as leader.

She spoke about the need to keep a national database of parents and children to make sure that families can continue to be matched across the country.

Adoption services in Wiltshire joined forces with five other local authorities as part of Adoption West in March.

She said: “It worries me that there is a focus on regional work but a national database might be cut. We can’t just stick to our regions, we need to work nationally as well.”

Wiltshire Council adoption services were rated requires improvement during an Ofsted inspection of children’s services in 2015.

Cabinet heard that since then the time it takes to find a home for a child has been slashed and adoption for children with disabilities improved.

Figures released up until March this year show that the average time between a child entering care services and being adopted is now 397days, compared to a national average of 486.

Cabinet member for Children’s Services Laura Mayes said: “We say if a child’s best option is adoption, no matter how complex it is, that’s what we will do. We perhaps have children that take two years but we don’t care because that is what is right for them. Our performance continues to improve.”

Three special schools in Wiltshire are to be closed and replaced by one "centre of excellence".

The decision to replace St Nicholas in Chippenham, Larkrise in Trowbridge and Rowdeford near Devizes with one on the Rowdeford site has been made by Wiltshire Council.

The plan still has to be signed off by the secretary of state.

There's been ongoing anger about the plans from parents with some protesting outside County Hall in Trowbridge today.

A decision is expected in the next couple of hours on the future of Wiltshire's schools for children with special needs.

Wiltshire Council wants to replace St Nicholas in Chippenham, Larkrise in Trowbridge and Rowdeford near Devizes with one "centre of excellence" on the Rowdeford site.

A cabinet meeting to decide whether the schools will close is taking place in Trowbridge but there's been anger from parents - some of whom have been protesting outside County Hall.

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About a quarter of children in our region are living in poverty, according to new research.

Among the local authorities facing the highest levels of child poverty, after housing costs are taken into account, are West Somerset with a figure of 31% and Gloucester with a figure of 28%.

The data has been published by the End Child Poverty coalition.

Other figures locally include Bristol (27%), Forest of Dean (26%), South Somerset (25%), Sedgemoor (24%) and Wiltshire (24%).

The Children's Society said the findings were "disappointing".

Without significant additional investment, there is little hope of reducing child poverty rates in coming years.