TONIGHT I will ask all councillors at the meeting of the full council to approve the Vision, Priorities, and Pledges that will shape the borough’s ambitions for the next decade or more, writes DAVID RENARD.

It will be a challenge. On the one hand, we know that we have to find and deliver at least £40m of savings over the next two financial years just to cope with rising demand from our growing and ageing population, and deal with restrictions on our income.

On the other hand, over the next four years we will still spend nearly half a billion pounds.

We will have choices about where that money goes.

What you will see is a fundamental change in how the council works and what councillors do.

Ever since the first modern local councils were created for the Swindon Area in 1894 (New Town and Old Town Urban District Councils and Highworth Rural District Council), local authorities have been responsible for delivering services.

Councillors saw their role as managing the managers who delivered those services and acting as complaints ombudsmen.

A councillor would consider he or she was doing a good job by counting the number of road repairs they secured or the amount of taxpayers’ money spent in their ward.

As elected politicians, we achieved things because we had power over departments.

That has now changed. These days, the council and its councillors have to use different methods to achieve the outcomes they desire.

The core part of our future if we are to make the Vision, Priorities and Pledges a reality is how well we work to build alliances, partnerships, and coalitions.

These may include other public sector bodies, an example being the work we do with the Fire Service to promote independent living for the elderly with safety checks on electric blankets.

They might be formal arrangements to commission the not-for-profit sector, or independent bodies such as academy schools to do work for us.

They may involve voluntary groups.

Above all, it means that the role of locally elected politicians will change.

Our key role in the future will be to influence others to make changes to contribute towards achieving our vision. In the current management jargon, we need to start nudging.

The sheer scope of the change may be quite scary, and I am aware that I am inviting both councillors and residents to take a leap into the unknown.

The reassurance I can give you is that our Vision provides a clear sight of what we are aiming to achieve.