Last week there was a story about how Swindon Borough Council had missed 10,000 rubbish collections in a year.

This sounds like a big number, and we always want to keep these mistakes to a minimum.

However, it is important to put this number into context.

Over the past 12 months, we have made around 10 million collections of rubbish, green waste and recycling materials. That is a huge volume of work.

Our error rate is one tenth of one per cent. Just think how good that is. An opinion poll has an error rate of up to three per cent, which is 30 times more than our rate for missed collections.

You have to wonder what other services are as good. Do banks make as few mistakes? Do our utility companies? Do our car mechanics?

Yet, the entire rubbish collection service, including getting rid of what we collect, and paying the landfill charges and taxes, costs just 9p for every pound of Council Tax we collect.

As important as this service is, it is not the council activity on which we spend the most money.

It is worth considering the council’s wider role in supporting residents’ health and wellbeing. At my annual report to the scrutiny committee in June, I set out my hopes and aims for this year.

One thing that is quite clear to me is while there are some key services that the council must provide, there is a much wider field where communities, voluntary, groups and charities can play a role.

This is not the council walking away from duties because of cuts. It is about creating better community self-reliance because this will allow more people to gain by participating in community-based action, as well as receiving help from it.

For example, we have commissioned Voluntary Action Swindon to develop two pilot schemes for Time Banks that will match volunteers with suitable projects and make the most of the free time that people have.

We have helped train 22 volunteers to organise 40-minute health walks, since exercise is vital to provide companionship, combat obesity, and help those with mental health issues.

The Ramblers’ Association has already cited these walks as an example of best practice.

I believe that we can use the current financial situation to shake off the institutional torpor that makes many people dependent on the state.

We can start to recreate caring, self-supporting neighbourhoods that allow more of us to live independent, healthy, successful, and active lives. We can’t simply refuse to change any existing services, as some would argue. Circumstances change, and we have to accept this and react accordingly.