LAST Sunday it was my pleasure to be the official starter for the British Heart Foundation Swindon Half Marathon. I must congratulate all those who braved the rain to complete their runs as well as all those who turned up to offer vocal encouragement.

I would like to draw particular attention to the many volunteers, including council officers, without whom the event could not have taken place. It is good to see the British spirit and resilience that everyone displayed.

The Half Marathon provides a good example of how we are working with charities and the voluntary sector to make sure that such events can continue.

In this case our role as a local authority is to promote healthy living, and the result we are seeking is that more people are living healthy lives. However, that does not mean the local authority should run the half marathon, as we did until last year. Of course, we will still carry out key tasks to support it, such as managing the traffic and closing roads, and officers will continue to donate their time along with other volunteers, but this will not be a council event.

Some people reject this approach. They argue that all services should be provided by the council, through a council-employed worker who answers to a council committee. That arrangement may have worked once, but today it would only reduce the benefits to everyone, and it would use money that could be better spent elsewhere.

While we cannot ignore the financial pressure of having to make a further £48m of savings in the next three years, I believe that by working with charities and the voluntary sector we can achieve better results for local people. By combining our efforts we are not getting more from less, we are getting more from more.

Good examples of this are our proposed changes to the library strategy. Let me make it quite clear that our principal goal is to protect our existing network of libraries. However, as part of the library strategy consultation we will be looking for more areas where the local community can take responsibility for the nine “non-core” libraries.

That does not mean that the Council is looking to offload responsibility – far from it. Instead, community-led libraries may be able to provide a better service by using volunteers to augment existing resources. For instance, volunteers may allow the libraries to have longer or different opening times so that more residents can benefit from access to the books.

Local communities may wish to see the library combined with other local facilities, such as a health centre, so that there are more opportunities for everyone.

Put simply, it’s about doing things better with what we’ve got.