WARMEST congratulations to Jane Scott of Wiltshire Council on her elevation to the House of Lords.

Having wrought such a transformation on the city of Salisbury, she can now turn her undoubted talents to reorganising the rest of the country.

I wonder which of Wiltshire’s many achievements under Mrs Scott’s leadership endeared her to our Prime Minister.

Was it, perhaps, the axing of the Hillcote respite care centre for disabled children?

Or could it have been the closure of our youth centres with so many redundancies despite the existence of a viable alternative plan to save money and jobs?

Or the new charges imposed for collecting garden waste while our recycling centres remain closed twice a week and fly-tippers have a field day – literally?

Maybe Mr Cameron was impressed by her administration’s handling of Salisbury’s parking arrangements?

I could go on to talk about the Arts Centre, or the Burnbake Trust, or our CCTV system, but everyone understands that spending cuts are the order of the day nationwide. No use being parochial about it. We shouldn’t think badly of Mrs Scott personally.

That being said, it shows what Wiltshire’s collective leadership thinks of Salisbury that they haven’t held a cabinet meeting here since October 2013, when the University Technical College formerly known as our police station was on the agenda.

But then why bother? It’s not as if any of them come from our neck of the woods. Ever since Journal reporter Alex Rennie tipped off readers a couple of weeks ago that this well-deserved promotion was in the offing, I’d been wondering who would succeed Mrs Scott at the council.

I confess to being mildly astonished that she intends to carry on regardless.

Ruling Wiltshire’s roost has been a pretty full-time occupation until now, so where is she going to find the extra hours in the day?

It’s interesting how many strong personalities (think Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair) have no natural successor because there’s no room for a challenger to develop in their shadow. Maybe that’s the case here.

Anyway, their Lordships had better look out. There won’t be many old sleepyheads taking 40 winks in the Chamber once this new peeress gets into her stride, I can tell you.

I am sure she will soon secure a government role. But a word of caution to Mr Cameron — she doesn’t believe in chief executives. Just ask Andrew Kerr.

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