Explain what the what the principles and activities of your business are Essay

The Wycombe District Council (WDC) is an organisation run by the government that provides a wide range of facilities in parts the Buckinghamshire County that is needed to build a community. Public spending e.g. council tax, pole tax, housing rent etc, funds a majority of these services. These vital needs for a community that I will be investigating are services such as housing, public transportation and leisure. HOUSING The need for housing takes priority over all the other needs in the community because without housing over half of today’s population in Briton would be homeless. Because of this need the Council’s objectives in providing this service are: * To provide affordable long term housing for identified community needs. * To provide sustainable and self- sufficient communities through housing initiatives. * Ensuring the provision of adequate range of accommodations to meet identified needs of the community. * I identifying sites to meet the Structure Plans allocating homes for the hosing needs. * Identifying and acquiring suitable sites where necessary for the development of affordable housing. The Wycombe and district council also provides accommodation for the homeless or people in danger of becoming homeless. If such situations were to occur, under the provision act of 1996 the WDC ha s a duty to help any legal citizen in such situation. However the council is ineligible to give homeless asylum seekers in accordance with the asylum and immigration act of 1996, but asylum seekers can seek advice from either the council or citizen advice bureau or housing association. TRANSPORTION AND TRAVEL The Bucks County Council (BCC) is known to provide the three major ways to travel within and from the Bucks area either by train, bus, or coach. The other mode of public transport that is known as taxi that runs in and around the Wycombe District is under licensed by the WDC. The Bucks County Council can be overseen as a head office to the Wycombe District Council. However in providing these services the BCC aims are: * To ensure all new development helps to minimise the amount of motorised travel. * To increase the proportion of journeys taking place by public transport, on foot and by cycle and making these attractive, safe and being alternatives to the car. * To raise the awareness of the wider impact of travel decisions and the need to change travel habits. * To support and co-ordinate community transport community transport facilities. * To promote road safety. * To ensure adequate transport infrastructure exists to service current and purposed developments. * To improve the management of traffic and parking so as to minimise congestion and journey times. * To reduce to the impact of vehicles on the environment in terms of pollution and congestion. LEISURE The WDC offers a wide verity of leisure facilities such as a sports centre that offers a wide selection of sports facilities that include: * 50m swimming pool, * 25m teaching pool, * Multi-purpose sports hall, * 4 Squash Courts, * Simpsons’ Dance Studio, * ‘Lifestyles’ Health and Fitness suite (including sauna and spa), * 6 rink bowls hall, * ‘Bodyzone’ body building room, * Athletics track, * Synthetic turf pitch, * Crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½che, * Moonbase’ * Children’s soft play area, * Cafeteria /Bar, * The round house ‘Health and Beauty Salon’ LEISURE (continued). The other leisure attractions the WDC has to offer are places like the ‘The Swan Theatre’, a modern threatre with the capability of seating up to 1000 people, found in the Wycombe town centre, offering a wide verity of professional and amateur entertainment with conference facilities. Other attraction that can be found around the High Wycombe are: an artificial lake by the Rye mead used for fishing during summer times as well as an open air heated swimming pool also used during summer time. The UCI 6-screen cinema that’s found a mile and a half from the town, aswel as the Wycombe Museum opened in 1999 where fascinating history and renowned collection of Windsor chairs can be discovered. And many more attraction can be found around the Wycombe district area. In order to recognised the need for these facilities the WDC had set a list objective in order to find out exactly what kind of leisure facilities the public wanted, they were: * To identify the leisure needs of all sectors of the community. * Optimising the use of existing leisure provision. * Promoting equality of access to leisure facilities and services for all including where appropriate direct provision. * Encouraging self-help, partnership working and community participation in the delivery of leisure opportunities. * Conserving, enhancing and promoting the heritage of the District. * To help achieve healthy lifestyles through the Health and Promotion Scheme. Task 2 * Give a description of the work of the human resources department. ALso a description of the work of three other departments -excluding the customer services department†¦ THE HUMAN RESOUCE DEPARTMENT. The Human Resources/Personnel department within any organisation is the department that deals with a majority of the company are internal and external affairs such as: recruitment, training, company polices, development within the company, promotions etc. After collecting some information about the human resources department at the WDC, I learned that they deal with a wide range of different topics, which are * Co-operate services * Recruitment * Management of project * Polices and development * Promotion of equal opportunities * Staff management with the trade union * Reward and establishment TRANSPORTATION AND TRAVEL DEPARTMENT The Transportation and Travel department at the Wycombe and District Council is responsible for the provision of public transport service in and around the High Wycombe district, services such as an organised bus service, to meet the needs of ordinary people who needs to needs to travel by public transport on a daily basis, e.g. for people to get to work school, work, college, to get to other destinations etc. Other services such trains are operated by a large rail network company called Chiltern Railways that run through out the southeastern part of Britton. Another means of public transport is the taxi service; which are all licencend by the council to operate under specified rules and regulation. Other services that are dealt with in this department are * Car Parks (multi-storey car parks surface) * Hackney Carriages * High Way (non agency) * Street Nameplates * Transport Planning * Footpaths and Bridleways * Footways Lighting * Travel Concessions (for elderly people) COMMMUNITY SAFTY This department at the council focuses on safety within the community such as the reduction of crime within the community. The main activities within this department are working together with both the police and the community in an effort to reduce crime and disorder with in the community. Other activities include the monitoring of C.C.TV in and around the town centre. As part of the major plan to reduce crime, the Wycombe District Council has form a large organisation together with members from different organisation called the WYCOMBE SAFTY PARTNERSHIP; here is a list of the organisation that forms that partnership: * Thames Valley Police * National Probation Service (Thames Valley) * Bucks County Council including Youth and Community, Education and Social Services * Youth Offending Team * Drugs Action Team * Local heath providers * ConneXions * Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescues services * Parish and Town Councils * Voluntary Organisations THE ENVIRONMENT DEPARTMENT This department covers a wide range of different task that affects the environment and the community. To ensure high standards of health and safety within the community is kept to a maximum, the council has to ensure rules and members of the community follow regulations. To enforce health and safety the council has to find a way to control these areas in the community: Pollution Pest/Dog Control Atmospheric pollution Control of pest and dogs e.g. dropping faeces in Environmental Monitoring a public park etc. Noise control Consumer Protection Public Health and Safety Food and safety control Public health and safety licensing Health and safety Public Services Waste and Cleansing Development control (appeals, applications, Domestic refuse collection? civic amenities advice, and enforcement) Sewage and cesspool emptying Planning policy Street sweeping and litter collection Urban design and planning Waste reclamation Conservation Environmental Management Flood Prevention / River maintenance Environmental policy group Flood prevention and river maintenance Building Control Building control. Task3 * A DESCRIPTION OF HOW THE EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES ARE SAFEGUARDED BY LEGISLATION†¦ The Wycombe District Council has a strong commitment to promoting equal opportunities, both to the community that it serves and the people they employ. Because the council values the communities within the district and its workforce they believe everyone should be treated fairly, regardless of their race, religion, ethnic background, sex, H.I.V or marital status (e.g. woman, with kids etc) under the equal opportunities law, every member should be treated equally to the highest standards possible. If a service user has a complaint of discrimination against the council they can either contact the reception desk or write to the chief officer. All complaints of such kind are dealt with seriously. Task4 An explanation of how different functional areas communicate with each other At the Wycombe District Council there lots of different departments that the members of staff will need to communicate with each other from in order to deliver the service they aim to deliver. The need for internal communication within any organisation weather large or small is absolutely vital for their business to keep growing stronger and stronger. At WDC there are lots of different methods used to communicate internally, weather it being a quick message, an informal letter, documents concerning another department about a customer, newsletter or staff notice etc. The methods in which these can be done are through the internet, e-mailing, fax, telephone, answer machines, portable radio, beeper mobiles etc. The WDC also uses similar ways to communicate with their external contacts for various reasons such as a purchase order a enquires about their services etc, this can be done through face to face conversation, faxing, telephone, e-mailing etc. There are advantages and disadvantages that goes with some of the methods used to communicate e.g. With visual meetings, telephone or face to face conversation, it is more easier to be able to get an instant response or you can also give an impression or read the other persons body language. And the disadvantages can sometimes be more common than the advantages, methods such as e-mailing which has a time delay where the recipient can take a long time to respond which is the same for faxing, answer machines, beepers and telephone where the person may not be around to receive the call Task5 Explain the organisational structure of the business The organisational structure at the Wycombe District Council is set up into various departments in accordance to the service that is involved with the job role. Each department is department is managed and run by different members of the directing board. Below is a list of the different department and details of the services and job role that is undertaken. A copy of the WDC’s organisation chart is put on a separate sheet with the rest of this assignment.