Christmas message from chairman of Melksham Without Parish Council – Richard Wood

I would like to wish all the residents of the Melksham area a happy Christmas and a prosperous new year on behalf of all the staff and councillors of Melksham Without Parish Council.

It seems that I always write of the great changes that have happened in Melksham and the villages since last year. Reviewing 2018 we can see that many things did change, but many things we were looking forward to are still to happen. The Campus project seems closer this year. Preparatory work has started on the site but delays still seem to be happening and our fear must be that inflation makes the eventual building smaller and less impressive than planned.

The parish council has committed to relocating to the Campus; we have had to leave our offices in Crown Chamber and are now operating out of our new pavilion in Bowerhill. We have room for a very efficient office there, but all public meetings are now held in Beanacre Church Hall where all are welcome to attend.

Of course, the other long -awaited project for Melksham is the Wilts and Berks canal from Semington to Challymead. This was planned to be built in three stages, the first to be a marina at Semington and the canal to be built to at least the line of the old railway at Outmarsh. There is no recent news and no new planning application. 

Melksham Without Parish Council (MWPC) has had a very active year. Our play area at Hornchurch Road has been repaired and refreshed, and finally the ownership has been transferred to the parish council. We hope that in the next few years the ownership of Kestrel Court play area will also be transferred to us from Wiltshire Council. Our future policy will be to take ownership of play areas in the new developments coming on stream, such as Pathfinder Place, if they are well equipped and come with enough financial support. We have also installed a new path at Hornchurch Road which now forms an excellent wet weather route for walkers

It is worth remembering that all this work has been prompted by Wiltshire Council’s inability to maintain and upgrade their play areas due to swingeing budget cuts. We believe that parish councils must all step up to make sure that generations of Melksham children do not go without safe and attractive play areas.

This year the plans for Shurnhold Fields finally came to fruition. The land was transferred to Melksham Without (it had to be one council rather than both, and the town council suggested it was us.) Joint meetings between the two councils led to an open meeting in which a hearteningly large number of volunteers came forward, The Friends of Shurnhold Fields came into being, a first meeting was held to adopt a constitution and a capable Chair, (Roy Dobson) was elected. 

Their first task was to organise the planting of about 200 trees to mark the end of WW1 and honour the 187 local people who gave their lives. About 25 of us spent a rather wet Saturday morning planting the trees, under the guidance of cllr. Paul Carter, in the shape of a horseshoe of five copses to mark the five years of the war. This was just a small part of a magnificent remembrance of the centenary of the armistice in 1918, to sit alongside the wonderful exhibition in the Town Hall and the huge attendance on the Sunday.

The committee has exciting plans for next year at Shurnhold Fields with the Town and Parish working together to help enable their plans.

The preparation of the Neighbourhood Plan, on which Melksham Town Council and Melksham Without Parish Council work alongside, will be completed next year. It’s been a long slog, but it will go to referendum in 2019 when you all get to vote on it. A completed Neighbourhood Plan will give us added protection against falling foul of a five-year land supply, and will guarantee that a higher percentage of CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) money can be spent locally.

2019 will see big developments being built in the parish. The Semington Road estate, called “Bowood View”, is already well under way, and will be joined in the spring by Pathfinder Place and the final phase of the East of Melksham estates.

These have been difficult times for local government across the country. Parish councils like MWPC and the town council have an increasing role to play in providing local services that the county councils can no longer afford. This will continue to present difficulties, but also great opportunities in the coming years. 

We wish you all a happy and prosperous 2019.