MELKSHAM Town Council is exploring options to install a water refill unit in the Market Place area to encourage people to avoid using single-use plastics.
The council has an offer from Wessex Water to install a refill unit outside the Town Hall, but councillors have raised concerns about the proposed location.
At a meeting of the town council last month, councillors decided to go ahead with the project, but to discuss with Wessex Water alternative locations for the refill unit, and to also explore the cost of the town council installing their own refill point.
This was a similar resolution to the one made by the town council’s asset management committee in February this year, when committee members resolved that the assistant to the town clerk “would contact the conservation officer regarding the feasibility of locating the water refill unit in the location proposed by Wessex Water and also discuss alternative locations with Wessex Water”.
If the town council were to go ahead with Wessex Water’s proposed location outside the Town Hall, the council has been asked to cover the cost of groundworks to install the refill unit, which is estimated to be £1,300.
At the meeting, councillor Mike Sankey suggested that the town council could install a “wall mounted” tap opposite the Market Place toilets, using its fresh water supply, saving money by “not digging up the Market Place”.
Town councillors also resolved that any water refill unit should not be installed until it is “safe to do so” after the Covid-19 pandemic has passed or restrictions have been fully lifted.
