Grass-covered animals to be set loose in Melksham this summer!

A TOPIARY safari animal trail, a pop-up green space, and lamp post banners promoting Melksham and its events, will all be coming this summer to encourage people to explore the town. 

The safari animal trail will involve eight to 10 large animal shapes covered in green artificial grass positioned along a ‘trail’, which will encourage walking and cycling through Melksham’s green areas throughout August and September. It has been proposed by the town council that interactive QR codes could be used along the trail to share facts about the animals and involve visitors in a quiz. 

A location is yet to be decided for the pop-up green space – which has been likened to the pop-up park in Bath’s Southgate shopping venue – but early ideas include next to the King George V skate park, Avon Place shopping precinct, or in a more ‘under resourced’ part of town. 

Also, the lamp post banners along the town boundaries, will promote Melksham and the upcoming Climate Fest in mid-September. 

The new temporary attractions have been made possible by a £10,000 grant allocated to Melksham by Wiltshire Council. The money has come from the government’s ‘welcome back fund,’ which is designed to support the safe return of local people to the town following the Covid pandemic.  

At a meeting of the town council last month, the majority of councillors voted in favour of the three ideas. 

“I like the safari animal trail,” said cllr Jack Oatley. “I think it will be a big attraction for the town, and we could tie in education about endangered species.” 

But not all councillors were happy about how the £10,000 grant is to be spent. The safari animal trail was described as a ‘waste of money’ by cllr Gary Cooke – who later voted in favour of the proposal. Cllr Jon Hubbard – who voted against the proposal – said he was ‘deeply unhappy’ about the animal trail, explaining that he felt the use of artificial grass did not fit in with the ethos of the council’s environmental policies. 

He said, “I cannot and will not vote for spending £10,000 of public money on having artificial green topiary animals put around town when we cannot afford to pay for dealing with children’s mental health and other issues in the town.” 

Cllr Pat Aves – who voted in favour of the proposal – suggested the town council make a stand and reject the £10,000 ‘in the name of Climate Fest’, setting an example of how public money should not be spent. 

However, City Dressing, the company tasked by Wiltshire Council to bring these ideas to life, has said that they have a ‘no landfill policy’ and they focus on repurposing and reusing materials such as artificial grass. This reassurance was appreciated by cllr Simon Crundell who described artificial grass as a ‘massive umbrage’ of his. 

Cllr Hubbard also criticised the lack of opportunity for councillors to be involved in the discussions with City Dressing about how the £10,000 will be spent. He said he felt that councillors were being asked to make a decision with a ‘gun to their heads’, when he was told by town council staff that because of a lack of time, a decision had to be made that evening. 

The disgruntled councillor also said that he thinks the safari animal trail will be ‘a magnet for anti-social behaviour’. But cllr Crundell urged him to focus on the good in the community. “I don’t think we should assume the worst of people,” said cllr Crundell. “Let’s look at the best of our town.” 

Under the government’s ‘welcome back fund’, local authorities were given a share of £50million to spend to help support the safe return of local people to high streets and help local councils ‘build back better’ from the pandemic. This is the second round of funding made available by the government and builds on the 2020 ‘reopening the high street safely fund’.