Melksham Without Parish Council Christmas message

By Richard Wood

Chair of the Melksham Without Parish Council

I would like to wish all the residents of the Melksham area a happy Christmas and a prosperous new year from all the staff and councillors of Melksham Without parish council.

I wrote last year that 2015 had been a year of great change in the Town. Reviewing 2016 we can see that many things did change, but many things we were looking forward to are still to happen.

Our faith in the Campus project has been put to the test throughout 2016; we are assured it will start next year, although in a somewhat changed format. We must all work together to ensure that we do get the new sports centre and doctor’s surgery we are promised, together with the new hall and library. Melksham football and rugby clubs have also seen their splendid new facility delayed even though the buildings were completed in good time and the pitches were ready for October.

One very welcome development has been the move of the Wiltshire Air Ambulance to a site off the old Semington Road opposite Outmarsh Farm. Development will start next year and the new site allows the housing of the helicopter and support services and the fund raising operation under one roof. Just last week we learnt that the Air Ambulance had received £1,000,000 from the Libor Fund.

Melksham Without Parish Council (MWPC) has had a very active year. We increased the precept last year to enable us to take over the devolved service of the Kestrel Court and Berryfield play areas from Wiltshire Council. This process began in October  and Berryfield play area was thoroughly cleaned, safety surfaces renewed, equipment painted and the roundabout mended only last week. Kestrel Court’s renewal will begin in January. We also intend to take over the Hornchurch Road play area from the developers as soon as possible. Transfer of ownership of all Wiltshire Council play areas should be complete within two to three years.

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 swinging 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.

The Autumn saw the installation of seven community access defibrillators in the parish, at Shaw Village Hall, Whitley Reading Rooms, St Barnabas Church in Beanacre, The Water Meadow, The Pilot, The New Inn, and the Bowerhill Sports Pavilion. This was made possible from the Council’s own funding, and monies from the Area Board and the Friends of Melksham Hospital, as well as fundraising by a very committed Bowerhill resident and generous contributions from Bowerhill businesses. An eighth defibrillator was donated by a business departing Bowerhill and this has been installed in Bowerhill Village Hall. MWPC also arranged eight CPR training sessions all around the Parish to compliment this new resource.

Last year I was able to welcome the formation of CAWS (Community Action Shaw &Whitley) and the establishment of a Flood Action Group for the area. The latter’s preparedness was tested recently by the deluge on November 21st, when all the procedures put in place worked very well, and no property was flooded. The Flood Action Group has since been held up as an excellent example of what local communities can do to make themselves more resilient and has now become a Community Emergency Volunteer group prepared for other eventualities, not just flooding

We were very pleased to see that a similar flood group in Beanacre has also led to the setting up  of a new  community group which is already doing sterling work, so much so that their Community Speedwatch team carried out the most checks in the county last month!

The preparation of the Neighbourhood Plan, on which Melksham Town Council and Melksham Without Parish Council work alongside committed local residents, has stepped up a gear in the past few months. We now have a draft plan which will be considered by the two parish councils before Christmas, with a view to writing the completed plan early in 2017.

The Plan is about land use, and sets out where future residential and infrastructure should be allowed. The latter would include health, education, employment, transport and environmental considerations. The final plan will be put to a referendum of all Melksham residents.

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 present some difficulties but also great opportunities in the coming years.

We wish you all a happy and prosperous 2017.