MELKSHAM Town Council has announced plans to launch a ‘Town Team’ – a new initiative that will link services and activities in the town, offering support to the community.
The project aims to bring together local businesses, charities, voluntary groups and individuals in the town to work together. Plans include a new website providing a ‘one-stop shop’ for anyone wanting information about services and activities in the community. The council is also exploring the possibility of renting somewhere to create a ‘community hub’.
At last week’s annual town meeting, mayor cllr Adrienne Westbrook described the plans for a ‘Town Team’ as ‘exciting’ and a possible way to ‘improve Melksham, making it a better place to live’.
The town council reports, “The initiative aims to provide a community hub where any resident of Melksham who needs anything can go to for advice, assistance, support or direction.
“At a ‘central hub’ members of the community could share information/expertise, exchange advice, volunteer, highlight local services, and share equipment.
“A place, whereby as a town we work together as a team to help raise the waters of our communal ‘pond’. As the saying goes, a rising tide raises all ships – and it is with this spirit that the ‘Town Team’ initiative is gaining momentum here in Melksham.
“Melksham Town Council has formed an initial working group to focus on how to bring this vision of a centralised hub to fruition. The group has met twice since early April and has instructed council officers to plan a visioning event in the run up to summer, to allow the whole community an opportunity to shape the future of this initiative.
“Imagine if our businesses, community groups, service providers and residents all worked together by sharing information, tools, expertise, time and space to help build the Melksham we want – and were able to organise this in a centralised location where everyone knows about it.
“With one steering group overseeing the success of the vision, it would then create strands of activity that would bring the ideas to life and meet the needs of our growing town.
“These various strands could focus on issues such as older/younger people, new residents to the town, environmental and economic issues…the list goes on and the opportunities are endless.
“The width and breath of these strands and the activities/groups that they focus on is entirely down to the needs of the town and the willingness of people and organisations to drive our ‘Town Team’ forward.”
Cllr Westbrook, told Melksham News, “This concept is not new, it successfully works in other towns in our region. The town council hope it will enable our fantastic team of volunteers to be more effective by streamlining services and supporting their training needs.
“Like-minded groups working together with shared aims can help to support each other to benefit all.”
