Melksham Town Council’s application for a grant to support its plan for more markets in the Market Place was rejected by Wiltshire councillors at this month’s Melksham Area Board meeting.
The town council applied to the Melksham Area Board for a £2,080 grant towards investing in its plan for new weekend and evening markets in the Market Place and the purchase of gazebos, which will be available for traders for hire.
However, members of the area board described the application as “peculiar”, explaining that they felt the project was a “commercial venture” and should therefore be funded by the town council’s own budget.
“They (Melksham Town Council) want to buy some gazebos, but they don’t want to raise its precept (the proportion of council tax paid to the town council), so they want Wiltshire Council to raise its precept to pay for it,” said cllr Phil Alford.
Representing the town council, economic and development manager David McKnight explained that the grant would support the project to be “cost neutral”, helping the council to discount gazebo hire fees to traders trying to “get back on their feet” post-Covid, whilst also saving money into a “sinking fund” for future repairs or replacement costs of the gazebos.
However, the majority of councillors were not convinced, voting in favour of rejecting the application.
Of the six members of the area board, three are also Melksham town councillors – cllr Pat Aves, cllr Hayley Illman and cllr Jon Hubbard.
Cllrs Aves and Illman voted against the motion to reject the grant. “I would have liked to have given something,” said cllr Illman when casting her vote against, speaking for the first time during the debate.
Cllr Hubbard abstained from the vote – but noted that no-one had spoken against the motion to reject the grant. “I think it’s a shame that those that were against it, didn’t speak against it,” said cllr Hubbard about cllrs Aves and Illman. “They might have been able to put up an argument that would have convinced me. But I haven’t heard anything either way.”
The town council is hoping to launch a series of new markets later this year, including evening street food markets, artisan food and drink markets, plant and gardens, and brocantes (flea markets), to complement the already successful Makers’ Market.
