South West Wiltshire Liberal Democrats

The application from Northacre Renewable Energy Ltd for the "Revision of the layout and design of Advanced Thermal Treatment Facility permitted under consent 14/12003/WCM" goes to Wiltshire Council's Strategic Planning Committee on January 23rd.

The application is recommended for approval. A previous similar application was refused by the committee on building design grounds, so the applicants have amended the plans, including reducing the base level of the structure, building a bund around it, and attempting to camouflage it by using more neutral colours.

Your WC has issued a press release about the proposed replacement library in the city. This is because Cllr Brian Dalton and others have pointed out that the new library is to be much smaller than the existing one. The interesting thing about the press release is how the Tories twist words to give an impression which is very different from reality. For example, "no services will be lost" is correct in the sense that there is and will be a library. We're just not supposed to notice the size difference. The real beauty is "The new library ... is the equivalent size of the existing ground floor library space." At first reading that seems OK. However the existing library is on three floors. The quote from the responsible Tory cabinet member repeats the deceit.

Wiltshire Rural Music are hosting some string workshops concentrating on the Baroque style. The sessions take place on Sunday mornings in a small and friendly group, giving an insight into the method and playing style and giving participants experience in the use of Baroque bows.

Following last year's successful programme Alison Townley has agreed to run a further 4 sessions starting on Sunday 27 January at 10.00am.

One of the disadvantages of the move to a Wiltshire megacouncil ten years ago was the loss of the local District Councils and their closeness to local communities. The advantages were supposed to include economies of scale and the ability to asset-strip the old local facilities. Paradoxically WC is now making a big thing about returning assets to town and parish councils, though not of course the profitable ones - only assets or services which cost money or effort to provide and maintain will make the switch. Here's the release from your WC:

The WC Conservative administration's decision to save money by closing Larkrise and St Nicholas special schools is now out to consultation. Please note that only representations in favour of the project will be taken any notice of. Here's the WC official release. Note that the £20m figure is what would have been spent anyway, less savings, and whilst the new facility is stated to have 'Great' teachers. It's not clear how these will be recruited, or how they differ from current staff.

An application has been approved by Wiltshire Council for the demolition of the disused golf club and driving range buildings at Thoulstone Park, to be followed by construction of self-catering holiday accommodation, with a restaurant, a farm shop, conference space, spa treatment rooms, a leisure pool and a community hall. There would also be staff accommodation, car parking and associated landscaping works.

"Would you be prepared to pay an extra two pounds a month for more police officers?"

That's the question being asked by Police and Crime Commissioner for Wiltshire and Swindon Angus Macpherson.

Angus is looking for the views of Wiltshire residents on the proposed increase of £24 a year (Band D) to the policing precept.

A Wiltshire Council-run scheme is looking for volunteers to spend quality time with young people who are living in care.

The Independent Visitor scheme aims to provide young people in care with independent support from a friendly trusted adult. It is very popular with young people, all of whom choose to be referred to the service.

The government has published a 'resources and waste strategy', which it describes as ambitious. The document is a blueprint not for action, but for consultation. This means there will be plenty of opportunities for the semi-noble aspirations to be watered down. Here's a review of the document, with direct quotes in italics.

When the folk song collector Herbert J H Hunt visited Somerset in 1912 he was struck by the survival of the most extraordinary oral traditions.

"One lady of a good eighty years," he noted, "could recite her own ancestry for some forty generations through the male line. I was particularly excited by the way her stories matched events in the history of our nation. Not just recent events like the French wars, but those occurences deeper in history such as the civil wars, the great plagues, and even the Norman occupation."