South West Wiltshire Liberal Democrats

Questions have been raised by local organisations about the closure and the phoney consultation* currently underway.

Details in the Environment Committee agenda see supplement 2.

The Household Recycling Centres (HRCs) were set up by the pre-2009 councils as a service to the public. The different ethos of Wiltshire Council means they're now seen as commercial liabilities. The first one to close will be Everleigh near Pewsey. The site has been run down in recent years and is now the smallest in terms of tonnage of material received and number of visits, so Wiltshire Conservatives have decided to close it.

Conservative Angus Macpherson was elected as PCC in 2016 on a 25% turnout. Now he's decided he needs an assistant, so is looking for a Deputy PCC. If you want the job you won't need to go through the inconvenience of getting elected - you can just be appointed.

Payment is £18,000 plus expenses for a two-day week. The PCC element of the council tax went up by 7% this year.

Wiltshire Conservatives' vicious and unprovoked attack on the two Outdoor Education Centres used by the county's children was debated at the recent council meeting, as a result of which the administration agreed to do some consultation on their secretive decision to close the centres.

The decision was seen by many as malicious and unnecessary, with some dodgy destructive accounting being used to try to justify the move.

Wiltshire Council's student leisure membership offer provides students, aged 16 and over, access to gym, swim and group exercise classes for eight weeks for just £49.99. However only selected parts of the county are included, with none of the West Wiltshire leisure centres involved. Young people who are not students are also excluded.

New rules have come in to force to help property developers: for developments of up to nine houses a system of 'Permission in Principle' (PiP) is available.

When a developer applies for PiP the council must grant permission unless there's a good reason not to. In this respect PiP is similar to outline planning but there is no requirement to produce any detailed surveys or impact statements, and at just 14 days the time for consultation is shorter. The council must make a decision quickly - if it takes longer than 5 weeks the applicant can appeal to the government.

... at its meeting on Tuesday May 22nd. A grand total of 15,823 people had signed the petition which said:

'On 29th March 2018, Wiltshire Council announced its decision to close Wiltshire's only two council run outdoor education centres at Braeside and Oxenwood. Both centres have provided invaluable experiences for thousands of children over many years and closing them is very shortsighted. Trips to centres like this give children from all backgrounds a taste of the countryside that they would not otherwise get. It nurtures a love of nature and creates lifelong memories and friendships. It provides a welcome break from classroom education and gives children practical skills to use in everyday life. In a world increasingly dominated by technology, centres such as this create future ambassadors of conservation and wildlife preservation and closure of these two invaluable centres must be stopped. There is a solution. The centres don't need to be Council run, but Wiltshire Council needs to hand over responsibility to interested parties e.g.via a free or low cost community asset transfer. The perception now is that Wiltshire Council doesn't want to do this. We need this to change. Help us us keep the pressure on. 15,000 people can't be wrong.'

Wiltshire Council isn't very good at fixing potholes, so councillors Brian Mathew and Steve Oldrieve are making a modest suggestion to improve matters. This motion went to the council meeting on May 22nd::

Notice of Motion No. 7 - The Use of Plastic Waste in Road Repairs, Re-Surfacing and Construction

Plans for radical changes to the waste and recycling collections have been shelved by WC. (See previous article).

The good news though is that we'll be able to recycle a wider range of plastics.

From 30 July residents will still use their black box for glass, paper, cans and textiles, but the blue lidded bin will take plastic pots, tubs and trays and drink and food cartons as well as plastic bottles and cardboard.

Wiltshire Council's Conservative administration wants to increase the number of houses they've allocated for the Trowbridge side of Elizabeth Way from 205 to 355. They say it's to make more efficient use of the land. The proposal will be agreed by the WC 'cabinet' on Tuesday May 15th.

The proposal is part of the Housing Site Allocations Development Plan Document.

Wiltshire Council Conservatives have announced that free waste collections from village halls, social clubs etc will cease this summer.

As of July 29th the halls and clubs will have to pay commercial rates for waste disposal.

The change is part of the council's plan to become more commercial and less service-minded in the way it operates. Of 106 venues affected six are used mainly for public meetings so will be charged for collection only. The remainder produce waste for which a charge for collection and disposal will be made.