South West Wiltshire Liberal Democrats

Wiltshire Council joined local authorities from across the region to be updated on the South West Armed Forces Covenant Project and discuss its support for the military community.

The councils are working together to improve the delivery of the Armed Forces Covenant, to raise awareness and promote understanding to benefit military communities.

Wiltshire Council is going to convert its street lighting to LED at a cost of £12million.

The decision follows a Lib Dem budget amendment in February 2012 which stated: Street lighting - It is proposed that in addition to the administration's proposals to turn off street lights, half of those remaining lit will be transferred onto LED bulbs to yield a saving in energy costs. This will require capital investment of around £2.800m with a borrowing cost of circa £0.250m. As such this proposal will be cost neutral for 10 years after which point it will yield payback or £0.250m per annum.

A team who help rough sleepers turn their lives around has played a big part in reducing the numbers of people living on Wiltshire's streets.

The outreach workers are part of a wider initiative by Wiltshire Council to work closely with those sleeping on the streets.

Tackling rough sleeping is a priority for WC which wants to provide appropriate support to improve health and wellbeing.

A report to next week's WC cabinet reveals the council is spending over £2million more than budgeted. The figures would have been much worse were it not for an increase of £7million in government grants. Against that many of the increased costs are associated with government policy.

There are overspends in adult and childrens' social care. These include spend on agency workers because WC is unable to recruit enough social workers. The overspend on childrens' services is caused by the sheer number of young people coming into the system. More children are being looked after by the council, more have child protection plans, and the number of children in need in the county has shot up from 1,975 in August 2018 to 3,269 now.

Wiltshire Council's decision to close and sell off its outdoor education centres at Braeside in Devizes and Oxenwood near Marlborough was met with a wave of public protest which resulted in delays to the closures and the opening of a bidding process to see if other providers were ready to take them on.

People over 50 are invited to join a scheme that pairs older mentors with care leavers who might benefit from advice, guidance and friendship.

The Grandmentors project, which is partially funded by Wiltshire Council, recruits, trains and supports mentors who use their skills and experience to support young people through the tricky transition into adulthood and independence

If you wish to hear the sounds of derisive laughter, talk to any Wiltshire resident who has responded to a Wiltshire Council consultation.

The process goes like this:

WC. We're intend to do this thing, but first we have to consult you. Do you think this is a good thing to do?

The People of Wiltshire: NO!

Network Rail will be working from 00:40 on Sunday 23 December - 04:00 on Friday 4 January to renew the track at Westbury North Junction.

There will be disruption to normal train services over this period.

On Wednesday 5 December from 17.00 to 19.30 their project team will be available to answer questions about the work and to help you plan your journey.

Your WC is advancing its policy of shunting costs onto parish councils. Communities will be told they either have to take on the responsibility of running things like recreation fields and play areas, or watch them decay as WC ceases to maintain them.

However the transfers may yet be held up by the lack of capacity in the WC legal department. Here's the official line from your WC:

RPS Planning have submitted an outline application for residential development (up to 65 dwellings) with a new vehicular access off Frome Road and the demolition of all existing buildings on land to the south of Church Lane, Trowbridge.

Details on WC Planning website. Consultation is open until December 21st.