South West Wiltshire Liberal Democrats

Helen Belcher was re-selected as the Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) for Chippenham at a packed meeting in Melksham on April 12th.

She was chosen by party members from a shortlist of three, winning the vote convincingly. Helen Belcher had contested the seat in the 2017 general election and on being re-selected said: "It is a huge honour and privilege to represent the party in Chippenham again. The next general election campaign starts now, and it's great to have an energised local party who are ready for action. Conservative cuts are decimating both our local services and our NHS and schools. Both Conservatives and Labour have moved to extreme positions. It's time to reassert a clear, strong Liberal voice in Parliament."

The unjustified decision to close Oxenwood and Braeside was called in to the scrutiny committee by Wiltshire councillors. It was considered at a special meeting on Tuesday April 10th. The Conservatives used their majority on the committee to reject the appeal. Although the call-in didn't change the decision it did at least give members of the public the opportunity to speak and to hear the debate - an opportunity which was denied to them when the decision was made by the WC 'cabinet'. Agenda

An inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission of provision for children with special needs or disabilities in Wiltshire has reached a largely positive conclusion on the work being done in the county by WC and other providers.

The three main weak spots are that parents of children on the autistic spectrum have reported their frustration at the lack of specialist ASD education provision: that children and young people who have SEN and/or disabilities do not make sufficient progress between key stage 2 and key stage 4, with WC failing to take action to fix this; and that a disproportionately high number of children and young people are getting fixed-term exclusions.

Because they needed to cancel some consultation events due to the weather, Highways England have decided to extend the formal consultation period on the road scheme until Monday 23 April 2018. This will allow time for rescheduled events in Mere and Salisbury, and for people to respond following these.

The council is looking for people to provide accommodation, care and support to vulnerable adults.

The service is called Shared Lives and the carers involved are people who open up their home and family life to include an adult with support needs. Shared Lives carers come from all walks of life and don't need qualifications or experience, just the right attitude and a willingness to share their lives with another person. They are paid a fixed amount, rather than an hourly rate and have access to preferential tax arrangements.

As of next month, anyone wishing to use one of Wiltshire's Household Recycling Centres may be asked to provide proof of entitlement before being allowed in.

The measures are to stop foreigners and aliens, including people from Swindon, from taking advantage of the tips to dump their rubbish. Anyone who can't provide proof of residence in the county will be asked to take their trash elsewhere.

Another large housing development on the edge of the town has been refused by WC planners. The outline application by Taylor Wimpey for land between Ashton Road and Green Lane was refused for eight reasons: it would be against planning policy; it would impact protected species; accesses onto Ashton Road were poorly designed; as a site in the countryside it would have to be car-based so was 'unsustainable'; lack of a secondary school contribution; no archaeological assessment; impact on the appearance of the rural location; inadequate provisions for infrastructure.

In July last year, China announced that as of January 2018 it would no longer accept contaminated western waste, mainly plastics and paper.

Despite the clear warning, the British government did nothing except express surprise when the ban came into force, trying to portray the Chinese as behaving unreasonably by refusing to take any more of our garbage.

The redevelopment of the East Wing and Ashton Street sites in Trowbridge will take a step forward after £700,000 was awarded by the government this week.

The bid was submitted to the Government's Land Release Fund by the One Wiltshire Estate Partnership - which consists of the council plus partners such as health services, Wiltshire Police, Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue and the Ministry of Defence, and aims to make efficient use of public sector land, facilities and services.

An outline application from Gladman Homes to build up to 120 dwellings on land at Wynsome Street has been thrown out by WC planning officers. Details on WC website.

The applicants can, if they wish, appeal against the decision to the government planning inspectorate.