Newsletter Archive
WVCP newsletters are produced every few months. Copies are sent to all listed organisations; many local businesses, including members of WITA; all members of the Civic Trust; any Town resident who has expressed an interest in our work; village chairs, clerks and some residents; the media, including the Journal, Wiltshire Times, White Horse News, Warminster Way and 3TRFM. Contacts for any village newsletters are being sought so that the material can be considered for inclusion. Copies are supplied to the WIC and Library.
Newsletter No. 1 - November 2006
Wake-up call to Warminster
Where will Warminster be in 20 years’ time ? What do its people aspire to ? How can they go about achieving their aspirations ? These were some of the questions put to delegates at an Open Meeting organised by the Warminster and Villages Community Partnership at the Athenaeum Centre on 21st October 2006. The speaker was Len Turner, former chairman of the Partnership.
Len pointed out that the former Local Plan and the Structure Plan covering Wiltshire and Swindon will be replaced by a “Spatial Strategy”, which has been in development for a number of years. It will predicate the number of houses that should be built in the South West for each year over the next two decades. West Wiltshire has been allocated about 525 a year, making 5,000 in total. Apart from the 250 for Trowbridge, the majority will be built in the community areas around Warminster, Westbury and Melksham. So, if the people of Warminster want an average of 80 a year they should start to make their case now.
Priority projects The meeting was opened by Tim Trounson, who has taken over from Len as Chairman of WVCP. He said the Partnership’s principal achievement had been the publication of a Community Plan and it had now brought that up to date with a list of priority projects that were currently being developed by local groups, or were in the planning stage. They included the Beckford Centre, The Athenaeum Centre, the Folly Lane development, the Smarter Warminster project and the Buy Local Initiative which comprised lists of businesses supplying products and services in Warminster and district.
Military aspects The Partnership was delighted to welcome to its meeting Lt. Col. Bill Common, of the Warminster Garrison, who has recently taken over from Colonel Mark Faulkner, director of the Garrison as its representative on the Partnership’s Management Committee. He explained that the garrison was very complex, covering Westbury as well as Warminster. It comprised three units : Land Warfare Centre, ABRO, and the Commissions Board Westbury. Most important of these was the LWC, which used to be called the School of Infantry. The garrison was, he said the biggest employer in the district and was well aware of the importance of maintaining a good relationship with the local community. The garrison assisted with the Town’s CCTV; garrison sports facilities could be used by local people and a Saddle Club was open to the public. To next page WVCP Newsletter Number 1 November 2006 Military aspects Continued Bill Common said it was anticipated that the regiment currently occupying the garrison, the 3Yorks, would not move on in three years’ time, but would be there for at least seven years, providing a welcome degree of continuity. Allenby/Connaught brief Another speaker on military subjects was Andy Fontana, Garrison Facilities Director for Aspire Defence, which is responsible for delivering the Allenby/Connaught brief, the projects set up by the Ministry of Defence to take over existing services, property management, transport, catering, etc. Between £8bn and £11bn worth of work is involved.
Village initiative Also at the Open Meeting Louis Hoareau, a member of the Partnership’s Management Committee, gave an account of a project successfully mounted in Codford designed to mitigate the nuisance suffered from vandalism and other anti-social behaviour by young people in the village. Youngsters were consulted and some £38,000 was raised to built a shelter, which has gone a long way to mitigate the problem. A full report on the Open Meeting is obtainable from the WVCP. Launching the Partnership Although the Warminster and Villages Community Partnership has been in existence for some three years it has never been formally established as an organisation. The reason for this was that in the early days the concern was to ensure that it was as inclusive as possible, involving representatives of local organisations, statutory bodies and inviduals. Meetings with local councils, however, now require those organisations involved to have a formal constitution. This is also important when applying for funding. The decision was made, therefore, to call an Inaugural General Meeting, approve a Constitution and elect a Management Committee.This was held immediately after the Open Meeting on 21st October. A Constitution was agreed and a Management Committee elected. Its members are : Digby Barker Elisabeth Collyns Bill Common Louis Hoareau Chris March Ann Merrills Michael Mounde Antony Nicklin Bill Parks Fleur de Rhé-Philipe Tim Trounson Len Turner Richard Violet The new Committee met immediately after the meeting, when Tim Trounson was elected Chairman. Elisabeth Collyns agreed to remain as Treasurer until a replacement could be found.W.I.C. .The Warminster Information Centre continues to flourish. It has Christmas cards supplied by some 30 charities and a range of items relating to Warminster as well as information on the Town and district. Tickets may be purchased for a number of events and locations, including Longleat and Centre Parcs. Also obtainable from the Centre is the new list of local products and produce drawn up by the Economy and Tourism Group of the Warminster and Villages Community Partnership.W.V.D.T. .The Warminster Information Centre was opened by the Warminster and Villages Development Trust, set up by the WVCP in order to be able to take over the management of the former Warminster Information Centre, when funding was withdrawn by the District Council. It is formally established as a company limited by guarantee and will be holding its Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, 16th January 2007 at a venue to be announced. This newsletter is published by the Warminster and Villages Community Partnership, c.o. Warminster Information Centre, Central Car Park, off Station Road, Warminster, BA12 9NT.
Enquiries can be made via e-mail to leslie.rocker@btinternet.com
Newsletter No. 2 - January 2007
Towards a unitary authority ?
A Government White paper published in October 2006 initiated moves to create unitary authorities in place of the current two-tier system. District and County Councils have been invited to make proposals for single-authority local government, or to provide what are described as “pathfinders” for new models of working between the two levels. Obviously views on the subject are sharply divided
West Wiltshire District Council sees the bid as a “major distraction, a “potential disruption to services”. It points out that it is already committed to delivering a very cost-effective service and creating improvements for West Wiltshire and wants to be able to concentrate on this work without the “politics of reorganisation and the bureau-cracy that goes with it”.
Through the White Paper, the Government has issued an invitation to Councils to make proposals for unitary local government and/or “pathfinders” for new models of working between District and County. It has concluded that “local government in two-tier areas faces challenges that can make it harder to achieve strong leader-ship and clear accountability”. It believes that there are risks of “confusion, duplication and inefficiency between tiers, creating particular challenges of capacity for smaller districts.
The County Council says it has not yet decided whether to respond to the invitation, although the District Council claims that WCC is “actively considering” the case and it believes this is already starting to have an adverse affect on some of the two Councils’ partnership working.
In an initial response to the proposal, however, Chief Executive Keith Robinson sets out the Government’s case in some detail. Financial considerations obviously are foremost in the motives for proposing a change. The Government apparently expects any initial costs to be recovered within less than five years and is not looking to councils to increase taxes to fund the reorganisation. Indeed, it is looking to councils to make substantial savings.
At a meeting held on 9th January (attended by the WVCP Chairman, Tim Trounson) Mr Robinson published the formal Summons Item and set out the Council’s Executive Summary. It is estimated that the transitional costs will be in the region of £20-£25mn during a period from 2007-2008 to 2009-2010. Savings could be in the range of £30-£40mn over the following three-year period. Thereafter saving would continue at approximately £15mn per annum.
Extensive consultation is envisaged, but the deadline is now imminent. Proposals have to be submitted by 25th January, this year, with an announcement by Govern-ment on its preliminary views in March and final decisions in July. The White Paper was published in October.
The Partnership has asked its members for their comments, which, like those of the Councils, are divided, fore and against. At the end of it all it may be only an academic exercise as it is apparently the Government’s intention only to receive offers from eight authorities. One District Council has decided not to pursue the option of a “pathfinder” in Wiltshire, which would require the involvement of all districts.
A plan for the Town Centre
The proposals for improving Warminster Town Centre have at long-last been published and are on display in the Library, together with the official Traffic Regulation Order. Months of consultation have gone into the production of the Plan, which is aimed specifically to make the centre more pedestrian-friendly and encourage shoppers from within the Town and outside.
Pedestrian crossings have been increased and rationalised and the lethal situation at the junction of Station Road and Market Place has been modified. On-street parking has been removed, but additional parking has been promised in the near vicinity. In its place there are delivery bays and taxi ranks, which may help to eradicate traffic congestion.
Inevitably, concerns have been expressed about some aspects of the proposals and there are now opportunities for further objections. The important thing, however, is to reach a measure of agreement in order that the plan does not go the way of the earlier attempt to introduce some measure of order into what is obviously a chaotic situation. The deadline for comments is 16.30 on 29th January.
To assist in the consultation process, WVCP Chairman, Tim Trounson, arranged a meeting of various interested bodies, including the Warminster Civic Trust, Warminster Development Trust and WITA, at which initially it appeared that a consensus was reached. He produced a briefing note for the Town Council and a compre-hensive matrix setting out in details the various proposals, and the reactions to them.
It appeared, however, that one contributor to the discussion, WITA did not accept that agreement had been reached and has decided that the whole plan is unacceptable. This contrasts with the reaction, for example, of the Civic Trust, which welcomes the plan in general and offers constructive proposals for ways in which it might be improved.
Discussions will no doubt continue. Anyone who would like to obtain copies of the WVCP comments and matrix, the Warminster Civic Trust report, or view the drawing of the WVCP amendments may obtain them on application to the address below.
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Community Area conference
The first annual conference of the Wiltshire Forum of Community Area Partnerships will be held at the Corn Exchange, Devizes, on Saturday 27th January. After a 15-minute Annual General Meeting at 9.45, the rest of the morning will be taken up with an exciting programme of speakers and workshop presentations, designed to support partnerships in their activities. There will be three key-note speakers : Ben Hamilton-Baillie, a specialist in urban design and traffic management; Trevor Cherret, from the Commission for Rural Communities, a national think-tank committed to tackling the problems of rural disadvantage; and Elinor Goodman, a distinguished commentator, who was political editor of Channel 4 News from 1988 to 2005, and has also worked for the FT.
Workshops will include : A discussion on an award-winning riverside enhancement scheme in Evesham; a descrip-tion of another award-winning scheme in Pershore;. a discussion on alternative approaches to rural housing;
a “taster session” on how to develop a project and prepare it for funding; community shops;
and an introduction to DIY “street audits”.
Entry to the conference is free and is open to about five members from each partnership. Anyone wishing to register should contact the WVCP at the address below. The deadline is officially 8th January, but no doubt there is some flexibility.
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WVDT AGM
The Annual General Meeting of the Warminster and Villages Development Trust will take place at 6.0 pm on Tuesday, 16th January. The venue will be the upstairs meeting room at the Organ Inn, High Street.
It will include election of Board members. According to the Trust’s Constitution three of the nine Board members are required to stand down each year. They may be re-elected, but on this occasion two of them have indicated that they do not wish to stand again. Nominations from other interested parties would, therefore, be welcomed. Enquiries from anyone who feels they have a role to play in this community service may be made to the address below.
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This Newsletter is published by the Warminster and Villages Community Partnership, c.o. WIC, Central Car Park, off Station Road, Warminster, BA12 9NT.
Enquiries can also be made by e-mail to leslie.rocker@btinternet.com
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