Trevor Carbin Liberal Democrat

Here's a message from Wiltshire Climate Alliance. The councillor referred to represents Nadder and East Knoyle.

"Bridget Wayman is a Wiltshire Council Cabinet member who leads on Roads and Transport for the Council. For several years she has been retweeting ridiculous stuff that she finds on climate denying websites. This cannot be allowed to continue, and we must do all we can to get rid of her. At last, the Gazette & Herald has highlighted this. Wouldn't it be great if we had an avalanche of comments on their website explaining how ridiculous this is and how unacceptable it is that she still holds a cabinet position. Here is the LINK to the relevant page of the Gazette & Herald - Its very easy to register and leave a comment!"

Town, parish and county elections happen every four years on the same day, so as Wiltshire Council has to pay for the county elections anyway, no charge has been made to the parishes for theirs. This system was inherited from the local District Councils.

Now WC's Conservative administration wants to make the parishes pay. The decision will be made at the cabinet meeting on February 5 and then confirmed by the full council on Feb 23.

Following some confusion and uncertainty around the vaccination programme the NHS Clinical Commissioning Group has launched a new website for vaccination queries from the public.

Questions about the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine in our region can be answered by visiting https://www.bswccg.nhs.uk/latest-covid-19-updates.

Due to COVID-19 all Rights of Way and Countryside volunteering has been cancelled, so a backlog of blockages and poor maintenance is building up.

Meanwhile Wiltshire Council is asking landowners to keep public rights of way as clear as possible during 2021.

Having been through almost a year of restrictions, people have been using local places to walk for exercise, and residents are regularly informing the council that pathways are blocked.

Wiltshire's Conservative administration is proposing massive housing estates in and around the county's market towns and villages. The formal consultation on this starts today.

The administration has previously lost control of the planning process by not having a five year land supply, so the balance of power has tilted heavily in favour of developers.

The problem of providers profiteering and giving out junk food parcels has resurfaced, this time in the context of Free School Meals, with the national media picking up on the story. Wiltshire Council as the Local Education Authority has striven to distance itself from the debate, blaming school governors for letting down their pupils. Here's the WC statement:

Wiltshire Council wants to build a big road with lots of housing on fields around Chippenham, and is inviting residents and businesses to comment on the proposals.

During an eight-week consultation period, which starts on Friday 15 January, people can view and comment on three distributor road options and two link road options to Pewsham Way.

Wiltshire Council's Conservative administration has lost control of the planning process by failing to keep a five year land supply. Also the government is promoting increased housebuilding, so a Plan Review is in process.

An online consultation runs from Wednesday 13 January until Tuesday 9 March.

Wiltshire residents, businesses and town and parish councils can sign up for online events. Each event relates to a particular settlement, and there are also two events for rural areas, which include all other Wiltshire villages and settlements that are not covered in the other 15 events. The online events will be held from 7pm-8pm on the dates shown:

Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service is planning to remove the Technical Rescue Units from Trowbridge and Chippenham Fire Stations.

The petition against this is at: https://www.change.org/p/dorset-wiltshire-fire-authority-stop-the-removal-of-vital-rescue-equipment-from-wiltshire-92ff7833-55e3-41ce-b9ae-f417b1ba0192/w?source_location=petition_nav

There's an order and collect service, with bookable computers, at a number of libraries across the county.

The exact opening days and times of each library are at https://pages.wiltshire.gov.uk/librarylocations.htm.

Here's how to work the Order and Collect service:

• Let your local library know what kind of books you enjoy. This can be done by completing an online form or by phoning the library during their opening times
• The council will need to know your library card number and phone number
• Twelve books will then be selected on your behalf or 20 for a family - audiobooks can also be selected if you have an audiobook subscription or membership exemption
• When the books are available, the council's library team will contact you to arrange collection.
• When you arrive, a librarian will ask to see your library card, and will then pass on the books
• If you wish to reserve a specific book, you can use the council's normal reservation service. Books can be reserved via the online catalogue for 95p
• Books are loaned for three weeks and will need to be renewed, if you wish to keep them longer. They can be returned through the library letter box at any time
• All returned books will be stored for 72 hours before being put back on the shelves.