Trevor Carbin Liberal Democrat

The first of Wiltshire Council's projects to make it easier and safer for pedestrians and cyclists to access shops, businesses and places of work has been completed in Chippenham.

The scheme, along part of the A420, has created a segregated cycleway to help link Bumpers Farm to the town centre, giving cyclists easy access to the centre of the town.

Businesses in Wiltshire are being urged to apply for grant funding before the schemes close on Friday 28 August 2020.

Nearly 7,500 businesses in the county have benefitted from either a £10,000 Small Business Grant, or a £10,000 or £25,000 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant. This funding, which does not have to be repaid, has offered a lifeline to many small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.

Wiltshire Council will need to find another employment use for a site at Sadlers Mead, Chippenham, after local company Good Energy pulled out.

COVID-19, and the rise in homeworking, have contributed to the decision, which will see Good Energy expand into another floor at the council's Monkton Park offices, and also repay fees the council spent on designing the building.

It's not really surprising that when you have a consultation on reopening libraries that people say they want them open asap. So WC's phony consultation, designed to delay opening, has, as predicted, been farcical. Here's the WC announcement:

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Following a recent Wiltshire Council public consultation on reopening some library services during the COVID-19 pandemic, the libraries in Chippenham, Salisbury and Trowbridge will open their doors to the public, for the first time since 20 March, next week.

Wiltshire Council is spending £60,000 on a new signal controlled pedestrian crossing on Trowbridge Road, Bradford, to help reduce the danger caused by car drivers to schoolchildren and other pedestrians.

The crossing is being installed near St Laurence Road following a request from Fitzmaurice Primary School.

A resolution to support Wiltshire Air Ambulance's fight for proper compensation after the Novichok attack has won the backing of Wiltshire Council. The motion was put forward by Salisbury Lib Dem Councillor Brian Dalton.

Reacting to his success, Brian said,

"I am delighted that my motion got overwhelming cross-party support from my fellow Wiltshire Councillors. We all know how important our Air Ambulance is, how brave their whole team is and that they have not got fair treatment from the promises made by the Government.

After a two-hour debate involving more than 20 Wiltshire Councillors, WC voted by 52 to 31 to reject a resolution encouraging cycling, walking and horse riding.

The surprise result comes as town and parish councils put forward over 200 new schemes to do just that. The government has also provisionally awarded the council £900,000 to support these schemes.

For our libraries WC is running a phony consultation as an excuse to delay re-opening, unlike other local authorities which have just gone ahead. No such duplicity with leisure centres, where there's a bit of dosh to be made: re-opening will take place as soon as possible. Here's the announcement:

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A message from A350 Corridor Alliance:

Wiltshire Council remains set on its perverse course of greenfield development and undesirable road building. This is a council that has never indulged in rational planning, where housing needs are considered together with the social and transport problems of neglected town centres. It has consistently pursued its bizarre road ambitions through whatever means irresponsible central government provides - Local Enterprise Partnerships, Housing Infrastructure Fund etc. The processes are entirely unaccountable (central government now takes no interest in how public money is spent or whether there is any value for money) and devoid of any process of public consultation.

Trowbridge councillor Stewart Palmen will present a petition to Wiltshire Council next Tuesday. You can read about the problems caused by the siting of the current crossing, and sign the petition, here.

According to the complex WC constitution, this petition has sufficient signatures to be presented to Council, but does not reach the threshold for debate.