Trevor Carbin Liberal Democrat

Wiltshire's Conservative council leader Philip Whitehead has asked councillors and candidates not to respond to emails about Furlong Close, the facility for vulnerable residents which the council is attempting to dispose of. "Individuals trying to make this an election matter will not help the situation at all," he says.

In the run-up to the local elections, Wiltshire Council has publicly shared its correspondence with key figures on Bath Clean Air Zone (CAZ) after agreeing to do so in its Cabinet meeting on Tuesday 16 March.

Wiltshire Council has adopted a petulant approach to the CAZ, instead of working constructively to deal with any extra traffic coming into the county.

The Private Eye column exposes alleged mis-doings in local government. Unfortunately Wiltshire Council has made another appearance. (The previous mention was a couple of issues ago).

This time it's about WC over-allocating nearly 5,000 houses in the 2036 Local Plan. Credit is given to a Cabinet member who 'is right behind the scheme' and just happens to be an estate agent.

Having got rid of all the useful youthful stuff such as youth workers, Wiltshire Council is now trying to replace it with a talking shop.

The "Child and Youth Voice Team" has been launched by the outgoing administration as a pre-election gimmick.

The team will, "engage with children and young people from a diverse range of backgrounds from a variety of youth groups across the county, including children in care, asylum seeking children, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and other young people that are being supported by statutory services."

The Wiltshire Wellbeing Hub is taking on an additional role from 1 April.

The hub has provided support, guidance and signposting to assist those at highest risk of serious illness if they contract COVID-19 - the clinically vulnerable and clinically extremely vulnerable.

Wiltshire Council has teamed with volunteer groups, voluntary and community sector and the food industry to help in providing access to essential goods and facilities for those in need.

The asymptomatic lateral flow testing sites in Wiltshire are changing from Wednesday 31 March, with the Trowbridge (County Hall), Chippenham (Monkton Park) and Salisbury (Five Rivers Health and Wellbeing Centre) test sites closing and a new collection model starting at sites across the county.

Devizes Leisure Centre will continue as it is, offering in-person asymptomatic testing which can be booked online. The Devizes site has also started a collection service, and Monkton Park in Chippenham and Bourne Hill in Salisbury are also now offering the option to collect lateral flow test kits for use at home.

Wiltshire Council is urging businesses and organisations in the county to submit plans for funding that will help Wiltshire communities.

The Community Renewal Fund is worth £220m across the UK.

Projects need to align with one or more of the fund's four investment priorities:

• Investment in skills - such as work-based training, retraining and promoting digital skills.
• Investment for local business - for example supporting entrepreneurs, creating jobs, or decarbonisation measures.
• Investment in communities and place - such as studies for delivering local energy projects, culture-led regeneration, improving green spaces and preserving important local assets.
• Supporting people into employment - including addressing barriers to employment and developing basic skills.

Applications for these are due to open in early April.

Restart Grants support high street businesses as they recover from COVID, with grants worth up to £6,000 for non-essential retail businesses, and up to £18,000 for hospitality businesses such as personal care, pubs, leisure and hotels. As with previous grants, the amount a business can be awarded will depend on its rateable value.

A message from the WBCT:

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The Wilts & Berks Canal Trust is a registered charity, manned 99% by volunteers. We are working in partnership with Wiltshire, Swindon and Oxfordshire Councils to restore 70 miles (112 km) of a heritage canal that runs from Semington to the Thames at Cricklade via Swindon and also eastwards to Abingdon, again on the Thames. We want to brief you about our work, plans and ambitions. We hope that you will be supportive of our efforts to replicate the benefits of canal restoration in public wellbeing and the enhancement of the natural environment that have already been delivered across much of Britain.

Canal restoration creates a tranquil and environmentally friendly green and blue linear park for the benefit of everybody of all ages, whether walkers, joggers, cyclists, anglers, canoeists or boaters. Here is an overview map of our route.

It started on March 15th.

Older lorries and buses are being charged £100 per day to go into the city, with older vans and taxis having to pay £9.

There's no charge for private cars or motorbikes.

Will it send more traffic into West Wiltshire? We don't know yet - it's difficult to work out what proportion of HGVs are affected. WC traffic counts should be able to tell us if there's a drastic change in traffic movements.