Trevor Carbin Liberal Democrat

Sadlers Mead car park will be closed for 11 months as work begins on creating a new surface and multi-storey car park.

The new car park will increase the number of spaces from the current 165 to 237, with three coach spaces and six motorcycle spaces. There will also be 12 electric car charging points.

Trowbridge Sports Centre was shut down by Wiltshire Council at Christmas following structural examinations exposing the need for urgent repairs.

The facility will partially reopen in the next month.

Wiltshire Council is working to get the dry side facilities in the centre open as quickly as possible. Significant remedial works are required to the swimming pool section, and it is anticipated these will be completed by the summer.

In November 2018 Bradford on Avon & Melksham Health Partnership (BoAMHP) submitted an application to Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group (WCCG) to close St Damian's Branch Surgery in Melksham. Following consultation the application was rejected by the CCG in January 2019.

BoAMHP are now having another go. Here's what they say:

Soon after its formation, Wiltshire Council got rid of its chief executive and had a triumverate of semior officers running the show. Now with a new leader of council in Philip Whitehead it's been announced that one of the three will go, leaving two chiefs. One will deal with 'People' and one with 'Place'.

Despite being given £7.3million from the Central Government Pothole Fund and spending a further £500k on reactive highway maintenance, Wiltshire Council says there will inevitably be potholes on the roads and drivers are being reminded to report them so they can be dealt with.

Drivers can report potholes by using the MyWiltshire App - which can be downloaded on smart phones or accessed on the council website at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/mywiltshire-online-reporting

Wiltshire Council originally wanted to close and flog off the outdoor education centre sites at Oxenwood and Braeside, but residents and opposition councillors persuaded them to look for a more positive use. Now after a tortuous transition process Oxenwood has been taken over by Community First and Braeside in Devizes has gone to Classes Abroad. Here's the WC release:

The application from the town council is for a new sports facility to include a fenced and floodlit 3G Artificial Grass Pitch and a pavilion, with new community coaching and education rooms and a training room/gym for use by football and rugby club users. A new access road and additional parking is also proposed.

The true scale of almost a decade of savage austerity cuts to local communities across Britain have been revealed in a study by UNISON, which shows the impact of huge reductions in council funding.

A series of freedom of information (FoI) requests across England, Scotland and Wales examined the changes in local services between 2010 and 2019 for several key council services, including youth centres, public toilets, libraries and subsidised bus routes.

That's about £40 - £50 for most properties. Councils are normally capped at 2%, but those with social care responsibilities - counties and unitaries - will be allowed an extra 2%.

The likely increase is revealed in a report for December's WC 'cabinet' meeting. (Agenda - see item 7)

Council tax is effectively set by central government these days, with very little scope for local authorities to do other than as specified by Westminster.

Wiltshire Police are urging people to be vigilant after a Wiltshire couple were defrauded by scammers posing as police officers.

The couple were contacted over the phone by a man who claimed to be a police officer investigating fraud.

He told them someone had attempted to use their bank card fraudulently and told them to dial 999 to speak to their local force.

But he kept the line open, meaning the victims were still speaking to the fraudsters.

The victims then followed the instructions of the criminals, still believing they were police officers, and withdrew a large amount of cash, which was collected by someone pretending to be a courier.

Det Con Emma Wood, from Swindon CID, said this case showed how convincing and persuasive these types of fraudsters can be.
She said: "The victims in this case genuinely believed they were speaking to police officers and that they needed to cooperate with their requests or they could lose more money to fraudsters or even be arrested for perverting the course of justice.

"This is why it is so important that we remind people of the simple steps they can take to avoid being scammed in this way.

"Please remember, a police officer would never ask you to withdraw money and give it to them.

"They would also be able to meet you face-to-face and show you ID, and would be happy for you to verify their credentials by calling 101.

"If you receive a suspicious phone call then please hang up the phone and report it. Don't feel worried about appearing rude, it is better to be safe than sorry."

She added: "We would also like to urge people to speak to their friends and family members about these types of cases, particularly those who are elderly or vulnerable - we want to protect as many people as possible."