Trevor Carbin Liberal Democrat

More mysterious goings-on at Wiltshire Council as it tries to justify its actions at Furlong Close, which as regular readers will know is a care home and supported living facility for people with a learning disability and/or autism or mental health conditions.

WC has been conducting a tender process to find an alternative provider of services at Furlong Close following the withdrawal of previous providers HfT.

It now says it's chosen to abandon the procurement as there has been "a change in economic and factual circumstances."

Wiltshire and Swindon Liberal Democrats have announced that their candidate for the Wiltshire and Swindon Police and Crime Commissioner election re-run is Cllr Dr Brian Mathew. Previous candidate Liz Webster is not seeking the nomination for personal and family reasons.

In endorsing Dr Brian Mathew and explaining her decision Liz Webster said:

There have been reports in the media recently about plastic from the UK being sent to Turkey to be burnt. That won't be ours, as neither Wiltshire Council or its waste contractors export any plastics to Turkey.

More than 5,450 tonnes of plastic, collected from Wiltshire households and the household recycling centres, were sent for recycling in 2019/20.

72% of this went to re-processing plants in the UK, where it was pelletised and sold to the manufacturing industry. The remaining 28% went to recycling plants in Germany, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

WC has signed up to the Resource Associations' End Use of Recycling Charter, which provides transparency on the destinations of all recycled materials. The council gets monthly reports from our contractors that detail where all collected materials are sent for re-processing or disposal.

From Terence Herbert, Chief Executive, Wiltshire Council:

"Following the Police and Crime Commissioner election count on Monday I have taken appropriate legal advice and spoken with the Cabinet Office, Wiltshire Police and the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner. There is a clear legal process for me to follow.

The count for the Wiltshire and Swindon Police and Crime Commissioner elections has been completed today (Monday 10 May).

The results of the first preference votes are as follows:

• Junab Ali (Labour): 34147
• Julian Malins (Reform UK): 4348
• Brig Oubridge (Green): 16606
• Mike Rees (Independent): 31722
• Jonathon Seed (Conservative): 84885
• Liz Webster (Liberal Democrats): 35013

Wiltshire's outgoing Conservative administration is afraid its treatment of residents of Furlong Close in Rowde is not going down well with the electorate, so is frantically putting out press releases via County Hall. Campaigners though have pointed out that the latest of these contains the usual self-justifying contortions. Emails seen by the campaigners reveal the administration's complicity in attempting to close the facility without consideration for or consultation with the residents and their families.

The former pub site has remained vacant for a number of years. Now Selwood Housing are hoping to build houses on it.

They say the site will be developed into a mix of affordable homes, some available for rent and some for purchase through shared ownership. Subject to planning, 10 affordable homes will be built on the site with high-quality design and energy efficiency being at the core of the build.

Further details and a consultation feedback form can be found on their website.

Wiltshire Council has paid out more than £11m in the recently announced Restart Grants to 1,520 businesses, and is now opening the window for new applications to support businesses as they reopen following the easing of lockdown. In total, £156m has been paid so far during the pandemic.

From Tuesday 27 April, new applications in sectors such as non-essential retail businesses, and hospitality businesses such as personal care, pubs, leisure and hotels, can apply for these grants to help them recover from the pandemic - if they haven't already received a grant.

Wiltshire Council has successfully bid for £4.4m from the Government's Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme to reduce carbon emissions.

The award, which totals £4,452,281, will be spent on a series of energy efficiency and decarbonisation schemes that will update the heating systems and generate electricity at several Wiltshire Council buildings.

250 Wiltshire families have not got their primary school preference for this September with only 95% being offered their first preference. About 50 parents didn't get any of their three choices.

Parents who applied online can see which school their child will attend by going to https://admissions.wiltshire.gov.uk/prefs.php