Trevor Carbin Liberal Democrat

Wiltshire Council will be working on the signals on the A365/B3109 Box Fiveways junction, from 13 June to 1 July.

The work will see the signals upgraded with the latest technology, which will allow for remote monitoring and adjustments to the signal timings to manage traffic flows. At the same time, the streetlights in the area will be upgraded to LEDs, the junction will be resurfaced, and new road markings and studs will be installed on the 5 roads that adjoin the junction.

The labour shortage is hitting WC leisure centres as people leave to work elsewhere. So the council is doing a recruitment campaign. If you relish the challenge of doing a demanding job for low wages then this could be for you. You'd even get discounts at the leisure centres!

Wiltshire Council is looking for people to work in leisure centres, including the new Melksham Community Campus.

The site in Salisbury will resume operation on Monday 23 May.

For the last two years the Beehive has played an important part in the Covid-19 response and has been used as a drive-through testing facility. It is one of five Park and Ride sites in Salisbury:

• Beehive A345 Castle Road (north)
• Britford A338 Downton Road (south)
• London Road A30 London Road (north east)
• Petersfinger A36 Southampton Road (south east)
• Wilton off A36 The Avenue (west)

Wiltshire Council is writing to all households eligible for the £150 Government energy rebate that don't pay their council tax by direct debit, explaining what they need to do to claim the one-off payment.

All households in England whose primary residence is in council tax bands A to D are entitled to the payment.

Statement from the GMB Union:

"GMB members at Wiltshire Council took strike action on 7th May, and a further strike is planned for 17th May.

The strike involves traffic wardens, who are opposing a 10% pay cut caused by the proposed removal of a contractual unsocial hours payment.

In all, 350 staff are affected by the proposed pay cut. Social workers would lose 20%, and other staff 10%.

The Liberal Democrats are proposing a rescue package for rural communities in the Queen's Speech that have been "forgotten about" by the Government.

The Liberal Democrats have demanded that the Queen's Speech address some of the glaring issues being faced by people living in the countryside, such as long ambulance waiting times and the pumping of raw sewage into rivers and waterways.

Planning applications in the River Test catchment in Wiltshire are required by law to be nitrogen neutral. Some planning applications have been held up for over 18 months because there was no viable way of achieving that.

Neutrality can be obtained by offsetting. Developers pay money to compensate for the pollution their buildings generate. The council takes the money and uses it to reduce nitrogen production elsewhere.

The Liberal Democrats have criticised the Government for presiding over an ambulance waiting time crisis "spiralling out of control", as new figures show that people across the country are facing increasingly dangerous delays.

A Parliamentary Question tabled by the party's health spokesperson Daisy Cooper has revealed that people in need of emergency medical attention, are waiting almost twenty minutes longer on average than they would have two years ago.

In December 2021 an article on this website explained this scheme. Now WC is launching a campaign to encourage people to sign up.

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Wiltshire residents are being encouraged to come together to invest in renewable energy generation through a group-buying scheme for solar panels and battery storage.

An online event will be held at 6:30pm on Monday 16 May for people to find out more information and ask questions on the support available locally.

There will be updates on the work to support refugees including accommodation checks and payments for sponsors through the Homes for Ukraine scheme and help with school places. There will also be discussion of community support and how people can be involved.

Anyone can join the webinar by using this link: https://bit.ly/3kBbOsc

Approximately 2,800 households have registered for the Homes for Ukraine scheme and currently 375 households have been matched with 1,034 individuals.