Tree-felling development rejected by councillors

IT pleases me to see that what a councillor called "ecological vandalism on a grand scale” by a developer is not to be rewarded. Not yet, at least.

Wiltshire’s southern area planning committee yesterday registered its opposition to the construction of 32 houses on former garden land off Southampton Road, Alderbury.

Prior to the planning application being submitted, 150 mature trees on the site were ring-barked and felled, making an ecological assessment of its former value as a wildlife habitat impossible.

The councillors were shown slides of what now looks like a patch of scrubland.

Cllr Richard Britton described the developers’ offer to join every householder up to a wildlife trust as “a joke, surely”, and their proposal to provide each home with bat and bird boxes as “window dressing”.

He pointed out that planners are supposed to approve developments that improve biodiversity and said that the scheme for 32 houses on the plot in question “goes nowhere near enough to provide green corridors and dark spaces”.

The committee also heard that Alderbury has seen a 14 per cent growth in housing in recent years, “more than its fair share”, and this plot is outside its officially approved development boundary.

Wiltshire strategy defines it as a large village where there should be “not too much” development, an officer explained.

Residents voiced worries about the road access, where speeding traffic trying to get to the front of the queues on the A36 is already a danger.

One said the developers had shown “complete and utter contempt for the planning system” and an area of pleasant woodland had been reduced to a wasteland.

Parish council chairman Elaine Hartford said the site had been “desecrated”. The loss of trees would increase the likelihood of flooding, and proposal was for overdevelopment that would be totally out of character in a rural village.

No representative of the developers, 1215 Heritage Homes, spoke at the online meeting, which the public were able to follow on Microsoft Teams.

The company has appealed against the council’s failure to rule for or against the application despite protracted negotiations, and the issue will now be settled by a government inspector.

Why are we Brits so submissive?

ONE thing that’s surprised me during the pandemic panic has been the willingness – in fact, eagerness - of the public to be told what to do, even when the edicts of our authorities are patently illogical or contradictory.

Our Prime Minister (God help us!) makes a stupid fuss about Rule Britannia at the Proms and our right to bawl that “Britons never, never, never shall be slaves,” and then expects students to slavishly accept rules that turn them into prisoners paying through the nose for their own detention by private security guards. Which is immoral, if not illegal.

We have to accept that we won't be allowed to sit and sip a coffee in Costa if we don't use their track and trace system, which requires a smartphone. It happened to someone I know in Salisbury the other day.

I don’t mind jotting down my name and address in a restaurant in case they need to contact-trace me, but there must be plenty of people who can’t use a smartphone-based system, so now it appears it’s OK to treat them as undesirables. And we meekly swallow it along with our cappucino.

Support local independents, that's what I say!

This same friend tells me she was shopping in Tesco this week when a very attractive cut-price offer caught her eye.

Then she spotted the caveat. It was for Clubcard holders only. There were lots of other deals to which the same limitation applied.

Now everyone knows that store cards are designed to gather information about our individual shopping habits and lifestyles. They can gauge our financial health by how much we spend, and a lot about our physical health by what we spend it on, whether that’s remedies for piles or ten bottles of gin.

It’s no surprise to me when Waitrose send out occasional money-off coupons that just happen to apply to the groceries we buy most frequently.

But now I come to think about it, that’s not much better.

Offering bargains only to people who sign up to have their lives pried on by supermarket spyware. Is that really right?

The Tesco-shopping friend in question always pays cash. She refuses to have store cards of any description, precisely because she values her privacy.

That might be a step too far for most of us.

But do question, regularly, what you’re giving away about yourself to businesses and the authorities, on and offline, and what they do with it.

And be careful. Ask yourself what they have done to earn your trust.

 

Take the survey, what are your Salisbury priorities?

PEOPLE can be forgiven for reacting with cynicism when politicians ask us what we want. 

Salisbury’s experience suggests that even if we tell them, we usually get what our overlords think is good for us anyway. Or whatever it was they wanted in the first place. Or a fait accompli. Certain traffic and cycling schemes spring to mind. And those are just the latest examples.

But here’s a five-minute questionnaire with one difference. It comes from the Liberal Democrats. And because their chances of achieving power in this area are not all that high (sorry chaps!) we can, perhaps, take it at face value, i.e. that they actually want to know what voters think about living in this neck of the woods.

Here are some of the things it gives you a chance to voice an opinion on:

What local shops merit praise for their community spirit? What would make you buy more locally? How do you rate the performance of the NHS, the government, and Wiltshire Council?

Is Wiltshire doing enough to protect green spaces, and if not, what would you like to see?

How can we improve walking and cycling routes locally?

What are your top three priorities for the city? (It’s hardly a surprise that a bypass is currently the front runner.)

Armed with this information it is to be hoped that the party can press for improvements in the way our local government operates.

Got to be worth a try, however you normally vote. Here’s the link:

https://wiltshirelibdems.org.uk/en/page/wiltshire-lib-dem-residents-survey

Planning battle over site where 150 trees felled

THERE'S a very interesting planning battle coming up.

It involves a site in Alderbury where a developer wants to build up to 32 homes.

The thing that's grabbed my attention is that according to Wiltshire Council paperwork, about 150 mature trees were felled before the planning application was submitted.

This, understandably, has upset many people - the parish council and Wiltshire's ecologist, among others.

It means, the ecologist says, that nothing could be done about assessing or protecting the wildlife on the site, referred to as "land to the east of Wagtails, Southampton Road". Plus there is "anecdotal evidence" of some felling taking place during the bird nesting season.

The developers say that they will give every household a wildlife camera, boxes to house hedgehogs, bats and birds, a bug hotel, and Wildlife Trust membership.

The ecologist says this is "not suitable or adequate" compensation for what has already been lost.

This is by no means the only objection, and following what they call "a protracted period of discussions and negotiations" (I bet!) developers 1215 Heritage Homes have appealed to the planning inspectorate on the grounds of Wiltshire's 'failure to determine' their application.

This means that an inspector will now consider written arguments submitted by both sides and decide whether the development can go ahead.

Wiltshire's southern area planning committee are due to debate the scheme on Tuesday (September 29) and officers are recommending that they oppose it.

You can read all about it on the wiltshire.gov.uk website by typing in the application number 19/11206/OUT on the planning section.

Or you can look up the agenda papers under the 'councillors, committees and meetings' heading. And that should also give you a link to follow the meeting live online.

Some might think there is an issue of principle at stake here. I am sure other developers will be eagerly awaiting the outcome.

But it is hard to guess whether cash-strapped councillors will have an appetite for a potentially expensive fight, or indeed what an inspector will make of it when the Prime Minister is urging the nation to build at all costs.

Cycle lane costs B&B a booking, plus wise words from ex-MP Rob Key

SOMETIMES it seems as if the only thing we Brits are good at is making a mess of things.

I'm convinced some Tories voted for Boris Johnson as their leader because he was popular on TV, being all dishevelled and amusing on Have I Got News For You. They thought it would go down well with the public.

Well, have I got news for them. You've been had! I should think Ian Hislop, Paul Merton and their producers must be ruing the day they hauled him aboard and helped make him a household name.

It's beginning to dawn on even his most ardent fans that things aren't going swimmingly.

Our former MP Robert Key's got it sussed. He recently agreed, with a sad heart, with a Twitter complaint that under its current regime the Tory party is "the most dangerous political force of our lifetimes", and is "corrupt" and "dishonest".

From a moderate Conservative with a long and honourable record of service to our city and to Parliament, who has tried his level best to give John Glen a clear run at the job without interference, that's a condemnation that should make voters stop and think.

Incidentally, you can hear a fascinating podcast interview with Mr Key, ranging over music, politics and life in this city, on the very good mySalisbury.co.uk (which I am not paid to plug) by just typing his name into the search box on their website.

Meanwhile, here's another thing we're busy making a hash of.

Making Salisbury more pedestrian and cycle-friendly. Great in principle, but throwing up a lot of practical problems (see previous posts) that ought to have been foreseen.

Installing a cycle lane in Exeter Street means, as I've told you before, getting rid of residents' parking spaces and forcing them to park away from their homes, in The Friary, for example.

Now the proprietors of one of the B&Bs in the street have taken to Twitter to tell of a customer cancelling his booking when he was informed about these arrangements.

"This is the start of it regarding our business," they say. "Thank you, Wiltshire Council."

This highly-regarded B&B is part of our vital tourist industry.

Is it really asking too much of Salisbury's distant rulers that they actually consult and listen to the locals about what will work for them before they impose changes such as this?

Rule of Six? It's a Rule of Eight or Nine round here!

WELL, what a stroke of luck that Salisbury’s People in the Park event took place on Saturday.

Two days later and it would presumably have fallen foul of Mr Johnson’s Rule of Six, aka Recipe for Utter Confusion.

Our Transition group organised a lovely event in Lizzie Gardens, sociable and friendly but with ample space for everyone to keep their distance, and masks on sale for those like me who had left theirs at home.

Anyone wanting to do their bit for the future wellbeing of our city and the planet would have found something they could support or join in.

Followed as it was on Sunday by David Attenborough’s heartbreaking documentary (by all accounts - I didn’t watch because I find images of suffering wildlife too upsetting) about the many species facing extinction, it was a timely reminder that whether or not we get on top of Covid, we are on the brink of destroying the environment we depend on.

So, the Rule of Six.

Well, there appeared to be a Rule of At Least Eight going on in Harnham on Monday.

A keep-fit class of nine or ten in one corner of the park (I know, sports are allowed, but those same people wouldn’t be allowed to have a coffee together afterwards. How incomprehensible is that?) and a group of eight ladies on folding chairs, at what I’d consider to be a perfectly responsible distance apart, enjoying a chat further along.

Five of us dog-walkers stood in a well-spaced circle joking that we had ‘room for one more’.

But everyone I spoke to on my 90-minute walk was frankly puzzled as to the logic of this latest edict, and what they could and couldn’t do. And because of that, they were generally of the opinion that it would be widely ignored.

They told me of people still flying in from abroad without any checks. And the media have been full all weekend of horror stories about even medical professionals being told to travel hundreds of miles to get themselves tested, if tests are available at all.

If a bunch of reasonably well-educated, well-meaning residents of leafy suburbia can’t quite figure out what’s going on, what hope is there that stupid people will understand, let alone do what they’re meant to?

Oh, and the name Dominic Cummings did crop up, in terms of why the public might have lost faith.

This is not leadership in any meaningful sense of the word.

 

 

Want a Covid test? See you in Scotland!

SO people from Salisbury are being advised to take the high road to Scotland to get a Covid test.

It would make a great 'Chance' card for the new Salisbury Monopoly set, wouldn't it? 'You are feeling poorly. Go directly to Inverness. Do not pass Go. Do not collect £200.'

It’s increasingly obvious to me that we’re being led by a bunch of jokers, but this isn’t really funny.

It doesn’t matter how many times Smirker-In-Chief Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Matt Hancock and their cronies pop up on our TV screens protesting that their ‘world-beating’ system’s working pretty well on the whole.

That simply isn’t borne out by the reported experiences of far too many members of the public.

I genuinely do not understand how, with the constant flip-flopping of advice about where we can go, with whom, and under what circumstances, this particular bunch of politicians can expect to be taken seriously.

The basic public health message, on the other hand – which is to be ultra-cautious, stay home a lot, wash your hands a lot more, then cross your fingers and hope it’s not your turn - does need to be taken seriously.

But with no end to the pandemic in sight, plenty of otherwise sane Brits simply don’t follow it any more.

Because they’re told it’s OK to head to sunnier climes for a holiday. Having forked out on air fares and hotels they’re suddenly told it’s desperately important to come back RIGHT THIS MINUTE and pay through the nose for new plane tickets. They get home from these ‘danger zones’, and they’re not even Covid-tested.

These rules can only be made by leaders who’ve forgotten or never known what it’s like to have to save up all year for anything.

Back in Blighty, people are urged to get back to work if they've still got any, and ‘eat out to help out', then ticked off for socialising too much, or in the wrong way.

I feel so sorry for our young people, their lives stuck on hold, being blamed for trying to have fun. I know some of them push the boundaries, but even us oldies can’t all stay indoors all the time. It’s getting very boring.

And it’s no use the Health Secretary complaining that testing capacity is being used up by people who aren’t showing symptoms when we know that many carriers are symptomless.

How are we supposed to know if we’ve got it, or if we’ve had it, when no one can find out unless they’re visibly extremely unwell? Do we want to risk passing it on unwittingly? No, we very rightly don’t!

I had a nasty flu-type bug in early March and took longer than usual to get back to normal, experiencing other health issues. But I have no idea whether Covid was to blame. There wasn’t a testing option.

It’s not actually irresponsible to seek information about your own wellbeing. It’s just inconvenient for a government that has totally failed to step up to the plate and make adequate provision.

 

A festive fiasco in store for Salisbury? Christmas event cancelled

IT seems there’ll be precious little festive fun in Salisbury this year.

No Playhouse panto, and a Christmas market has been ruled out due to a distinct lack of enthusiasm from potential stallholders.

City officials gamely came up with plans for an alternative, scaled-down event, focused on half a dozen food kiosks, a ‘destination bar’, and some socially distanced entertainment, where families could sit safely in ‘bubbles’ to enjoy activities such as face painting, story time with Santa, and wreath-making.

All of it, naturally, designed for swift dismantling in the event of another lockdown.

A sponsor was said to be prepared to chip in 15 grand towards the £70,000 cost.

But councillors meeting on Monday were told they would have to make provision for a £20,000 shortfall.

And they took fright, backing Cllr Atiqul Hoque’s view that it wasn’t worth it and would have to be cost-neutral. Staff who went away and looked into the figures again have now come back  and said that can’t be done, so it’s all off.

That’s the nuts and bolts.

The online meeting took an unexpected turn, however, when that model of restraint Cllr Kevin (‘Get off!’) Daley suggested that the council had an “unhealthy relationship” with Daimee, the operators of the City Garden bar currently cheering up the Guildhall Square.

He asked whether the council could make some money for itself instead of letting others make “hundreds of thousands of pounds”.

Daimee ran last year’s successful Yuletide tepee and were in line to run this winter's 'destination bar'.

The company’s Aimee Hancock, not surprisingly, took strong exception to “being slandered” and suggested that Cllr Daley was taking “a bit of a liberty”.

She offered to show the business’s books to anyone interested, saying: “We have been nothing but honest and open. We are absolutely not taking advantage of the council.”

Chairman John Walsh was one of several councillors who felt that Mr Daley had been “unreasonable”, and his remarks had been “not very nice”.

But Cllr Daley was unabashed.

So, end result, the council has decided it hasn’t got money to lose. And that’s fair enough. Responsible, even.

But traders must be worrying that many Salisbury residents will head for Winchester instead, where a market will (Covid permitting) still be going ahead, for their annual splurge.

 

A dog tale with such a happy ending

AS a completely soppy dog lover, can I just say how delighted I am that Eli the Labrador has been found.
I’m an avid supporter of the Missing Dogs Salisbury crew on Facebook. I think they do a wonderful job out of the goodness of their hearts. But they are only part of a network of similarly dedicated unsung heroes across the country. And this is how It can pay off.
I don’t know Eli’s owners, and I hope they won’t be upset by my intrusion, because I can’t possibly know everything that led up to this situation, but my understanding is that they allowed a stranger into their home out of kindness, and that he and the dog subsequently disappeared, prompting an internet search. Now Eli has been found in Kent.
The story brought to mind an error of judgment I made way back in my youth - only it was my rent money, that I’d thoughtlessly left on top of a dressing table,  that disappeared along with the homeless couple I’d invited to stay the night because I felt sorry for them. Hardly comparable with the loss of a beloved pet. But the result was still pretty disastrous,  as I had to move out and rely on the kindness of friends till I”d saved enough for deposit on another bedsit. A painful lesson, but what you learn from it depends on how you look at life. You don’t have to become embittered.
We are all, always, just a whisker away from disaster. It can strike in a multitude of ways, and wealth may be no defence. Never, ever, think it can’t happen to you.
But never let it stop you trying to help people in need. The good ones far outnumber the bad, and there are so many reasons why things go wrong for some, through no fault of their own.

Please take a look at the project mentioned in Svend’s comment below. What a truly inspirational way to face adversity.

Steer well clear of Harnham next week

IF I were you, I’d avoid the southern side of the city like the plague next Monday.

And those of us who live here might be well advised to stay at home.

The gods of chaos have ordained that Wessex Water will close a short stretch of Netherhampton Road on September 7.

Their website, which warns apologetically of ‘potential traffic disruption’, appears to indicate that the work was originally planned for today but the signs by the roadside say otherwise.

Now it will coincide nicely with the three-week closure of Downton Road for resurfacing which starts this Thursday, with through traffic being diverted - if you believe drivers will actually follow the signs - via Blandford. Or was it Wimborne? Or possibly Land’s End?

I don’t think for a moment that they will. Instead I predict unusually high volumes of short-tempered motorists zigzagging through the country lanes for miles around as they follow their satnavs in search of a shortcut.

Me? I’m going nowhere.

• A small victory for common sense. After a public outcry, the water company has now postponed the Netherhampton Road works until after the Downton Road resurfacing is completed at the end of the month. Thank goodness.