My city council leaders' report June 26

THE City Council were delighted to see our beautiful Churchill Gardens used to such good effect as a backdrop for Wiltshire Creative’s stunning production of The Tempest.

Our first grass cutting round of the season took 30 working days to complete.

The spring weather was ideal for grass to grow quickly, and we have had new team members to train, various bank holidays and some staff vacancies to contend with.

But our team are aiming for 5 grass cuts this year, whereas under the old idVerde contract there were three, so that’s good news.

On the events front, following a busy Coronation weekend, our themed street sellers’ markets continue to be very successful, offering family fun without the need to spend a lot of money. The dog show-themed event was particularly popular, dinosaurs are also proving to be perennial favourites, and we’ve got farm animals coming up next on July 9.

The Motor Show, featuring more than 100 vehicles of all ages, attracted a lot of attention, while this weekend we celebrated Armed Forces Day. Our staff work extremely hard over the summer weekends to put on such a range of events and we are very grateful for their professionalism and enthusiasm.

Our accessibility and inclusion task group is off to a great start, working in conjunction with Wiltshire highways officers on identifying where metal barriers across pathways can make life difficult for wheelchair users and parents with buggies, so that these obstacles can be removed or made more easily negotiable. Some councillors, working with the disability group DIGS, have undertaken disability access audits of our parks and open spaces, and there’s more work to do on this.

The council leaders have begun a conversation with the Conservative group about consultation over future budgets, and survey materials are being prepared to engage with the public. Simultaneously we have been trialling the recording of meetings.

The city now has to meet the bill for the Parish Poll, which was just under £40,000.

The leaders have had a positive conversation with the Police & Crime Commissioner about anti-social behaviour issues. We were pleased to hear that the city will have 10 new officers by September, and that recruitment of PCSOs is continuing. The location of the new policing hub has still not been resolved, and an application to site it at High Post, as part of an industrial development, has just been turned down.

We continue to build relationships with our neighbouring parishes and to participate in the Place Partnership, looking forward to the impact of Bradbeers and Primark on the city’s economy in October, and hoping customers will not be deterred by a combination of ongoing parking issues and Fisherton Street improvement works. We are hoping that the mural on the hoarding outside Debenhams will be re-used within the city.

A contract has been signed for work on our new depot to meet the needs of our teams.

A new contractor has also been signed up to work on our Christmas lights.

We have taken part in two consultation events organised by Wiltshire Council about how the planning system is working (or not) for parishes. 

Our own Neighbourhood Plan is progressing more slowly than we had hoped. It is currently with a designer, being prepared for submission to Wiltshire Council in the form that they require before we can receive their further comments.

Police hub at High Post? Not the best idea, in my opinion

THE inclusion of a potential site for a much-needed policing hub serving the south of the county in an application for a large industrial development at High Post appears to be an attempt to make this highly controversial scheme on greenfield land more widely acceptable at the second time of asking.
The Police and Crime Commissioner is on record as saying that he is continuing to negotiate with landowners about other suitably sized sites, already zoned for ‘employment’ use, closer to Salisbury and with better, sustainable transport links for the city’s residents.
If these other sites are not taken up for such use, developers will soon come back to Wiltshire Council planners saying there is ‘no demand’, and seek permission to fill them with more housing instead, making a mockery of the careful site allocation process that has already taken place.
There is no commitment on the PCC’s part to the High Post site, and approval does not necessarily mean the policing hub will be built there.
What is the point of having land designated for employment use alongside current housing developments on the fringes of the city if it is to be ignored in favour of building on agricultural land, at a junction that is already an accident black spot, that is realistically only likely to be accessed by car? This makes a mockery of Wiltshire’s ‘sustainable’ development criteria.
Further, allocating sites for such large-scale expansion of industrial/business provision should be done in the review of the Local Plan when it would be subjected to wider public consultation which would include all the nearby parishes.
If Wiltshire Council wishes to further develop the A345 corridor between Salisbury and Amesbury, at the very least there should be masterplanning.
Other objectors to the planning application have detailed concerns about the impact of this scheme on the Woodford Valley roads and on the wildlife – in particular, bats – using the development site, and I concur with these.

'Make your mind up' time

NOW here's a funny thing.
In Romsey, seven candidates have described themselves as Independents for the town (parish) council elections.
Yet according to the Hampshire Chronicle, they are on the candidate list for the borough elections, which are taking place at the same time, under the Local Conservative label.

https://www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/news/23452357.romsey-conservatives-criticised-listed-independents/

Boundary debate rears its head again

THE buzz phrase among those who worry about how our city can finance its services without bankrupting its council tax payers is ‘boundary review’.
It’s not fair, people say, that the residents of Laverstock & Ford, or Netherhampton, or basically anywhere within ten miles of the Guildhall, should continue to enjoy the central and essential facilities funded by the city council without contributing to their cost.
So they want to seek Wiltshire’s permission to expand Salisbury’s parish boundaries to take over these potentially lucrative neighbours and make them chip in.
I know, I know, this is a battle that’s been fought and lost before. I remember reporting on an acrimonious meeting in 2017 where one speaker conjured up a vision of a tin-helmeted Mayor leading an invasion force of Panzer tanks along Pearce Way. Hilarious.
There was a lot of bad feeling back then about the city council’s failure to support Ford residents who were opposing a huge housing development on Old Sarum airfield.
What’s that you say? A huge housing development is being proposed right now on that same historic airfield? Well, fancy that! Nothing much changes, does it?
The city did change its mind about the airfield. But too late. Relations were damaged.
And there was more. Laverstockers didn’t want to be subjected to the party political argy-bargy that is a distressingly regular feature of city council life. They didn’t believe it was necessary. (I don’t blame them. That’s why I stood as an Independent.)
They didn’t want to be minnows in a bigger pool. When you look at what life under Wiltshire Council has achieved for Salisbury, I don’t blame them for that, either.
On Monday, at our annual parish meeting, the boundary issue raised its head again.
My response was to ask why on earth Wiltshire Council would wish to approve anything that looked even remotely like a potential challenger authority emerging in the south, covering much of the old district council area. I may be wrong. I sometimes am.
Anyway, I hope that the handful of members of the public at Monday’s meeting left with a greater understanding of what the city council does, why it costs what it does, and how hard it is to decide what to cut. 
Just some things to think about when and if you cast your vote at the parish poll today. There is no easy answer.

(This article appeared in the Salisbury Journal on April 20, the day of the parish poll on future council tax rises)

Why airfield plans matter to the whole of Salisbury

STRICTLY speaking, you could say it’s none of my business as a mere city councillor. Our little airfield is outside the Salisbury parish border.

Yet everything that goes on at Old Sarum impacts city residents. Especially issues around planning.

So what’s bothering me now? Housing development in unsuitable places and unsuitable quantities, you may not be surprised to hear.

The World War One airfield’s owners are undeterred by losing their battle against an inspector’s verdict that plonking 460 homes in this Conservation Area would cause “inordinate” harm to our historic environment.

They’re talking about 320 this time. Still not exactly conservation, in my opinion.

Yesterday people were invited to what their PR team called a ‘public consultation’. Yet there is no concrete (unfortunate choice of word, perhaps!) masterplan to consult on. More of a presentation of possibilities that won’t necessarily be binding on any future builder.

Just consider what the extra traffic from 320 properties will do to the jams and the quality of life for residents on Castle Road. 

Consider the impact on the residents of Ford, officially designated a small village by Wiltshire Council.

Ask yourself what you want to see when you stroll up Castle Hill country park or the Old Sarum monument. How about an airfield-sized green respite amid the ever-expanding vista of new-builds? Even a few light aircraft bringing the place back to life?

For those new to the subject it’s worth explaining that the real villain of the piece is Core Policy 25 of the Wiltshire Core Strategy – a woolly policy in a strategy well overdue for revision.

This allows for an unspecified amount of “sympathetic” new development on the airfield perimeter, as long as it enhances the historic environment and retains and safeguards flying activity whilst limiting aircraft noise.

All that it’s achieved is a lengthy, costly wrangle.

The Grade II* listed Hangar Three has rotted to such an extent that it’s had to be shored up under the guidance of Historic England. Why hasn’t it been made wind and watertight? 

According to a Journal report, it’ll be completely refurbished if the new development plans get the nod. What if they don’t?

The Core Strategy stipulates that the masterplan for the whole airfield that “protects the amenity of existing residents” should be worked up in consultation with the community, planning authority and developer “prior to any application being considered”.

That would be a start.