Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

Wiltshire Council news from Ernie Clark.

Your Independent councillor for Hilperton.

Community Speed Watch (CSW) seems to have had a good reception so far – but that could be because no one has received a letter from Wiltshire Police yet. There are now over a dozen trained volunteers but more are welcome. Contact me and I will arrange for the coordinator to get in touch.

At the recent parish council meeting it was reported that, during the first week of CSW, the percentage of cars reported to the police was just 2.8%. Mind you, having seen the CSW teams in action, I think it fair to say that they make themselves very obvious in their day-glo jackets. I’m surprised that they record any speeders at all.

The main roll-out of blue lidded bins for the collection of plastic bottles and cardboard has now been completed and collections have successfully started in north, east and west Wiltshire. On average over 700 tonnes of plastic bottles and cardboard are now being collected from households in Wiltshire each month.

With any large roll-out of this size (over 135,000 bins) it is inevitable that some properties will have been missed by the contractors. WC staff are now working overtime and at weekends to deliver bins to the remaining properties and this task should have been completed before Christmas. If you are still missing a ‘blue bin’ please let me know.

As I write this (mid December) the weather is turning colder, so a few words about winter driving might be in order.

WC aims to make roads as safe as possible. The 'main road' salting run covers around 725 miles (25% of the entire road network) and costs about £17,000. It uses 168 tonnes of salt and the council buys 14,000 tonnes per season. At the end of last winter the council had only 210 tonnes left!

A few tips about salt. 1) Salt is not effective once the surface temperature falls below -8 degrees Centigrade. 2) Salt requires tyre action to make it more efficient. 3) If it rains, the salt will be washed off of the road. 4) Putting salt on thick snow will do nothing. The snow must be removed before salt is put down.