Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

Wiltshire Council news from Ernie Clark.

Your Independent councillor for Hilperton.

The Trowbridge cinema saga continues for another month or so. At the last meeting of the WC western area planning committee, it was agreed (but only by use of the Chairman’s casting vote) that the application would be looked at again mid-June with a view to ‘approving’ it. If this is done the application then has to be referred to The Secretary of State as the site isn’t shown in the local development plan for the intended use. If the SoS is happy then the development can go ahead. However, at least one public footpath needs to be diverted, I think. If this is the case, it only needs one formal objection to stall the project for another three or four months.

What is your take on this issue? Do you think that Trowbridge needs another large supermarket (without a petrol filling station) and a second cinema? Please let me know.

On a lighter note, all the rooms at County Hall have recently been renumbered. Earlier this month, I had reason to pop into the Leader's Room and was amused to see that someone with a sense of humour has allocated it the number 'Room 101'. For those of you not aware of its connotation it was in George Orwell’s book 'Nineteen eighty-four', and is a torture chamber in the Ministry of Love in which ‘the Party’ subjects a prisoner to his, or her, worst nightmare, fear or phobia. Very appropriate for a quaking back-bench Conservative that has upset the party leadership. To be fair to Jane Scott (the Leader of WC) she had spotted the joke and is taking it in good spirit. That said, I'm not sure that I would have been brave enough to do it if I was a WC employee!!

A new development of affordable housing is being constructed on the piece of land at the junction of Ashton Road and Hilperton Drive (close to The Mead school). This is a site provided by Wiltshire Council which will be leased for 125 years. The site will comprise ten 2-bedroom houses, five 3-bedroom houses and three 2-bedroom bungalows. This site will provide up to two homes as Temporary Accommodation for homeless households helping to meet the Council’s statutory obligations. The homes are due to be completed and tenants moving in between November 2012 and January 2013. These houses are part of the ex West Wiltshire District Council PFI (Private Finance Initiative) scheme which has, to date, cost millions of pounds of council tax payers money but delivered just about nothing. The West Wiltshire Housing PFI (WWHPFI) is a partnership between Wiltshire Council, Aster Communities (formerly Sarsen Housing Association) and Persimmon Homes Ltd. The scheme is unique in being the only 'one-bid' scheme allowed by the government. Many years ago the only other interested party withdrew from negotiations thus giving WWHPFI a clear-run with no worry about competitive tendering. One can only speculate whether these houses could have been provided at a better cost if there had been any competition for the funds.