Mobile: 0794 120 1995
Wiltshire Council news from Ernie Clark.
My last Hilperton Update newsletter predicted that the coming financial year would be the ‘crunch’ year when things would start to go badly wrong with front-line services being hit.
By the time you read this, Wiltshire Council will have met to set its precept (Council Tax) for 2015-16. The Conservative administration is proposing that there should no increase, but at the cost of cuts (or the total loss of) many services including the RUH Hopper bus.
Whilst no one wants to increase what households have to pay, I now feel that a small (1.9%) increase makes sense. This would enable all the planned services to be retained (obviously with measures put in place to ensure vaue-for-money and maximum efficiency).
Over the last few years there have been many, many cuts/changes at WC and some, to be honest, needed to be made. Now, however, the cuts seem to be having an unbalanced effect on the elderly and less well off.
I’m sure that it will be an interesting debate but, no doubt, the Conservative councillors will be on a ‘three line whip’ and will, as usual, do what their leader tells them to do – and then moan about it in private afterwards!
Work on the Hilperton Relief Road continues and the parish council is now considering what it should be called. One suggestion so far is ‘Queen Elizabeth Way’. If you have any suggestions (sensible ones only please) do let me know.
In relation to The Gap, I have asked the following question for next weeks WC meeting. ‘Does Wiltshire Council own, lease or have any financial interest, in any land within the area known as The Hilperton Gap? If it does, is the interest freehold or leasehold, what is the size (area) of the holding, where exactly is it located and is there any intended use for the land? Why does WC own/lease the land?’