Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

The 'new Melksham school' shambles doesn't bode well.
If the way Wiltshire County Council has handled the new school project at Melksham is representative for the future of the unitary authority, things don't look too good.

It all started well with £20million from the government, a convenient site owned by the council, and public opinion going with WCC. Even the option of allowing housing on the old site (George Ward School) wasn't likely to be too contentious.

Preliminary consultations went well and WCC had the good sense to involve local people and pupils in designing the new school. WCC gave itself planning permission, and all the signs were that things would progress smoothly.

Then things atarted to unravel in quite a spectacular fashion.

Firstly, the planning application for the George Ward site was so awful that it led to more people attending a WWDC planning committee meeting than I can remember for many years. The public speakers made far more sense than either the WCC or applicant representatives did and it was unanimously refused. It is now being suggested that WCC will appeal against the refusal and try to claim costs against the District. If this is true it seems most odd and is another indication of the weird way of working at WCC. If WCC is succesful, they don't seem to have realised that the new unitary council will take on all the liabilites of WWDC and so they will effectively get costs awarded against themselves. But never mind, their barrister will have earned another contribution towards his/her next holiday in Barbados or whereever.

Secondly, there are now unspecified problems with the planning application for the new school (the one WCC gave itself permission for) and WCC have to re-apply to themselves again. Amongst the rumoured problems is one that rules about listed buildings neighbouring the site have not been followed. More solicitor costs to be paid by WCC I presume?

It now seems certain that the Government is going to steamroller the new unitary authority through the statute books and I think we should all be worried. If this is the level of competance that we will get, then Heaven help us if we don't elect the right people as our WC (sic) councillors to try and keep a sense of reality at the new county HQ, wherever that turns out to be.