Parish Council->Ethandune Councillor

News from your Wiltshire Councillor – Jerry Wickham

It seems to me that having had a wonderful summer and early autumn, the recent spell of wet weather has come as a bit of a shock to us all. It is at this time of the year, with falling leaves and rain, that the gullies in our roads, quickly become blocked resulting in localised flooding. Wiltshire has in excess of 87,000 gullies and therefore clearing them takes a great deal of time and effort. If, whilst out and about, you see a gully blocked with leaves or other debris, quickly clearing this away yourself can often resolve the problem. However, we are aware that sometimes it is not as simple as this and special gully cleaning equipment needs to be used.

To report this and a whole host of other issues, to include potholes, flooding, graffiti, dog mess, fly-tipping  and street lighting issues amongst others, can be completed by using the Wiltshire Council website http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/report.htm or an alternative is to download the My Wiltshire App, on a smart phone and again be able to report similar issues. Whilst a short registration process is required, the App enables the exact location to be identified and an ability to upload photographs of the problem. Through this way, the issue is logged and you can be updated on progress made to resolve it. Of course for those not wanting to use these types of technology, can telephone the Council’s customer service team on 0300 4560100.

I have endeavoured to get to most of the meetings of Bratton Parish Council in order to understand and hopefully assist with local matters. It seems that presently Bratton and its immediate area are not encountering too many issues. I am however aware of the concerns being raised about plans for additional development in the village.

Planning policy is, at present, in a unique position in that locally we have relied on the old West Wiltshire Planning Policy from 2004, but the new emerging Wiltshire Core Strategy will eventually replace this outdated policy. Wiltshire Council had anticipated adopting this far earlier but the strategy has been the subject of numerous amendments in light of a Planning Inspector’s desire to see the county build an extra 5000 homes over and above originally identified of 37,000. Due to this, we are seeing numerous applications and pre-consultation schemes especially around Westbury. Once the strategy is adopted, this should provide some stability. As times goes on I will ensure that there is an update.

And on a more general note, councillor colleagues and myself continue to put pressure on getting sections of the B3098 repaired, which as we all know has some sections in a dreadful state of repair along its entire route.

As your local Wiltshire Councillor, my role is to hear the views of people and wherever possible provide advice and try and help. Please feel free to make contact either through my email address or my home telephone of 01380 870476 or mobile 07980 701617.