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Dear Mavis, I am aware of this planning proposal but, as this is a matter entirely for the town and Unitary council, I'm afraid I have no influence either way. I am sure you are involved locally and I really hope the issue is resolved soon as I know feelings are running high in the town. I do hope all is well otherwise.
- Claire Perry

Dear Mr. Gill, I appreciate your point but this is strictly a council matter and something you should bring to the attention of your local councillor and Area Board Chair. Your local councillor can be found here: http://cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/mgFindMember.aspx and your Area Board here: www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council/areaboards.htm. I hope you find this information useful.
- Claire Perry

Dear Mr. Hills As you might imagine, you are not alone in worrying about this development. It's time we stopped just building houses and thought about the jobs and infrastructure we need to support our community. This is exactly what the new planning reforms are trying to get to - a local plan that includes all aspects of community, not just houses. In Devizes we have seen five large housing developments over the last 10 years, two of which were initially turned down, only to be won on appeal by developers referring to the top-down Regional Spatial Strategy. Result? traffic congestion, declining hospital services, falling air quality. I will continue to follow this closely.
- Claire Perry

I've seen the leaflets, so I know there is strong local feeling. I would benefit from knowing exactly what the Developer is offering in addition to simply building house (infrastructure development, etc), how to lodge a complaint either individually or as a community through the proper channels. Your response alludes to your discontent - can I assume you'll be more than 'following this closely' but will be addressing this head on? Thank you
- Richard Hills

This is an issue generating much correspondence and even though as an MP I have little influence over local planning matters it does not stop me getting involved. I have made my concerns known to Wiltshire Council and also signed the e-petitions opposing both developments. If you would like to do the same, they can be found here (it is a bit of a tortuous process): http://cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/mgEPetitionListDisplay.aspx You may also be interested to know that the local Councillor for Roundway, Laura Mayes, has been very active in leading opposition to the Folly Road development and you may also want to contact her. Her website is: http://lauramayes.org/ I will continue to follow this matter very closely. I know from my visit a few days ago to the Guides in their new building just off the Coate Road just what is at stake in this area. I also wanted to say that this is exactly the sort of development that the Government planning reforms are targeting. With a strong local Wiltshire plan in place developers will not be able to appeal above the Council with reference to a top-down Regional Spatial Strategy but instead must work within the plan. I think that would be a good thing.
- Claire Perry

Dear Mr. Latham. Thanks very much for using my website to raise this issue. I will pass it on to your very active local Councillor, Jerry Kunkler, and ask him to get involved as soon as he can. Hope to see you at the Carnival this weekend.
- Claire Perry

Just another situation where a popular activity is turned into something for the rich only. Lots of people on the waterways do so as a life style but government does not want us to CHOOSE a life style. We are all supposed to conform to some middle or upper class standard. So a slightly shabby boats is outlawed by those in charge.
- BG

Thank you for taking the time to bring this matter to my attention. I am currently investigating it.
- Claire Perry

Thank you very much for contacting me. As I have mentioned in the previous post, I am aware of the Hills Waste Solutions' plans as they were brought up in a meeting I attended last week at Castledown Business Park. I have raised your concerns with Wiltshire Council and, in the meantime, I will continue to follow this issue very closely. I would be very interested to hear other constituents' views on this matter and I would welcome your comments. Hills Waste Solutions have publised their proposal on their website which can be found at: http://www.hills-group.co.uk/consult/castledown.html
- Claire Perry

Thank you very much for contacting me. I am aware of the Hills Waste Solutions' plans as they were brought up in a meeting I attended last week at Castledown Business Park. I have raised your concerns with Wiltshire Council and, in the meantime, I will continue to follow this issue very closely. I would be very interested to hear other constituents' views on this matter and I would welcome your comments. Hills Waste Solutions have publised their proposal on their website which can be found at: http://www.hills-group.co.uk/consult/castledown.html
- Claire Perry

On Hill's current planning page about the proposed transfer site at Castledown Business Park it says that the exhibition of plans and proposals on 6th June "was followed by a hugely well attended special area board meeting which gave Hills a further opportunity to respond to people's questions." I think this a laughably misleading representation of events: anyone reading, for example, the front page story of the current Andover Advertiser, under the headline "Furious residents oppose waste site", with paragraphs such as: "Neither councillors or officials could provide answers as to why the MOD had not been asked to release a couple of acres of land next to the existing Thorny Down transfer site to enable this facility to be built there or why it is not possible to rezone part of the huge Solstice Park facility for this use" are receiving a more accurate picture of Hills' inability to answer straightforward questions on that evening. At the risk of stating the obvious rather too simplistically: 1. Ludgershall cannot cope with the traffic, especially so close to the school - Hills were insistent that peak vehicle movements would not coincide with peak traffic flow to the school and backed this up with peak traffic flow data from the existing site at Thorny Down outside Salisbury. When David Wildman - Chairman, Tidworth District Chamber of Commerce - pointed out that surely peak vehicle movement at Castledown would most likely occur about 40 minutes later once the additional journey time from Salisbury was taken into account, thus putting peak traffic flow in the afternoon slap bang in the middle of the end of the school day, no one from Hills could respond. 2. We are very proud of our new £32 million academy and, traffic factors aside, it seems ludicrous to build a potentially smelly and vermin-infested facility so close to it, adjacent to the route Ludgershall's Wellington Academy pupils use to walk to and from school. The site is also very close to both existing housing on Tidworth and Simonds roads and Astor Crescent etc. as well as to proposed housing on the old MSA site on the other side of the park. Surely there are other places in east Wilts not surrounded by people's homes, workplaces and school in which the transfer site could be located? Hills could not convincingly explain why they had not persued sites at Everleigh, Solstice Park or Thorny Down more thoroughly than they have. 3 Then there's the environmental issue. They were keen to downplay any environmental impact, particularly that concerning smells, but were forced to concede that they have no measurements or figures from any of their other sites to back this up; that it was quite possible that the environment agency would require the use of sprays to reduce odour pollution; that despite the site being enclosed the doors would be open most (if you think about it, realistically all) of the day; that vermin would be present, and would be poisoned, and that there would be a knock-on effect of this in terms of birds of prey and so on scavenging the bodies of poisoned rats. There are other things that concern me with hindsight: for example the plans include parking for ten RCVs on site: why ten? The fleet consists of 50 . What concerns me, particularly in view of the fact that the Business Park has recently fallen into the hands of Wiltshire Council, is that if the transfer site does go ahead we'll suddenly find, a few months down the line, that Hills have acquired more of the site to use as a lorry park for the rest of the RCVs that use the site. Or the 12 artics that will arrive at and leave the site each day. Thus further discouraging the local SMEs for whom the park was intended in the first place. Reg Parnham of Parnham's Coaches has already said he wasn't allowed to relocate his business to the Park as apparently running coaches was too "dirty" a business for the site. Those who currently lease sites on the Park have made it clear they will leave if the plans for the transfer site go ahead. So all in all I can't think of one thing to be said in favour of Hills' plans.
- James Deboo

Further to my above comment, there is actually one potentially positive outcome of Hill's plans: their website says "Hills Waste Solutions estimates that this development will generate around 30 new jobs for local people. These jobs will probably be filled by at least some existing employees to start." The problem is that at the consultation they were forced to admit that "at least some exisinng employees" they meant 27 out of the 30 jobs on offer...
- James Deboo

I cannot believe that Hills and the local Council can even think of putting something like this next to an educational establishment. Please do not allow this to go ahead
- Steve

Let's face it, the Wellington Academy is already a rubbish tip, a bit more rubbish right next to it might give some of the pond life who attend it a serious illness with any luck!
- Bill

Thank you for contacting me about this matter. We want to pass new rights direct to communities and individuals, making it easier for them to get things done and achieve their ambitions for their local area allowing local business to flourish. That is why, in the Localism Bill, the Government is bringing forward a series of crucial reforms to achieve exactly this. A new 'community right to buy' is intended to give local communities extra time to prepare a bid to take over important local amenities and buildings such as community centres, old town halls, village shops or pubs when they come up for sale or are at risk of closure. This will make it easier to keep much-loved assets in public use and part of local life if, for instance, the person that owns or runs the asset were to retire or move away from the area. Indeed, we want to extend this to public services too. A new 'community right to challenge' will give voluntary and community groups the right to express an interest in taking over the running of a local authority service. The local authority must consider and respond to this challenge and where it accepts it, run a procurement exercise for the service in which the challenging group can bid. I do hope that this is useful, and thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
- Claire Perry

Discuss issues that may affect the constituency? I thought that this is what this page was there for.
- Martyn C

It is great to be involved locally, but Claire should make something as simple as this facility for the National concerns that she is paid to follow up on. I understand that she is an MP and not a member of the Council, or am I wrong??
- George

If an accident should happen lets hope it is before the Air Ambulance service is cut. See previous comment.
- George

Thank you very much for your message regarding your concerns about crossing the A346 road to the school bus stop. I am passionate about road safety in our Constituency, especially for children and their parents going to school, and I believe we must do all we can to reduce the danger posed by these roads to families. I have therefore written to Councillor Dick Tonge, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport at the Council asking him whether a satisfactory solution can be found to the crossing.
- Claire Perry

Thank you very much for getting in touch. This is clearly an appalling tragedy and my thoughts are with Finlay's Mum, Dad and brother at this tragic time as well as with other pupils and staff at the school and all those living locally. It must have been a terrible shock for everyone. With regard to your specific concerns about the future of the Wiltshire Air Ambulance, there is no suggestion that funding is being cut. I checked today with the Air Ambulance team who confirmed that they are dependent upon public support to raise over £1.5 million a year which is one third of the running costs of the helicopter and that the remaining two thirds are funded by the Wiltshire Police who use it for various incidents. This contract with the Police will remain in place until 2014. Like you, I believe the Wiltshire Air Ambulance provides a vital service to the County and there are many residents indebted to their tireless work, including me as they helped to save the life of my little boy when he was only two. It has a brilliant partnership with Wiltshire Police and is also one of only two air ambulances in the UK that can fly at night.
- Claire Perry

We have a similar problem in the village I live in near Pewsey. The parking by Pewsey station and at Pewsey wharf is too expensive so the lanes in our village that run adjacent to the canal are filled with cars parked on the verges - destroying them and blocking access for larger farm vehicles.
- kate

We have this problem on Commercial Road in Devizes. Less than 100 yards opposite is sainsburys car park but people refuse to pay 55p to park there and so residents end up having to either pay to park in the car park themselves or park up miles away and walk back. There are many of us with young children and a few elderly residents on this street that are forced to do this. It makes me sick that despite years of applying, the council refuse to make the street residents only parking!
- Jessica

The Police could clear this up immediately if they applied the law of the land and regulated parking accordingly.
- George

We tend not to use public car parks as they are always too crowded and expensive and we actually like walking. We always make sure that we obey regulations in place. I agree many do not and those should be dealt with accordingly.
- Al-D

It's not a Police problem. It's Wiltshire Councils. They employ Traffic Enforcement Officers to carry out the issuing of Parking Enforcement Notices. And there are not enough of them to cover the whole of Wiltshire effectively.
- Soapbox

I would rather drive to Trowbridge or Melksham to shop than pay to park in Devizes. If Devizes wants shoppers then parking should all be free. Especially as getting into Devizes takes longer than traveling to Trowbridge. I live on the west side of town.
- BG

Drivers in Wiltshire do not park -they 'abandon'
- Alec