Wiltshire 2026 - Results of the Consultation Carried out by the Melksham Community Area Partnership January 2010
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Wiltshire 2026 - Results of the Consultation Carried out by the Melksham Community Area Partnership January 2010 157 people took part in the survey, either online or at the public consultation held in Melksham Town Hall on January 23rd 2010. Not everyone answered every question as the purpose was to allow people to respond to the areas they felt most concerned about. Q1. Which community parish do you live or work within? Melksham 45.5% 70 Melksham Without (includes Bowerhill) 39.6% 61 Atworth 1.9% 3 Broughton Gifford 1.3% 2 Bulkington 0.0% 0 Great Hinton 0.0% 0 Keevil 3.9% 6 Poulshot 2.6% 4 Seend 1.9% 3 Semington 1.3% 2 Steeple Ashton 1.9% 3 Q50. What age range do you fit? 0-18 1.0% 1 19-40 15.5% 16 41-65 57.3% 59 65 + 26.2% 27 Q2. Vision for Wiltshire Wiltshire Council has a vision for our county, which they aim to achieve through the Core Strategy. The vision By 2026 Wiltshire will have a much more sustainable pattern of development, focused principally on Trowbridge, Chippenham and Salisbury. Settlements of all sizes will have become more self- contained and supported by the necessary infrastructure, with a consequent reduction in the need to travel, an improvement in accessibility to local services, a greater feeling of security and the enhancement of a sense of community and place. This pattern of development, with a more sustainable approach towards transport and the generation and use of power and heat, will have contributed towards tackling climate change. Housing, employment and other development will have been provided in sustainable locations in response to local needs as well as the changing climate and the incorporation of exceptional standards of design. Wiltshire’s important biological and built environment will have been safeguarded and, where necessary, extended and enhanced to provide appropriate green infrastructure, while advantage will have been taken of the County’s heritage to promote improvements in tourism for economic benefit. Do you agree with this vision? Yes 70.3% 71 No, please feel free to explain below. 29.7% 30 Comments 40 Any perception of a "consequent reduction in the need to travel" in future is a pipe-dream, a return to an imagined pre-industrial Arcadia which will never, ever happen now that individuals take getting about for granted. What's needed is investment in affordable transport, both personal and public. Charging points for 1 electric cars; train, tram and bus interchanges; cycle paths between communities. Sorry but I'm afraid that one sentence renders all that follows virtually worthless, which is a shame as some good points are being made here. Wholeheartedly endorse, commending emphasis on sustainability, but hope the interpretation is as radical as 2. climate change demands. 3. Will Melksham itself, as a shopping town, benefit from the County vision? It's sadly left behind at present. I can't see much sense in it. I don't think that everything should centre on the three towns stated...why not Melksham????? 4. Global warming theory is falling apart so all this climate change stuff - if you mean from carbon dioxide is just plain daft. I wouldn't vote Green so why would I want a greener infrastructure???? Mostly, smaller settlement will need some housing for young families to sustain village primary schools. Other 5. market towns, such as Melksham, should have access to a share of development if the wish and not be locked out, leaving it all in Chippenham and Trowbridge. Basically I agree with the stated aims however hidden within that statement is the continuing emphasis on Trowbridge and Chippenham to the detriment of Melksham. The current result being that the majority of people in Melksham shop in Trowbridge or Chippenham in particular clothing. Melksham is eventually to have a supermarket that includes clothes but that was despite the best efforts of the planning department to stop the 6. development. Further to allow the development Countrywide stores have to move to a different position on their current property again the planning department tried to stop the move so stopping the whole development stating to Melksham town council that it would be better if Countrywide stores moved to Trowbridge or Chippenham! If you want to reduce travel then it is necessary to allow total community development to take place in every town in the area so enabling each town to fully support its residents. 7. How do you connect the villages to the bigger towns? 8. How do you connect the villages to the bigger towns? Why is Melksham left out from the "Vision" poster - stated - "Settlements of all sizes will have to become more 9. self contained and supported by the necessary infrastructure"!! There needs to be more businesses and industry to be encouraged to come to Melksham. We do not want to be 10. a dormitory town. We also want Melksham Without parishes to stay physically seperated from Melksham to keep their identities. 11. Do not agree with the focus on Trowbridge, Chippenham and Salisbury. I have no idea why the council is so determined to focus on Chippenham and Trowbrige - they should be interested in hellping all of the towns to develop. Melksham will have a new school and a new supermarket - it 12. needs more new shops, less takeaways, local amninties like doctors and dentists, a better bus service or everyone will just move away and leavea ghost town Why in gods name do you keep going on about Climate Change? 13. Man Made Climate Change is nothing more than a scam and has been proven to be fraudulent. Trowbridge, Chippenham and Salisbury do not need any assistance with development where as Melksham is being allowed to die while the council clearly favours these other towns. 14. Do not agree or disagree but I feel some parts of this statement I do disagree Clearly, there appears to be no focus on Melksham which as a critical Gateway to both Salisbury and Trowbridge has been overlooked. As long as the focus, as quoted prioritises Salisbury, Trowbridge and 15. Chippennham Wiltshire Council will alienate the residents and workers in the neglected area and therefore will not enlist these potential voters to the Council's strategy. The focus on Trowbridge and Chippenham often means that Towns such as Melksham which are sandwiched in 16. between miss out, in particular when it comes to the development of its high steet and infrastructure. There appears to be too much focus on only three towns which makes me think that the others in the county will have to suffer as a result of this vision. 17. For example: Melksham and the number of houses planned to be built over the next dacade (some 700+) and the fact that local employment is showing a down turn, will only add to the growing transport and the so called "global warning" issues. In principle I agree, but need to spread development more and not just in 3 centres if people are to travel less. 18. Development will need to be local to everybody and not just the 3 centres. I feel this statement is rather abstract. I also feel that the issues being raised are primarily the concerns of those people who can be loosely banded as "the chattering classes". 19. Perhaps these are issues that concern the liberal elite of the area, but as a "man on the street", I am more interested in affordable, good quality housing and better value for my council tax. Not "sustainable" housing estates and empty "carbon friendly" buses. There is insufficient scope for the required growth and variety of employment that would result in such a utopia. 20. Melksham would need significant levels of investment and will remain a commuter town until such time that the necessary infrastructure is in place. There is limited employment in Melksham and the majority of people out-commute, as do those of Trowbridge given the number of vehicles at rush hour emanating from the old A361 at Semington turn. So I see no reduction 21. in the need to travel, especially given the limited industrial/employment increase in Melksham. More houses without employment or services means more out commuting. Hospital visits is just one area where a lack of hospital facilities in Melksham has already resulted in additional travel for those who least need to travel. 22. However, visions are visions, it will be interesting to see what and how much is actually achieved. This goal is good, but past developments in Chippenham for instance, have already created an imbalance which 23. needs to be tackled before any more houses are built. Historically the focus has always been on Trowbridge, Chippenham and Salisbury to the detriment of the smaller 24. market towns. It would be good to see new developments shared across the county. The sentiments are fine, but it is a good job the plain English campaign do not find some of the statements. What does the 'biologial and built environment' mean to normal people. If fact that whole sentance is difficult to 25. visualise. There must be better ways of wording this so it does not sound like it came from consultants. If you want people to understand a vision please make the words simply otherwise the message gets lost. The trend over the past few decades has been for people to travel more. People want to live in the country and commute to the towns/cities to work or vice-versa. The reduction in the real costs of motoring has enabled this to happen and the only way to reverse this trend (if that is what the council is trying to do) would be to increase these costs to the extent that the average person could no longer afford to own/use a motor car.