Graham Ellis - my blog
Could we be doing this usefully in Melksham?
Two months to go before my term as a Town Councillor ends and I'm asking myself the question like "What do I do with my Blog" and "What do I do with the Facebook page I set up as a Town Coucillor?".
I promised if elected to write an update at least once a week, and I have written over 600 blog articles - that's averaged three a week. I don't see myself stopping writing; I am still very much an interested observer of things local, and where I can will still be informing, partnering and promoting thing locally. My own interest tends to be in longer term things - how the town develops, how we gat around, our environment. I was in Portsmouth and on Hayling Island yesterday, having travelled there by train, and so many things I observed had me looking and wondering "could we be doing this in Melksham?".
I promised if elected to write an update at least once a week, and I have written over 600 blog articles - that's averaged three a week. I don't see myself stopping writing; I am still very much an interested observer of things local, and where I can will still be informing, partnering and promoting thing locally. My own interest tends to be in longer term things - how the town develops, how we gat around, our environment. I was in Portsmouth and on Hayling Island yesterday, having travelled there by train, and so many things I observed had me looking and wondering "could we be doing this in Melksham?".
| We are looking for more housing in the Melksham area, and in Portsmouth I saw old barracks converted to flats. Here on Hayling Island is what I understand (but may be wrong) used to be a hotel but now looks to be around 50 homes - and all "affordable" and all near the heart of the community. Might there be a site in Melksham where such accommodation would be welcomed, near to Town Centre and within walking, cycling and public transport easy reach for those who choose to live without a private car, or cannot drive? |  |
 | This is a floodgate in Portsmouth - closed when the tide is high and the wind whips water to it being even higher. Melksham is not in danger from rising sea levels, but more extreme weather conditions msy mean we should be considering flood defences like this? |
| Here in Melksham Town Centre, "everyone" wants free parking, but no-one comes forward to say "I will pay for that for you". Except that the big supermarkets such as Waitrose, Sainsubry and Asda offer "free" parking which (of course) it really isn't - it's included in the cost of what you purchase there. So that means that those of us who are most environmenally aware (or who cannot afford the cost of running a car) are paying in their goods for those people who can afford, and choose to use, their private car. |  |
 | Footpaths + cycle lanes + road for powered vehicles. It makes sense, and it probably makes best sense for the cycle lane to be in the middle - except how do you get people on and off the buses. Is this really the solution? |
| How refreshing to see a train with plenty of space for cycles - usually it's an awkward space. And how about making it possible for cycles to be taken on buses? |  |
Path to remain for guests in the UK
It is rare - VERY rare - that I sign a petition and rarer still for me to suggest one to others - but I did sign one at https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/700776 . Over 34,000 people have signed it in about a month since it opened and it remains open to July, and the government has just provided an initial response (though not IMHO addressing the request made)Illustration - map of signature density by constituency, with our "Melksham and Devizes" highlighted with a green blob. This is an issue all across the UK.
Firstly, the text of the petition.
Then the text of HMG's answer
Then some comments
The petition: Create path to Settlement for Ukrainians in the UK
We urge the UK government to provide a path to settlement for Ukrainians living in the UK. These individuals face significant uncertainty about their future. We think allowing them to settle would provide the stability needed to rebuild their lives and contribute to British society.
More details
We believe Ukrainians in the UK have become valuable members of our communities, and a pathway to settlement would affirm our commitment to supporting those impacted by conflict. We kindly ask for your consideration of this matter.
The response Dear Graham Ellis,
The Government has responded to the petition you signed – “Create path to Settlement for Ukrainians in the UK”.
Government responded:
We recognise the Ukrainian government’s desire for the return of their citizens to help rebuild Ukraine when it is safe to do so. This is why the temporary Ukraine schemes do not lead to settlement.
The UK’s support for Ukraine remains steadfast and, together with our partners and allies, we stand in solidarity with Ukraine and condemn the Russian government’s unprovoked and premeditated war. The Government strongly believes Ukraine will be safe again and we will continue to support the Ukrainian government for as long as it is necessary in its efforts against Putin.
We are proud that the British people have shown incredible generosity to, and solidarity with, the Ukrainian people, opening their homes to those seeking sanctuary. To date, the UK has offered or extended sanctuary to over 300,000 Ukrainians and their families under one of the three Ukraine schemes - the Ukraine Family Scheme, the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, and the Ukraine Extension Scheme.
As of 17 December 2024, 267,200 visas have been issued with 218,600 (as of 16 December 2024) Ukrainians having arrived in the UK. A further 34,000 (17 December 2024) applicants have also been granted permission to remain extensions, meaning more than 252,000 Ukrainians have found sanctuary in the UK thanks to the generous Ukraine schemes.
To provide future certainty, Ukrainians who are in the UK under the Ukraine schemes will be able to apply for further permission to remain in the UK through a bespoke Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) scheme. The new route, which opened on 4 February 2025 before the first visas started to expire, will provide up to an additional 18 months’ permission, ensuring Ukrainians in the UK can continue to move into independent living and secure rental agreements and employment contracts.
UPE is free to apply for. Individuals will be able to apply to UPE within 28 days of their current Ukraine scheme’s permission expiring. Those granted permission under the scheme will continue to receive the same rights and entitlements as the existing Ukraine schemes provide, to access work, benefits, healthcare, and education. More information on the scheme, including details around eligibility requirements and the application process, can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-to-stay-in-the-uk-under-the-ukraine-extension-scheme.
The Homes for Ukraine Scheme will also remain available and free of charge for any Ukrainians who wish to make a new application to come to the UK. Applications must be sponsored by someone who is British, Irish or settled in the UK. There are organisations which support matching individuals coming from Ukraine with sponsors in the UK: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/find-a-sponsor-using-recognised-providers-homes-for-ukraine.
Our offer of sanctuary through the Ukraine schemes remains temporary in nature and does not lead to settlement in the UK. This recognises the Ukrainian government’s strong desire for the future return of its citizens to help rebuild Ukraine when it is safe to do so. It is important our approach respects these wishes.
We will, of course, continue to keep the Ukraine schemes under consistent review in line with developments in the ongoing war.
Home Office
Yes BUT - my thoughts
The answer is a statement of policy, clearly put. But it lacks the ongoing compassion it could show, and leaves our guests who fled here as refugees for sanctuary in the short term in an indefinite and cruel state of limbo. The policy also compromises the best outcome for the individuals, and for the UK, and for Ukraine. Let me explain.
We have quarter of a million guests from Ukraine in the UK at present
As, when and if it's appropriate for them to return to Ukraine, delighted for them to do so if they wish. I have spoken with many of them, and they are a patriotic nation and most will love to go back and help rebuild. Furthermore, families are not neat bubbles that exist in isolation from one another and friendships are not bubble either, but networks. The majority have connections, are wanting to and are looking forward to returning. And it is inconsiderate and unnecessary for us to place time limits of 3 years, then a further 18 months, then unknown further follow up on them. Pointlessly antagonising?
Most of the guests who have been here for over two years now have become a useful part of our society, and some to the extent that this is now home. This was never their intention when they came here (many of them landed in random towns and villages) but they have friends, and some lifelong partners, and are filling employed roles which were otherwise difficult to fill. If those who fled Ukraine "years ago" and with the intent of it being a short term refuge wish to stay permanently, it would seem to make sense. For the UK government, it means these useful, productive, enthusiastic members of society stay usefully here. For the Ukraine government, it means that the relatively small proportion who feel they would be going back against their will (and be an unhappy liability there) have a stay-in-uk option. And for the individuals concerns, such an allowance would mean they could get on with their lives without being held in a cruel indefinite limbo.
I am not suggesting an automatic right to remain for everyone who's arrived from Ukraine. What I am suggesting is that now is the time to provide a route to permanence for those who came here in a short term rush without even the intent of it being for more that a year or two before they returned, but have now established a life here and become a part of our society, should have a route through which they can stay.
The Home Office response talks about quarter of s million people - in proportion that's around 70 in Melksham Town. This petition calls for "a path" - that is all - that perhaps ten of them might take up. The Home Office has ignored those ten people in its response, and not addressed the question that was asked.
Published Wednesday, 26th February 2025
Assembly Hall and Blue Pool answers
I am sharing the questions with permission - a query with regard to Monday (24.2.2025) evening. My answer follows, with a handful of words changed for clarity. Oh hire, I am very limited in what I can say because it was taken in confidential session, in spite of being in the agenda for public discussion. You may be able to see some of the rest on a recording, though the meeting was split into 40 minute chunks because we were using a free Zoom account. Continuity was an issue.
Question:
"It was lovely to hear the Blue Pool is going through, but I hope the Architects were briefed about our ideas for its possible uses. Will the 'Friends' ever be involved? I seriously doubt it, especially as you are leaving the Council.
It was disappointed they took the door split decision into confidential session as I was hoping to know what was decided but I know the Council doesn't have any ambition to do anything about it. We are losing so much money by doing the usual booking system. I know Hugh was interested in Changing it and Brian has lots of ideas as do I.
What was decided?"
Answer:
* On hire - on using any alternative cost model
The Assets and Amenities Committee is advised that it cannot make significant spending / income policy decisions on for the Assembly Hall as the authority to do so, and in the process changing a full council decision of 2021, had not been delegated to it.
Six councillors were present when we went into confidential session - Aves, Ellis, Oatley, Rabey (subbing for Hubbard) and 2 x Westbrook. You will find a recommendation from the committee to the next Full Council meeting of how we might allow our staff team to make arrangements outside the current very restricting rules ;-) which were set up during very different (covid) times.
* On Blue Pool
The only brief I am certain ws given to the architects was the very short one along the lines of “We have this Assembly Hall and Blue Pool and they adjoin the Town Hall. What could we do?”. I asked for them to be informed via the outline of the options written by Howard, the presentation of 17th July 2023 that filled some of them in to Full Council, and the need assessment work done by MTC in December 2022, and indeed I forwarded that for use in briefing to the Locum Clerk who, however, deemed it more appropriate to copy that data only to councillors rather than influence architects with ideas we already had.
The “informal meeting” set up for 3rd March was to include architects, staff and councillors but not to be public. A new date is being chosen as many can’t make that date, and I asked for the alternative date to be checked around to find the most appropriate via a Doodle Poll. The Locum Clerk agreed to this.
I asked whether the request to Wiltshire Council to clear all their old gubbins “off site” included clearance of the swimming pool equipment thats’ located in the Assembly Hall and the consensus I got from staff was that it should. No indication was given as to whether this had come up already, and it appeared to me that some of our staff team (Tracy, Andrew, Brian) present may not have been aware of the issue though those who work the Assembly Hall clearly are.
* On follow up meetings
At the very tail of the meeting / once over and informally, I asked why we were having a meeting on the Monday before the election on the Thursday 1st May when we are already delaying some decisions to let the next council make them. I was told that it’s because it’s in the diary proposed and accepted by full council. I suggested that it would be a good opportunity to say “thank you” to councillors for their hard work. It would also be an opportunity summarise where we stood to help the new team be informed on context of what they were taking over.
The Chair said she would talk with the Locum Clerk, and this morning I have received a cancellation notice for the A&A meeting in question - 28.4.2025
* And Also
There was disquiet in various sections / points that councillors are not kept informed and don’t have information provided to them on what’s happening at the Assembly Hall. Also the there’s no Assembly Hall committee / group like there has been in the past. Councillor A Westbrook spoke of their always being one during her previous times on the council, and being surprised that there isn’t one when she came back a year ago. I pointed out the Assembly Hall working group that was disbanded in a wholesale cull last year, and Councillor J Westbrook informed me that it was because that group had gone off piste.
I have - never - found it hard to get information on the hall from Kevin, Bruce, Hugh, Brian - in fact I would characterise all them as being happy to chat, explain and delighted at the interest from me as a councillor.
[name] - may I quote your enquiry as a hook onto which to hand a public post, please?
Published Tuesday, 25th February 2025
Some things about The Council and being a councillor
I have sympathy with some of the frustration expressed by residents at things they hear about and see or don't see via the Town Council. Such frustrations are far from unique to Melksham Town, and come about as a natural side effect of the systems we have in the UK. However in my view we have lacked elements in Melksham that mitigate these effects and others of the system.* Our councillors are all volunteers and none of has / has had the charisma and time to command the respect and following of his / her colleaagues and staff to have them take a pragmatic / cabinet view
* All but one of our councillors are there because of a victory in a competitive vote during which they look to prove themselves more popular than other candidates, and some of them do that by criticising and rubbishing others with whom they are then supposed to work if both get elected, these being multiple councillor wards. And councillors are elected on their ability to attract votes, not on their experience and skill to do the job, nor in consideration of the time they'll have available. This leads, for example, to a predominance of teachers and what you may regard as an unbalanced council. Although there are lots of teachers, there is not a lot of formal learning about the job.
* Keeping people informed takes time and costs money, and can lead to questioning which could otherwise be passed over / things being done "on the nod". So there is a tendency to keep things quieter than ideal, and that tendency is helped by having long and complex agendas - sometimes in the hundreds of pages to read for "next Monday's meeting".
* It is normal for the cost of consulting on, planning and deciding to do something, of getting quotes and permissions and licensing, including paying experts, far exceeds the actual cost of doing the job. Some of these costs can/could/are cut. Whilst sometimes it's sensible to take a shortcut, it does expose the team responsible for the project to the risk of getting it wrong, sometimes as further expense in correcting errors, sometimes as a waste of money, and sometimes the side effects can be really negative on others around and about.
* Sometimes the obvious ideas have hidden / unintended consequences or costs and what appears to be a "no brainer" isn't. It is a luxury available to those who are standing for election but have not previously been a councillor to able to point out and campaign on these obvious ideas, rally the public behind them, only to find they cannot implement their promises.
* There is an interests and conflict of interest thing – I have misgivings about someone being both a county councillor (which is remunerated), particularly if they are on the Wiltshire Cabinet, and an unpaid Town councillor too. Guess where the temptation is for their loyalty to lie. The system makes it hard to avoid this happening, with both elections on the same day. I am also concerned at people standing to represent an area in which they do not live. Boundaries being redrawn, and them being just a few yards outside, may be mitigating factors.
* A party / group may have too many good candidates in one ward and not enough in another, but is candidates moving around and standing in different ward each time an insult to the electorate of where they are parachuted in, and/or a showing of distain for those where they live, have stood before, have represented before? That’s a question not a conclusion.
* Being a councillor is challenging, and most candidates and almost all successful ones in Melksham align themselves when they stand with a political party of grouping. That's both to be more effective in their marketing of themselves and for the knowledge and support brought by the other members of the group. This support comes at the cost of an anticipated or required loyalty which at times may be in conflict with their personal view, and / or with the views of the residents or a segment of the residents of their ward.
* Parish Councillors are unpaid. That makes council meetings much cheaper than if you were paying 15 people even £15 an hour for 2 hours, plus another hour for reading the agenda, And how long can you really ask unpaid people to spend wading through a hundred pages of preparatory text?i Don't forget the time cost on people and that they could be earning a living, putting the kids to bed, going shopping, supporting their partner or simply relaxing with a night off.
* Even though we are financially not compensated, we are financially responsible. And that’s not only for spending and keeping reasonable safety net balances, but also for what we spend on tools and facilities. It is very tempting (and in my view a false economy) to cut back on the best tools we could provide to our staff to do their job well and efficiently. You will note my proposal for next year’s budget to include improvements to the tools to help staff and get stuff done was rejected (and in a recorded vote).
* We (Melksham Town) are a parish and here under the same statuses and legal framework as hundreds of others across Wiltshire. Our parish is 40 times larger than (for example) Broad Town - population about 600 - and the model has its issues as it's expanded to such a proportion. I'm sure the tiny parishes have different issues but I am not personally experienced in those; I certainly look with some envy at those where the councillors almost always work together rather than in competition with one another so much of the time as I see in Melksham Town. Debate IS good - going beyond debate to get your way and yourself and your party / group elected next time is questionable.
* We all make mistakes - councillors, staff, members of the public - can YOU reading this claim perfection? I have run a business in Melksham, and gone at times with ideas that were proven to be silly with hindsight; lessons learned, mitigation in place, cost absorbed, moved on. Support given to team members whose role is to make the decisions that turned out to be wrong. How different it is being a councillor, or has been being a member of staff at Melksham Town Council.
* You cannot please all the people all of the time. There will be compromises to be reached, pragmatism to applied and the more clever councillors and staff do and will find middle ground or innovative ways of coming up with the most promising of outcomes, including helping inconvenient immediate happenings melt away with time and be forgotten. And there gets to be a time at which debate must be curbed and the job done one way of the other.
* With elections upcoming councillors are concentrating on the short term and their visibility in the short term. I can pick up examples of things being done at the moment - such as setting next year's budget low - which are fine for getting votes but potentially store up issues for the next council. I see profile raising by councillors. And I see credit being taken for championing ideas which in truth may be no more than supporting ideas. There are some things that look "populist" to me and I wonder if the views expressed will last.
* I weep at the slow progress we have made. Muchly due to the turnover rate of staff and councillors I have seen, and the very high cost of this financially, in terms of personal hurt / pressures on all involved, and in terms of resource not being available to progress things outside our “internals”. Noting we have a problem is – at least – a step towards seeing what can be done about it.
There is no conclusion from this blog - just a telling of some things from a perspective you may not have thought of. If you feel you could do better, please stand for council in the election on 1st May. If you are honest, principled, positive, open, robust, logical, "for the town" primarily, and have the support of those around you and the time to do a proper job for four years think about going for it. You will note that I have given you a long if-you-are list and not called for alignment of principles with mine. I have gotten to know about individuals elected or selected on "Together for Melksham", Conservative and Liberal Democrat tickets in the past 4 years. In each of those groups there are some I will vote for if they appear on my ballot paper on 1st May. You have some excellent councillors, you have some excellent staff - and you have a system that makes the job (for that's what it is) whether a councillor or employee far from an easy one.
Illustration - the Town Council chamber during last Tuesday's Economic Development and Planning committee meeting.
Published Sunday, 23rd February 2025
Update - Blue Pool, and Assembly Hall charges
From the public agenda of the Assets and Amenities Committee which will meet in the Town Hall at 19:00 on Monday, 24th January 2024. Here are items relating to the Assembly Hall and Blue Pool (and scroll down for my comments ;-) ):
Page 18 / Agenda Item 7 / Asset Transfers
Provided to update the meeting
2. Blue Pool
• The transfer documents for Blue Pool are nearly complete.
• Wiltshire Council has been asked to clear and secure the site before the transfer is finalised.
• Architects' Visit: Six architects have visited the site and will present their proposals for future development at an informal meeting on 3rd March 2025 at 7:00 PM.
• The Locum Clerk is looking into the cost of appointing a project officer to oversee this project as recommended by Council.
Pages 23 to 28 / Agenda Item 9 / Income from Assembly Hall events
Provided to let the councillors decide whether to allow ticket split lets in the future
Night to remember - Motown Show
What we did - hall hire
Income from ticket sales - £10560.00
Costs £984.00
Hall hire £720.00
Payment to band £8856.00
What would have happened if we had done a 70/30 split
Income from ticket sales - £10560.00
Costs £984.00
Payment to band £6703.20
Retained by Town Council £2872.80
Forbidden Nights
What we did - hall hire
Income from ticket sales - £8447.00
Costs £849.00
Hall hire £918.00
Payment to band £6679.00
What would have happened if we had done a 70/30 split
Income from ticket sales - £8447.00
Costs £849.00
Payment to band £5318.60
Retained by Town Council £2279.40
Majesty
What we did - hall hire
Income from ticket sales - £10813.00
Costs £664.00
Hall hire £810.00
Payment to band £9339.00
What would have happened if we had done a 70/30 split
Income from ticket sales - £10813.00
Costs £664.00
Payment to band £7105.00
Retained by Town Council £3045.00
Agenda Item 19 - Friends of KGV
Adjourned from meeting on 16th December 2024.
Minutes of that meeting:-
The Deputy Clerk spoke to the item. A Friends Group would have access to grants not
available to the Town Council. Councillor Hubbard and Councillor A Westbrook would be
attending a meeting on 8th January 2025. It was agreed to bring the matter back to the
next agenda
Comment on the Blue Pool by myself aa a Town Councillor
* On "clear the site", I hope that means removal of all the tanks and plant equipment for the old pool. Even if a proposal were to include a new pool it would require new equipment. No business case has been made for any "wet side" facility and it seems improbable that there would be one to me.
* Requests have been made (and Wiltshire Council was happy to discuss) a few extra metres to allow us to eliminate the wall between the Blue Pool and the Campus grounds if appropriate, and to allow for a second rank of car parking (15 spaces) if the current footprint is retained.
* On the brief given to the architect - I don't know how much they were given. I recommended that they be given the needs assessment done by the council in late 2022, the business case looking at all the options from don't buy through refurbish to knock down and rebuild, the study of what could be done os July 2023 and the structural survey from that Autumn. They could probably have done with talking with the management team from that period too, but Kevin Farrow, Bruce Burry, Linda Roberts and Hugh Davies are no longer with the council.
* I don't know who is invited to the "informal meeting" on 3rd March that is announced here. It is not on the council calendar and indeed I have (personally) a few days away booked and will be between Pitlochry and Aviemore when it happens. I don't know what next stop is planned after the 3rd March meeting - so far (apart from the FOMAH one) no Gantt chart to lay out the project / net step.
* The appointment of a specialist to look after the project makes sense and is something that I and others in FOMAH have been asking for, for the last 18 months. With the departures of our Head of Operations in January and our responsible finance officer in February, and with a temporary clerk in place, we are short of experienced and continuing senior managers and having a specialist who sticks with this project would make supreme sense.
* The Assembly Hall Working Group was disbanded last spring, along with many other working groups. Newsletters to keep councillors informed of what's going on produced regularly by previous Communications Officers have not been continued by the current team. So there are a lot of "don't know"s in this update.
Comment on the Income by myself aa a Town Councillor
Background
It is common practise for venues for touring acts (comedians, shows, acts including tributes) for income after immediate expensed to be split 70% to the performers / groups and 30% to the venue. However, at Melksham Town Council postCovid a decision was taken by full council to charge a hire fee instead. This was done to reduce the risk to MTC - to give us a guaranteed income even if the performance was to a near empty hall.
The next result is that for perhaps a dozen events every year (and our managers know which ones they will be), the performers take rather more money and MTC rather less - though ours is certain not speculative. In theory, the performers take responsibility for marketing on a hall hire, but in practise we as a Town Council market, sell tickets and promote the event - logical for us to do so because we have our own contacts and customer base in our own town which an act from (say) East Anglia stopping here for one evening does not.
Over the three events for which we have data, £5748 more has been paid to artists under hall hire rather than ticket split - just over £1900 per event. Thees are "prime" events - over (say) 12 to 15 events per year where ticket split might make sense, the annual amount of money involved is perhaps around £20,000 and we are requested to approve a switch back to the ticket share system for events for which our team knows there will be a good audience.
To note
Groups say they love us. Will they still love us and will they still come if their income is reduced by £1500 per performance?
The extra income to MTC would / does help make the events profitable - so even if you (addressing the reader) don't come to shows like Majesty or Forbidden Nights, you are not (as a taxpayer) subsidising those who do - quite the reverse as these events are helping keep your tax bill down by generating net income
Bar takings for these evenings bring the Town Council an additional £2000 to £3000, and there is no split or payment to the performers from that - though we have to but supplies and pay staff.
The figures look significant and need careful decision, but I note that Melksham Town Council spends a much, much higher sum on staff departures and arrivals above the normal turnover rate, especially when that turnover is not mutually desired / accepted.
Failure of MTC to authorise our Assembly Hall Manager to make decisions to use a ticket split model where he feels it makes sense is akin to tying one hand behind his back and passing a vote of no confidence in him. We pay him to do a job and should let him do so.
Comment On Friends of KGV by myself as a Town Councillor
Agreed that a community friends group brings other potential income sources. It should / could also bring in so much volunteer help around KGV, and much expertise from outside councillors and council staff - I am in support
BUT such a group needs to be encouraged, nurtured, used, looked after, listened to and we don't see that (quite the reverse) with the Friends of Melksham Assembly Hall who should really have been better involved and invited and not shut out by the closing of the working group, spearheaded by those very councillors who are now proposing a "Friends of KGV"
Published Thursday, 20th February 2025
No objection to Gompels, and here is why
Last night, at Economic Development - a really good meeting and I wish meetings has been this useful for the last four years. Six councillors, one officer, and sixteen members of the public present. Main subject - the planning application by Gompels for a warehouse facility on the Devizes Road, which brought impassioned public input both in favour and against. Two Town Councillors on the committee didn't show up, and there were no apologies from them registered at the meeting.The final decision on this will be made by Wiltshire Council. Inputs from Melksham Without Parish Council (who have already met and made their input) in who's area the site is located, and from others such as Melksham Town Council will be heard, but are purely advisory Into the mix that Wiltshire Council must consider also go the National Planning Policy Framework, the core strategy / local plan and the Neighbourhood Plan which have Lots, some, and a little (respectively) legal weight.
This is a mess of a difficult decision we should not be in.
Fairly common ground is that we DO want to support Gompels in keeping jobs and bring in more jobs to Melksham, though some feel that some of the jobs would be better done elsewhere and Gompels move to a split site operation. Personally, I feel that it's presumptive and almost out of place to tell Gompels how to run their business - taken as a well meaning suggestion, fair enough but it was pushed by some harder than that - suggesting that the approach should be promoted by the closing of other options such as denying the current planning application.
I voted for the Town Council NOT to object to the application, but to request that certain conditions are applied to help it merge into the landscape, and to help ensure road safety. Three other councillors joined me in that vote, and two voted against. I don't actually think our input will make much difference alongside all the other advisory inputs, but it will add a little weight and sentiment and may mean we feel we have been involved. I'm pretty sure that going along to the Wiltshire Planning Committee meeting that I suspect this will come to will be a much more effective way of being heard, though even there your voice is pretty unlikely to change the outcome.
As a councillor, I have been here to represent my electorate and also to help do things and make decisions for the overall long term good of the town. I was canvassed by several people, including a coupe of impassioned pleas to vote to object. So why did I vote "no objection"? Firstly, because the requests were not from voters in my ward or even my parish who I am elected to represent in particular. Secondly because, on balance, I think this build is good for the long term of Melksham, and in saying that I have to put aside other ways it could have been achieved which are not on offer. And thirdly, any input from the Town Council of "Yes, but" on something that realistically we will not change the decision on with our input gives us a better chance of having the BUT elements - in particular the road safety issue - taken much more seriously and may actually result in a plan change for the better.
If I was campaigning for re-election, would my vote have been different? Hypothetical, but probably not. My vote was long considered and fairly well informed and people would far rather their representative was thoughtful and honest and open and consistent - or so they well me. I could have been swayed by good argument that tipped the balance in my ward and parish, but I did not hear that weight of argument.
And having written all of that ... applying for and obtaining planning permission does not actually mean that a build will go ahead. There remain other options should certain other land become available "after all" ... or should the applicant decide to move his main employment away from Melksham.
Published Wednesday, 19th February 2025
Remaining Meetings - Melksham Town Council
Here are my remaining meetings as a Town Councillor:* Ec Dev tonight (18th February). Also 11th March, 1st April and 22nd April
These are the meetings that continue to review planning applications and will continue without any huge difference up to 30th April. Historically this committee also looked at economic development wider as its name implied, but that something that the Town Council has chosen to do far less of. It does oversee work on the Neighbourhood Plan.
* Assets and Amenities next Monday (24th February) then 28th April
This committee looks after the council's buildings and infrastructure including the Assembly Hall and the Parks, which have historically been managed by the Head of Operations. Our previous Head of Operations left the council last month and his role is not being refilled - rather his work spread around other staff, and I wait to see how this works next Monday. The Head of Operations / A&A roles have been longer term work much of the time and I would not expect the 28th April meeting be able to do much except celebrate what we have achieved and pass on the the next set of councillors
* Annual Town Meeting on 17th March
I enjoy these - hearing how the community has been working and answering any questions they have. Good councils and councillors inform the public and answer questions anyway but the annual town meeting gives the formal opportunity
* Full Town Council on 31st March
Not sure what will be on the agenda on this - the last day of our financial year. We won't have final accounts and there won't be a formal way for the current council to take a look back and review how we have done in this year. There will be significant spends this month and next as multiple projects come to fruition and employment change costs are paid.
* Other meetings. Community Development meets on 7th April and oversees events, communications, etc, including the new web site to launch on 1st May. Their "events" include outdoor goings on in the park, but rarely the ongoing indoor events the council facilitates in the Assembly Hall. Finance and admin meets on 10th March. I am not on either committee, thought I have made a point of looking through the agenda and pack for them. For example, I questioned the £28,000 paid out for "professional services" to a firm of solicitors in December and received clarification prior to the meeting last night. There may be extra meetings added - our history is that meetings have been thinned out to make our load less, but then more than back added in as special requirements come up - last night's finance was such a "special".
Absent from the above - no indication of when/if this current council will finally sign on the line to buy the Blue Pool. Full Council on 31st March? Extra full council meeting? Left to next council to finalise? Signed in the end by officers because it's the councils intent and the initial cost is within their delegated powers?
Readers have seen that my blog is drifting towards transport and travel issues and away from general Town Council stuff. After the end of April, I am planning to continue to blog / write but with the emphasis on getting around and about in both current and future areas of Melksham. And I am planning as a member of the public to continue to help groups such as MEG, MTUG, WWRUG and TWSW work with and for the planning and public transport industries for the greater benefit of the people and economy of the area. As a Town Council rep on the Neighbourhood Plan, I have to come off the steering group of that but will continue to take an interest, but that's just one element and I'll liaise and partner as appropriate with MTC, MWPC and WC and many others for the informed positive future of services in the area.
Whilst some things will be less within my formal influence, others may well be more influenceable when a few certain councillors no longer see and treat me as a competitor. There are some good ones there too (in all the parties), and I hope they have the stomach and robustness to stand again. If they do, they will have my vote.
Published Tuesday, 18th February 2025
Integrated Tranpsort. Have your say - cars, buses, trains, cycle, walking together
I have just completed the Department for Transport's "Open call for evidence - Integrated National Transport Strategy: a call for ideas" ((here)). And I am going to strongly encourage you, dear reader, to complete it too. Please."Why shoud I bother?" you ask
1. We have a significant need to join up buses, trains, driving, walking and cycling to make for better transport / travel into the future
2. We have some major issues with joining things up here in Melksham, and around Wiltshire and the South West, which provide excellent examples to inform the DfT and many can be dealt with at quite low (or even no) cost.
3. The survey / consultation is well written and at least forms the basis of something that can be used as a real information source for moving forward and NOT just as a tickbox exercise
4. There are people at the Department for Transport who ARE listening and aware of the need to change / improve - and that starts at the top. Lord Peter Hendy (the national rail minister) spoke very much along those lines at a conference I attended in London last Thursday and so the requests for (logical) change are pushing on a somewhat open door.
5. By answering, it makes you and us think and take a clearer view.
If you would like ideas and inspiration, See my answers at https://www.passenger.chat/mirror/Integrated_transport_response.pdf
Published Monday, 17th February 2025
Railway Innovation - where are we and what do we need?
On Thursday, I took a day trip to London to visit the Rail Innovation Exhibition. On Friday I recovered from the experience (see below!) and caught up on resulting "paper"work and here I am on Saturday writing it up. Or - rather - dictating it up into my computer, experimenting with speech recognition – so please excuse any “sillies” as I try this innovation.
The trip on Thursday should have been an easy one. Imagine ...
The 07:21 train from Melksham ending up in London at about 08:45 and across to the venue in the Queen Elizabeth II centre near Parliament at around 09:15 o'clock but it didn't work like that.
Return on a train about a 17:45 getting into Melksham at about a 19:10
But that is Utopia. The fare leads to a change of plan
Jumps in this blog:
• Booking and planning
• Melksham to London - 49 minutes late
• London to Melksham - 70 minutes late
• The exbibition
• The conference
• Summary and looking ahead
The Booking and planned times
And while those trains are in the timetable with the connections actually work and how much they cost is something of a moot point and left me to take services with fallbacks, and at a reasonable cost for something coming out of my own pocket. A fully flexible ticket on the trains I wanted with the ability to be able to drop back to a later train and perhaps go via a different route to come up to get back to Melksham which has alternative trains running via Westbury and Swindon was offered to me at £247.20, or £262.80 including a travel card. A bit more space in the main line train and complementary coffee and snacks - first class - and the quoted price goes up to £327.20 or £345.30 with Transport for London included.
I don't live in Utopia. I live in Melksham. And whilst I'm sure I could have found the money had it been vital to catch those particular trains and have that flexibility I prefer to save my money and use it for other things. Looking around at what was on offer through the very same booking site with Great Western I found a fare at around £64 from Melksham to London on the 06:32 train that's a 50 minute earlier start changing at Westbury and arriving into London Paddington 10 minutes ahead of the time of the ideal train. And that fare is a first class fare so it is the equivalent of the half the £327 (return) fare including multiple cups of coffee and a rather nice raspberry croissant.
Return leg fare? I found a standard class fare of £30.95 on the 18:36 from Paddington, with a change again at Westbury and arriving into Melksham at 20:21. So total paid around £94.00, plus £2.80 on Oyster for a single underground journey. I took advantage of the extra hour in London between my ideal and planned train to walk back from Parliament Square through the Royal Parks.
Read on - I'll be getting most of that back!
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The actual journeys
Melksham to London
I got to Melksham station at about 06:25 to pick up my ticket for the 06:32 having walked from home and first thing I noticed is that instead of saying on time on the board it says DELAYED. No more than that no reasons being given on the boards including the larger one which has plenty of Real Estate and nothing on the ticket machine to say it was delayed either which again has a big screen. A couple of other passengers were waiting and so for them and for myself I checked online with real time trains and saw that our train was sitting (held) in Swindon. No loud speaker announcements ... (there are no tunnel at the station, but there was a very loudspeaker on the help point which people could be reached through).
Nothing changed over a few minutes so I called up on the help point and spoke to a gentleman there who told me that the line had been closed at true that the line had been closed between Trowbridge and Bath because of ammunition found near the track at the request of the police. When I asked about my connection at Westbury, he told me that I could travel on the next train by the same route but that I wasn't allowed to go on the train to Swindon at 7:20 and catch the London train from there because an advanced ticket apparently cannot be used on a different route. If the train doesn't run it has to be used on the same route, however he rather contradicted that by telling me that arrangements were in place with south-western Railway to use their trains so that I could join a train at Yeovil Pen Mill if I wanted to do so and heading into London that way. Quite how I would get to Yeovil was not explained; there were no magic carpets in waiting at the station. Also told me that the line will be closed until about 07:30 which did give us some idea of what may happen and that it was worth waiting around however some passengers did leave phoning up for help getting on the buses things like that regulars who are familiar with the sort of problems we have in Melksham.
I know number of regular passengers who use Melksham station on the 07:20 train in the morning and speaking with them. I was advising that it was likely that the train for Swindon and Worcester was likely to be run at about 07:35 rather than 07:20 being very careful to say that that was just my opinion and I wasn't speaking for the railway. In turn they were helping me advise other people who were there and explain to people about the ammunition found near the track and the police asking for the line to be closed. In practical terms, perhaps knowing what was going wrong and why wasn't as much used to people, but it did give them some assurance that there was a reason and perhaps they could get some clues from it.
The Keynote was Lord Peter Hendy who is the Minister of State for Rail telling us all about how railways are doing and admitting the need for improvement and innovation for a brighter future. See later in this article for more details of what he said there's a degree of irony in some of the things he was saying compared to some of the things that were experienced just in the up journey let's move on now and have a look at the down journey.
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London to Melksham
I remember promise when the IT trains started to run from London that All trains in the rush-hour would be at least nine carriages long either 2 5 carriage trains couple or a nine car train however that promise seems to have slipped away and we had just a five car train on the 18:36 from Paddington to Plymouth. It was not until 18:25 the train was actually called and a flood of people headed towards the barrier from the lawn which is the waiting area at Paddington. The turnstiles were unable to cope and the staff opened the barriers and people flooded unchecked onto the train. To discover that reserved seats weren't available because it was the wrong length train; they'd expected nine carriages, had just five and people just sat where they could. Except of course they weren't actually enough seats to go around so the ailes of the train were also crammed with people ... in particular those who actually couldn't rush onto the train and probably were more need of the seat those of us who got seats. Again having the online stuff available to me and looking through the various data sources I had been able to find out which platform train was going to be called onto and so I was standing near the barrier before it came in.
The train manager was very apologetic about the conditions and the catering lady on the trolley was very apologetic. She couldn't get through and service with any drinks because the aisles was blocked. Advice was given to passengers headed for Taunton, Exeter, Newton Abbott and Plymouth that there was another train half an hour behind with lots of space on it and they were invited to leave the train at Reading if they wished and catch another train which was going to be running rather faster than hours because we had a lot of intermediate stations to serve. Very few people took this offer up.
As we called at Reading, Newbury, Hungerford, Bedwyn and Pewsey the train lost a few more minutes each time because of the numbers of people having to push past others and fight to get off the train in the very limited space we had and by the time we reach Westbury, we were about 15 minutes late. We were due in at 19:58 but actually got there at 20:14 minutes - by by which time my 20:06 connection through to Melksham had left. Good on the station staff at Westbury that they had held the 20:13 Bath and Bristol train for connecting passengers for Trowbridge and Bradford-on-Avon, Trowbridge these days being the nearest county town to London that has no through service to there.
I spoke to one of the station staff at Westbury asking about my train and connection to Melksham and was told sorry we had to let the connection go which I understood and I was also told to wait for the next train which was going to be a 21:20 that's over an hour later rather than what is often done which is putting people into a taxi.
And so 70 minutes late into Melksham 21:30 rather than 20:20 which in turn was rather than 19:10 which would've been my best train on a flexible ticket had it been on offer at a sensible price. My understanding is that the lower cost advanced fares are sold to help fill spaces on trains which are otherwise quiet and I find this quite a surprise when we were full in standing on the train of London. There was me 140 minutes behind what I would like to have been and I will bet I would've got a seat on that earlier train from London too - they certainly would've been standing in the aisles.
70 minutes late I suppose that's good news in that I can claim the whole of my £30.95 fare back and the fact that I'm holding home a little bit later didn't really matter because I wasn't expecting a keynote speech from Lisa like I was from Peter Hendy. Lisa was very understanding about these sorts of things. It's almost a regular of travel.
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The Exhibition
The "Railway Innovation Exhibition" for suppliers, looking forward with a big feature "First of a kind". Dozens of exhibitors from supplier organisations all pitching to - well - there probably to ingratiate themselves with the organiser and Department for Transport who were sponsors. Few buyers and one exhibitor who I mentioned his bare stand commented that there was little point in bringing much along as it was an opportunity to meet colleagues and competitors rather than potential customers. Reassured that our forum was not a buyer, we had a good chat about the exhibition and I have totally forgotten - if I even knew - what his product was.
But - that comment aside - I found some of the stands very informative. I can appreciate the need for depot IT stock management systems, devices to scare deer away from railways, and the provision of rail coating and monitoring to maximise adhesion, applying product that will do minimal damage to the environment as it washes off, will last long and can be recorded and analysed for effectiveness.
Customer Information
Some of the gaps - classically - illustrated by my journey experiences today. And I know what I am doing! Add to that route planning, fares, etc. And where can I get mobility help, a cup of coffee, or call up a taxi for the final mile if there's no bus available?
There were a number of companies (almost too many sharing their products) that are using data to try and address this issue and the results seems to be a mess of a whole lot of options and possibilities but yet still not addressing the ,000 question of things like well how is that going to work when we try and put the fair system into it as well and have a system where if you train is delayed? You can catch the bus instead and it will help with your ticket transfer.
Most people seem to be using the Darwin data feed or when you speak to them admit to having a look at the BODS bus open data feed but not integrating buses with trains very much if at all which is a great shame because people want to travel from a to B and that's often a combination of types of data needed. And they laugh at you when you ask about fares or handling disruption and re-routing you on a disrupted journey - the sort of thing I was doing in person at Melksham Station a fe hours earlier for someone headed to West Wales.
This market place is in its early / embryonic years. Lots of people coming up with different competing partial solutions with a mess of different looks and feels and features. For regular and confident users for whom it can answer the right questions, that's good. But not everyone is confident, not everyone is regulate enough to learn how to navigate and tune the system, and people are likely to have "off piste" questions which may be answered via the data available, but aren't solved in the combinations on offer - or if they are, not obviously.
Rail Data Marketplace
Good to touch base with the Rail Data Marketplace team and show them our use of their data. It's interesting how the back room teams who produce the stats (the ORR ones are the same) appreciate the odd "thank you" and to see how their work is in use. I keep an eye on the Rail Data Marketplace - really useful information of feed through onto our own websites and ho help us tune pages based on information in there - for example offering the 10 most popular destinations from your current location on the menu.
Seats
New seat designs and materials which everyone seemed very excited about - hoe much the actually improve things we'll have to see. I was told that they're coming to the first class carriages on the Portsmouth - Cardiff main line, and I found myself wondering if they mean the former 1st area. They were telling me how important comfortable seating is on long journeys such as this, and I found myself wondering if they knew just what a small proportion of journeys on the line are all the way!
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The Conference
Short, mainly intended I would suspect to be motivational, but very interesting to hear what (Lord) Peter Hendy had to say. He started his 10 minute keynote by saying what a good job it was that the event was Thursday not Wednesday, as he had been in The Lords voting until 01:00 that morning and would not have done a good speech - "it's a lot for a pensioner" and that does raise the thought as to whether he's perhaps a bit old for the job - or if he DOES have the energy to do what's expected of him, is it merely a figurehead role? He went on to talk of the 200 year celebration of passenger carriage in mechanically powered trains; good but still a look back? But then he went on to talk about it all being about connectivity and that it's there for passenger, and it was refreshing to have this confirmed from the top.
Peter went on to talk about the first of a kind program and how that should be making things simpler inclusive and stress free for everybody but both of the people who use it and the people who operate it and he spoke of the need for real reform. He said that the current performance was not as good as it should be and that the current system has an unfortunate blame and passed the buck culture which he would like to see ended with people taking responsibility for all various areas looking to see a diminished fragmentation of the systems where things get passed on from one place to another.
He told us that a big consultation on the structure and direction of Great British railways and how all that works is imminent being the civil service. He couldn't give us a date he said but imminent means fairly soon and they will be looking for customer groups and individual passengers and the whole industry to input. He told us of a huge appetite to invest on improving the systems for the future and spoke about GBRX which is the I don't know expansion development section of great British Railways let us have a look and see what that is.
We then heard from Angie Doll on diversity in the rail industry, advocating for women in rail and how the railway can change to encourage greater female representation. Looking around the room, the audience was predominantly male. But looking at the five presentations, three were given by women, one by a man and woman in tandem and Peter Hendy's was the lone presentation entrusted to a male ... and isn't his boss at the DfT a woman? Is this political correctness gone mad with positive discrimination, because women are better, or a statistically insignificant co-incidence? Angie told us how she started as a Coffee Shop assistant and had worked herself up. Where I do agree with and support Angie is in her assertion that the job pool is men AND women and all should be encouraged to apply and take roles.
Maggie Simpson told us about the rail freight group, and telling us that GBR's passenger trains would only be 75% of the trains running. I wonder how the other 25% splits between freight and open access passengers, and indeed what proposition of the freight are railway engineering trains rather than outside carriage.
Luisa Moisio, Director of research at the RSS B told us about the well technology strategy however everybody needs to be working together for a purpose and to make for the reliable system and saying that we should not all be about firefighting but looking to develop better for the future.
Klara Ludinova and James Bevan the innovation leads at well innovation UK who were hosting the show told us of the competition first of a kind in 2023 and how so much of that there was looking else year at customer experiences they're talking about research projects which take the speech of a train manager and transform them into text display on screens in the train and they're telling us just how difficult that is to do with some of the gruff northern accent of train drivers and the poor quality of the sound in the cab. They were also very keen to be telling us about the seats which we are going to be seeing if you look at earlier in this note you will see on the trains from Cardiff to Portsmouth and having had a long and painful journey the other week in an IT all the way from Bath down to Penzance I think that's possibly a good idea.
And so ... the exhibition (see above); I left at around half past three having visited various stands looking at elements of the customer experience, and seeing the depth of range of other specialists. Quite a bit reminded me of things I have done with work; the big thing for me is collecting and making sensible us of all the data that's out there to make the journey easy to plan, pay for, tune along the way, and get you where you want to be, when you want to be there. The first stage of us achieving that is to note that it's an area which isn't brilliant at the moment and needs attention and - good for us - it no longer sound like a silly idea to think of the passenger experience. But we have a long way to go, as I was hearing all the talk, I thought of my experiences in the morning where prior knowledge and robustness got me through, and as I write this up I think of my landing back at Melksham over an hour late; good job I knew where I was going - no buses, no taxis, and just a handful of people who had got off the train. Not welcoming. We could do so much better - part of it is the system, part of it is the lack of innovation, and part of it is the lack of planning and running as a network to help people connect from one place to another.
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In Summary
A long day - 3 hours longer that in should have been thanks to the vagaries of the rail system with missing connections on occasional service, and passengers left standing and worndering what was going on - morning chaos and evening chaos too. List price fare for the ideal service - £228.90; actually paid - £97.70, but I expect most to be refunded because of the delays both ways and expect to finally have paid £34.80
Railways at the present time are for the robust and are not new customer friendly. The industry HAS noticed this ans is trying out all sorts of ideas in inovation, but that's far from the coal face. There is talk of a keenness to improve and invest, but the tired old trains, too short for the passengers, and a lack of information and staff give the impression we're looking at jam tomorrow rather than thought and investment to fix it today. There is good intent - but is that intent really for the passengers, or for the policital agenda, or for political correctness? Rail is complex - there is no magic wand - so we will see. A time of great opportunity, but great risk. We most move forward into our 201st year and not just rely on the past - there are elements of that such as the fare farce that are overdue for replacement. And - please - let's look at transport connections and not just rail. It's trains, and buses, and aircraft and ferries and taxis all connecting - and cycles and scooters for the last mile, with safe interchanges for all modes and up to date information.
Taking my home town of Melksham as a example, our train service of 9 each way a day should be 16 reliable clockface. There should be buses to and from the station to connect with each train. The station should be welcoming and information easy. And passenger journey numbers that have risen from 3,000 to 60,000 WILL rise to over 400,000 per year. Get these factors wrong and we'll have a fading rail service and county that's one great gridlock to at the expense of both the environemnt and the economy, and of our quality of life.
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All pictures taken on Thursday
Published Saturday, 15th February 2025
Annual Town Meetings - good, but no need to wait to ask
I look forward to seeing you at the Melksham Annual Town Meeting at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall on 17th March 2025. This text written to follow up a Facebook advert which says, correctly, that it includes an opportunity to meet your councillors and ask questions, as well as celebrate your town. I hope to see lots of people there. But you don't have to wait. I represent the South Ward (along with 3 others), I live in the South Ward, and I'm happy to write, speak, meet at any time I'm not otherwise engaged about things in the remit of Melksham Town Council.
Email me as a starter ... although my other contact details are pretty widely available for use if you prefer.
If you don't know whether you live in my ward, or even in the Parish of Melksham Town, please still ask. I am happy to point you in the right direction or to share any wider knowledge I have.
If you don't know whether something is a Town Council responsibility, again please ask. "The system" is complicated - I know quite a bit and am happy to point your to someone who knows even more, and perhaps can actually do something too, where that's appropriate.
I am not a member of any political party so views expressed and actions taken are for the love of Melksham. I am unpaid in my role as Town Councillor - a volunteer, and I am a pensioner so I have no financial interest in providing you with information or thoughts that will benefit me beyond that love of the town. No employer to speak for, no expenses to claim, no other wider area elected body that gives me money to do things in my role with them.
This may read like a campaign advert for re-election. It isn't as my term finishes on 30th April. As from 1st May I will be freed up to put more time into - err - travel and transport matters to, from, within and through Melksham. It's a part of my love for the town, the area, and the people who live here - friends and colleagues - and to help me keep my brain positive and active for a few more years yet.
My lack of running for re-election does mean that I am already taking a look ahead to the next decade and what we should be doing from where we are now to plan for that, freed up from the need to do things in a way that will be popular in March and April which I would be tempted to do if I needed your vote on 1st May.
"The agenda for the Annual Town Meeting will be published at least 7 days in advance" ... that's a 'thing' with Town Meetings which are a legal requirement at happening all over England. But put it in your diary now!
Published Friday, 14th February 2025