Graham Ellis - my blog
Town Councillor life - something for YOU?
The life of a Town Councillor and Transport Advocate - timed and diaried meetings with other things to be done between. I'm encouraging new blood to stand for council - but only if you are strong enough and your blood will not be spilled in the process!Red - items which come with my councillor duties (though I might well choose to go to some of them anyway) - largely cease on 30th April
Purple - Public Transport issues - to continue after 1st May
Black - My life!
So my diary next weeks (and other things will happen / be added!)
| 15th March 2025 | Melksham Vegan Market - 10:00 |
| 16th | free day |
| 17th | MTC Annual Town Meeting - 19:00 |
| 18th | Melksham Environment Group - 18:30 |
| Wilts and Berks Canal Trust - 19:45 | |
| 19th | WWRUG AGM is on 19th in Trowbridge - 19:00 |
| 20th | Bowerhill Village team - 12:30 |
| MTUG Committee 20th - 18:30 | |
| 21st | TWSW General Meeting in Taunton - 10:30 |
| Bus Partnership - 15:30 | |
| 22nd | free day |
| 23rd | free day |
| 24th | Day in London (Personal development) |
| 25th | Meeting with MP and GWR, Westminster |
| 26th | Modern Rail conference, Swindon |
| 27th | Assembly Hall Quiz Night |
| 28th | free day |
| 29th | free day |
| 30th | free day |
| 31st | Full Town Council meeting |
| 1st April | Economic Development and Planning |
| 2nd | WWRUG Committee |
What was I dealing with yesterday?
Learning about then declining to get involved in an accessablity web site project.
Insurance for WWRUG meetings .
Payment for work on Neigbourhood Plan.
Advising on acrid smoke from bonfire question
Sorting out bus campaigner issues.
Understanding MTC finances and staffing.
Setting up group to meet MP later this month.
Looking at parking / loading issues in the Market Place.
Watching over public transport news (and continues today):
- at 09:09: North Cotswold line delays and cancellations - 2025
- at 09:03: First Bus cuts through buses from Falmouth to Newquay
- at 08:56: Images show £140m revamp plan for Cardiff Central
- at 08:56: 2025 - Service update and amendment log, Swindon <-> Westbury
- at 07:31: FGW announce link with Singapore Airlines
- at 07:28: Night Riviera - merged posts, ongoing discussion
- at 06:32: Over the country towards Skye
- at 22:47: A move to longer trains?
- at 22:02: Engineering Work Swindon area weekends of 22/23 and 29/30 March
- at 20:52: Small rise in crime at Melksham Station
- at 19:59: Dangers of the underground
- at 19:18: Connectivity - north to south Wales
- at 19:00: HS2 - Government proposals, alternative routes and general discussion
- at 18:40: Pakistan army says 300 hostages freed from train - 11 March 2025
Don't block the only way through
As far as I can see or recall, the planning application for 68 homes to the north of Berryfield hasn't come to the Town Council - and indeed why would I have expected it to, as it's not even adjacent to the town - it's about half a kilometre away. However, I took a look at what was planned and have added my own comment to the 100 or so public comments already made.My concern with this application in relation to Melksham Town is that the homes, if built, would block the otherwise open (and in many places protected) route of the Wilts and Berks Canal. And I believe that a canal, or canalised river, through Melksham, would/will be a wonderful facility bringing life to the town and river. I know that support is not universal, but the way for a decision to be made on this, against the canal, is not by default on some more local planning application that plonks a handful of houses onto the 70 mile waterway route.
Illustrative Map / ariel view - the route available for the canal past Berryfiels (shown in pink) and the proposed location of housing that would block it (the pushpin). No practical option to swing around ...
For the record - my input:
Planning Application PL/2025/00626
I am writing to OBJECT to this application as made, on the grounds that the proposals if implemented as shown would block the proposed route of the re-opened Wilts and Berks Canal which is otherwise protected in multiple policies all all the way from Semington to Abingdon in Oxfordshire.
A rerouted (via the protected proposed route) Wilts and Berks Canal would bring significant economic benefit to the town of Melksham and also extending further north to Lacock, Chippenham and beyond. The benefits to Melksham are major and enshrined in neighbourhood planning, and it would be perverse to allow the building of a handful of houses blocking the whole way. Much better (though outside the plans submitted for consideration) would be to build housing with a canal route and perhaps even channel through the site under consideration as a community benefit.
For the absence of doubt, adjacent land to the site in this planning application would not be available for safeguarding / use for the canal, and a single building would add a significant hurdle to the completion of the whole 70 mile through route. That is in addition to the damage done to the planned economic and community development brought by the canal through Melksham.
Published Tuesday, 11th March 2025
TWSW - the need to provide for and listen to the person travelling
Having a transport system fit for us to all to use to get around in 5 years, 10 years, 15 years and beyond will be key to our quality of life and our economic future. That's walking, cycling and scooting, private cars and taxis, trains and buses, and aircraft and ferries, and it's about linking them all up into an integrated network. It's planning too - where we'll be travelling too - having places we want or need to go near to, and linked to, places where we live or stay.Much of our transport system is historic - that road through a Town Centre or suburb that pushes heavy lorries and an endless stream of cars past people's doors, a railway line that is bursting at the seams with trains queuing to get through a single track, and a bus service that fails to go to the train station and finishes as the same time as people finish work because it's the end of the driver's shift too.
We already have a lot of travel and transport options. Many are good, but are they the best they could be, are they known about so that people make best use of them, and are they fit for the future? People who use the current travel options know them best - and those people are there in quantities far greater that the professional staff who specify or run these systems. So they are a valuable resource in both making the current systems known about, helping point out where they can be improved, and helping make their fellow travellers and newcomers be informed and feel (and be) safe and welcome.
We are at a time of great change - with new rail and bus structures coming in to place, and major planning and building changes too. But yet the consultations and plans are taking only limited note of those experts out there in huge numbers - the people who use the current system and are the millions of eyes and ears that know what is going on at each bus stop and each station even when there are no staff around. Now is the time when we can - and must if we want to make a difference - remind our governing bodies of the need to listen to the expertise that uses the system and will want to use it. And now is the time to take advantage of this expertise as one element in tuning the current system and helping it flourish and be fit to grow even better in the future.
It has been suggested that customer / user input is a nuisance, having to be answered many times (for there are lots of customers) to people who have limited knowledge of the complex systems (of course - when I turn on electricity in my home, I don't need to be a generation technician!) and that this input, currently split between many organisations, should be combined under a restructured Transport Focus. How that could work is - to put it mildly - important. As an agency of the Department for Transport, there is a concern that its remit could be limited, its resources inadequate, and its powers toothless. There are some really good people there and elsewhere and we need to ensure that our travel and transport system in the near, medium and longer term work for the passengers - their customers. The customer needs to be King.
I started writing this piece to encourage YOU to sign up for and come along on Friday of next week - 21st March 2025 - to TravelWatch SouthWest in Taunton. TravelWatch is - if you like - the user group's user group. Industry and government professionals, user groups and informed users and observers all come together to share best practise and to co-ordinate thoughts across the South West of England. A board of around 10 volunteer directors and a team of two co-ordinators run "TWSW" and the event, which is free to attend, staring at 10:30 in the morning - sorry, you will have to buy your own ticket to get there but I can promise you a very thoughtful session. I am one of those directors, elected onto the board last December, but very much learning just like you would if you come along, and I am somewhat in awe of the expertise and knowledge of those around me. I'll also say what an enormous pleasure all these people are to be working with and how enjoyable, and productive, it is working for the betterment of sustainable, public and private transport.
Links -
This week, sign up for the event via Eventbrite
and the following links are permanent:
See TWSW on Facebook
See TWSW on LinkedIn
See TWSW on Blue Sky
Also TravelWatch SouthWest resources - being revamped
Published Sunday, 9th March 2025
Looking forward - for people travelling around
I feel like I am coming out of a tunnel - or off a hiatus or sabbatical that has lasted for years. I see light at the end of my journey on Melksham Town Council. I am easing off a little - there is no point in starting projects that I won't be around to complete, and there is no point in self-publicising to help my re-election prospects. There are some on the staff and councillor team whom I have enjoyed working with and I will miss that, though still in touch on transport issues and available to help.For residents in my ward of Melksham South, thank you for all your support for these years. I hope I have helped - brought you some insight and helped move some things forward. I'm not going away - I'm changing and will still be around. In 2021, you had a choice between 7 of us for 4 places and I hope some of you feel you made a good choice in me. Come this way, I'm sure you'll have a wide range of chocie of fresh candidates for the next 4 year; I'm slowing, changing, and can't commit myself for that long. Out of the tunnel to things I enjoy much, much more and without the 48 month, 3 meetings a month, physically in Melksham Town Hall, commitment being a councillor asks.
So Last week I was in Scotland - 19 trains and a bus over four days, staring and finishing with a walk to Melksham Station for the train from here. On Friday, an invigorating TravelWatch SouthWest meeting where I have rejoined the board and am now looking after the online element. Today (Saturday) meeting up in Trowbridge with the chair of the West Wilts Rail User Group to prepare for a meeting with our MP and GWR in a couple of weeks at Portcullis House. Monday I'm putting the case for local support for the Melksham Transport User Group, with a committee meeting the following week and AGM next Month. And The Coffee Shop Passenger forum runs on still after 18 years.
I am coming back; the "Town Council Experience" is something I would not have missed - a truly learning and broadening time, but - wow - I am looking forward. It's - still - for Melksham, for our region, and for our population and our getting around.
Image - Regent's Canal, taken on Thursday as I walked along from Kings Cross to Paddington. Seeing the light ahead.
Published Saturday, 8th March 2025
Melksham TC play areas and their safety
In my Councillor's mailbox this morning - 14 annual inspection reports from Town Council play areas around from RoSPA. They are independent safety reports and it makes sense that they are done, by a fresh set of eyes, and that significant safety risks are not only identified but acted on.Looking though report after report - they are 20 pages plus each - almost all of the indicators are green; I have spotted just a handful of yellows and no reds have shouted out at me. And that's good ... as far as it goes. The reports are about safety, not usability. A balance beam is "safe" in Hazelwood Drive because the beam is missing and no-one is going to fall off it!!
I have not seen these report in previous years, and it's too late for me to do much about them other than commend them and their maintenance recommendations to our staff team and the future councillors on the next Assets and Amenities Committee (the current one has already met for the last time). We have one member of staff left on the amenities team and management who has been with the council for more than a couple of years, and I would hope he can put the report into context - I have no way of judging if this is better or worse than previously. I do know that it's good that these matters are getting attention.
The map is via http://www.doogal.co.uk/BatchGeocoding.php which plots postcodes - so some of the pins may be a few yards away from the play area. Some other play areas such as those in the east of the town are looked after by a management company, and those in surrounding areas by management companies or the surrounding parish council of Melksham Without.
Published Friday, 7th March 2025
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?".
| 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? |  |
Published Friday, 28th February 2025
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