Graham Ellis - my blog
(My) Melksham diary for September and October 2025
I have been having a look through the Melksham Town Council agenda pack for next Monday and have the following dates in my diary - not as a councillor now, but as an interested resident - so I will be "cherry picking" where interested. Copied here as the correlation may be useful to othersSeptember
+ A Night to Remember - Motown Show - Friday 5th September 2025
* Day trip by train to Weymouth (09:10 from Melksham Station) - Saturday 6th September 2025
+ Flower and Produce Show - Sunday 7th September 2025
** Melksham Town Council, Community Development Commiteee - Monday 8th September 2025
/ A look around in Frome - transport comparison to Melksham - Thursday 11th September 2025
*% Nominations for Town Council / vacant South Ward seat - by Friday 12th September 2025
* Final summer day trip by train to Weymouth - Saturday 13th September 2025
** Proms in the Park – Saturday 13th September 2025
+ Female of the Species - also Saturday 13th September 2025
/ West Wiltshire Rail User Group, including campaign update - Wednesday 17th September 2025
++ RAF Melksham Presentation (Historical Assoc) - Thursday 18th September 2025
+ Clothes Swap - Sunday 21st September 2025
+ Quiz night - Thursday 25th September 2025
+ Laughter Craft Comedy - Friday 26th September 2025
+ Melksham Lions Club - Saturday 27th September 2025
* Residents Survey - closing date Tuesday 30th September 2025
* Melksham and Devizes Business Network - sign up by 30th September 2025
* Melksham Environment Group (18:30, Library) - Tuesday 30th September 2025
October
* Melksham Transport Group meeting - Wednesday 8th October 2025
*% By-election, Melksham South Ward - Thursday 9th October 2025
++ Daytime Disco - Friday 10th October 2025
+ Abbamania tribute - Saturday 11th October 2025 2025
++ The Trials of Rev'd Barnwell (Historical Assoc) - Thursday 16th October 2025
* Melksham Environment Group - Tuesday 21st October 2025
/ TravelWatch SouthWest General Meeting - Friday 24th October 2025
+ The ELO Encounter - Friday 24th October 2025
+ Simon Yates, my Mountain Life - Wednesday 29th October 2025
+ Seriously Collins - Friday 31st October 2025
November and December ... an early note of
** Remembrance - 9th November 2025
* Melksham Area Board of Wiltshire Council - 12th November 2025
/ Bus and Rail integration in West Wilts - 26th November 2025
** Christmas lights switch-on - 6th December 2025
Key:
** - On the the Agenda for next Monday
* - Not on the agenda for next Monday, but in my diary
% - see (here)
+ - Melksham Assembly Hall event - see (here)
++ - At the Assembly Hall, all welcome, not on the event web site
/ - event relates to Melksham but out of town
** Remembrance and Christmas Lights are similar to events held in past years - through the Christmas Lights even last year was cancelled due to poor weather. Proms in the Park started last year, with a big screen bringing the Royal Albert Hall live to the KGV park. This year, "The programme will feature performances from local bands and ensembles, culminating in a traditional ‘Last Night of the Proms’ style finale" - so that's not a big screen relay this time, though "A full schedule will be released closer to the event date" - just a week away, but that should clarify what's happening.
And finally from the agenda pack - a welcome to Dominic Rutherood – Melksham Town Council’s New Communications and Marketing Officer.
Where now? Melksham Town, transport and general
Here we are - 1st September (2025). The spirit of summer is over and here we are into the Autumn. In Melksham, the KGV field is cleared from the Food and River Festival which was held over the last couple of days, and the season of meetings - 3.5 months through to mid December - starts. I have far fewer meetings (and preps) coming up than I would have had at this time last year, no longer being on the Town Council, and no major trips are planned for the rest of the year, refilling mental and energy pots, catching up on writing and background work, catching up on things and works around the house, and letting finances catch up a bit too.Read on ... or jump to
• Online forum update
• Public Transport Groups update
• Melksham Town Council related stuff
• And the rest
Coffee Shop
On the "Coffee Shop" forum - our train and other public transport forum - had 1,231 messages posted in August, with 133 new topics covered. Back up from a low point of 781 and 88 in May and now similar in volume to this time last year. Specialist forums have shaken out since we founded the "First Great Western Coffee Shop" 18 years ago; our founding mantra of being a place that Joe Public can ask a passenger's question has been almost entirely replaced/outdated by social media such as Facebook, Twitter / X enquiry systems, searches with (now) AI results and so forth. 99% of the questions are answered elsewhere, and of the tiny proportion remaining, answers are often provided by a search that finds us rather than by someone signing up and asking. New members are rare. So - where is the case for the Coffee Shop now? It's in the club and comradely of the members, who have become dear friends, over the years. We do keep up to date with rail (and other ways of getting around) news, in our section of the UK (and beyond too where interests and lessons are to be learned). Seventy members have been logged in over the last 24 hours as I write - and that's from a Sunday rather than a weekday, with another fifty or so here as guests. The same regular members do visit day after day, week after week; guests tend to be different ones each day - stats tell me of two thousand four hundred arrivals from searches in August. These figures are dwarfed by the traffic we get from automata indexing us to feed the search engines, AI systems, SEO▸ companies and various nasties, but I am pretty sure of the figures I quote as real visits / people - UK for users and guests where I have the ability to see by country. 116 active users yesterday from the UK, 3 from Vietnam, 1 from China, 1 each from Germany, France and Ireland.
The Coffee Shop would not be what is is without the contributing members, the reading guests, and the fabulous team of moderators and administrators we have there. The "work" they do is fantastic - but yet it's not really work in all senses of the word. Very often, just being there as a member and being part of the club that we have become is all that is needed; the powers vested to edit, move around, manage are rarely required and better described as tidying up when they *are* needed. For sure, we all keep eye out to keep the Coffee Shop safe - and that now has a legal definition of what we must do in addition to the moral one we have always followed. There are 17 nasty things we look out for, and we even [are required, also] monitor how and when we look out; that's behind-the-scenes stuff; I do know it works because occasionally tools trigger to alert me, and we have a backboard on which the admins and moderators co-ordinate to give a smooth, consistent forum to our members and on which we can pass on and discuss ongoing issues and assign tasks as need be, and inform each other as to what we have done.
Looking forward, on the webmaster side, I need to make the Coffee Shop function better on mobile devices - we are some of the way there. I need to shakedown the background server to cope with all the crawler traffic. It would be useful to better integrate it with other social media - for example to help direct more readers our way. Our internal searches are a bit awkward - we have an archive of 2,000 .pdfs, and 26,000 topics with an average of 15 posts in each, timetables and ticket sales information going back years, and its always a bit difficult to provide an easy way for members and casual visitors to see the wood for the trees - to find the answer to their question in amongst the big, big data we have.
MTUG, WWRUG, TWSW
Layers, like an onion. Melksham Transport User Group, West Wiltshire Rail User Group, TravelWatch SouthWest. For Melksham, for West Wiltshire, and for the South West as a whole. Meetings coming up - MTUG committee on 18th, WWRUG on 17th (Trowbridge) and TWSW general meeting (Taunton) on 24th October.
I am involved at officer / committee member / board member level with all three. And plans to get myself and my responsibilities with them up to date on my return on 8th August and by the end of the month have come to nothing. A (very) little has been done, but being laid low with Covid took the wind out of my sails - not so much the physical issues but the dulling of the intellect and vast amounts of sleep meant that I have only been keeping routine stuff ticking along and have little opportunity beyond. It has also been the holiday season, and when calling on / asking others, I have a lot of "out of office"s stacked up; of course, as people come back over the next few days for the most part, it will still take them time to work though their inbox and respond, and these days I don't have a "Town Council" hat to help me up their priority pile.
The rail industry is undergoing major change. And it seems to me that every thread of that has a major relationship with the Department for Transport, who are in financial control and directly o indirectly the puppeteer of virtually everyone in the system. This is worrying when (sorry) it is very clear that the rail industry, directed by the DfT» , cannot effectively manage or direct even the simplest of train services reliably. This summer, 12% of trains scheduled to call at Melksham have been cancelled, and our service is ranked at 2123 out of 2638 stations - so we are not alone in having major issues. To give you a "control" to compare against, cancellation targets set on train operators are typically between 1% and 2%, and much over that results in a service - especially on a line where there won't be another train along in 15 minutes, that people cannot rely on. Sometimes the railway lays on replacement buses which take far longer, involve changing at Chippenham with an ongoing wait there, and miss connections at Westbury - and they fail even to lay on alternatives more often than not, just telling you that you can get your fare or part of it refunded; that's not what people want, but rather they want to be take where they plan, at or near to the time that was advertised in the first place.
And in this mess - everyone is paid or in the pay or control of the Department for Transport and is looking to their own future - of their organisation, their income and their personal career too. The description that "she did a good job defending the indefensible" in reply to a query by a Coffee Shop member to GWR hit the nail on the head. Even TravelWatch SouthWest - supported over the years by operators - now finds itself indirectly (and not knowing how) funded with the agreement or otherwise of the DfT, and leaned heavily upon not to rock the boat. I may find myself in trouble even for making that comment if this somewhat obscure blog is actually read by anyone concerned.
Included in the "DfT web" are organisations like the Office of Rail and Road, Transport Focus, the Community Rail Network and then indirectly Community Rail Partnerships. It worries my that at the present time, it is risky for any of them or their members (including our local CRP▸ ) to be critical or to press for solutions. Good work is being done in looking ahead to the medium and long term, and in engaging with some of the more difficult to reach groups in our community, but engagement with as support of the case for getting reliably and meaningfully sorted is notably by its absence. I can understand a reluctance to bite the hand that feeds you; I was approached to see if I would like to join the local CRP board, but once it was clear to me that criticising this aspect outside the board would not be acceptable, I declined. I have to wonder at my position with TWSW too.
There IS a desire and a need for public transport improvement to, from and within Melksham. I was in the park on Sunday at the Food and River Festival ... purely as a resident this year and not "marked" in any way. Acknowledge quite a number of people I know (quick wave or hi) - what I did note was that people who I don't know, but knew who I was, were predominantly asking me about the trains (and trains, you'll note - not the buses so much).
Town Council Stuff
I'm retired - but that does not stop me taking a positive and supporting interest in our town, in a measured way, nor does it stop me from being asked questions and for advice by residents especially, and occasionally by staff if they wish to tap in on transport. The new staff team has little reason to be aware of so much old wider experience I have, and at times I bite my tongue - "I could have told you that" when an issue comes out in public.
The Neighbourhood Plan has been completed; I came off the steering group in May because I am no longer a councillor, but friends have kept me informed in addition to Neighbourhood Plan stuff being far more available to the public than Town Council stuff. Good to see it pass at referendum in July and already being in use to help inform forward planning decisions and then infrastructure spend.
The Blue Pool purchase has been completed by MTC» but I have no further news. Inevitably, the purchase will have resulted in extra costs starting initially with insurance, but the MTC budget is tight this year and I don't know how they will do it. Not exactly unforeseen, but there has be be a bit of "told you so" on my part; I did suggest a council tax precept for this year which would have covered the difference, but was voted down. Thank you to the senior councillors who voted with me on that; until next March you have the new council from this May having to tighten their belts early in because of the decision of the old council in January. Such is our system.
I did not assist as a volunteer this summer at the Splashpad - I wasn't asked, perhaps because they knew I would have been unlikely to accept, and perhaps because they know better. Similarly, no requests to assist at the Assembly Hall or with their leaflet / publicity and its distribution. The purpose of the leaflets was to help fill the hall by telling people what was going on and if all the events there are full, and the hall is booked out every day, then they are no longer needed anyway. Suits us (Lisa and I) as we have plenty else to do.
In our Melksham South, only three candidates were nominated for our 4-councillor Town Council ward. A fourth person was co-opted at a meeting a month later, but one of the original 3 has already resigned. We have a bye-election coming up with calls for nomination next week. As there were seven candidates for co-option and only 2 were chosen across the town, I am hopeful that there will be a context. I have moved on in age and commitments, and the job has changed since May 2021, and although I have been approached by a couple of people I will not be standing, but please don't let my personal situation put YOU off - if you have got as far in this article as reading me, you are certainly the sort of person we need.
With my Travel and Transport hats, I look at total journeys and for that involves local walking and cycling within the town, access to NaPTANs (National Passenger Transport Access Network) points (stations and bus stops) and with consideration not only for the able bodies and unencumbered, but for everyone. We have some good stuff, but some awkward points, some directions lacking, and some missing links. I wrote much of this up a couple of months ago [date] and have had an "interested" response from one of our ward councillors, and a "Thank you" from the mayor. To be followed up.
And Also
Personal stuff - I have so many and so much thought that I could and perhaps might (whether I should or not) write up as a book or modern-day equivalent as a blog and perhaps be more of an influencer. The old data out there is huge and just like the searches mentioned above hard to filter. In recent days, the mind is coming back and I may be able to make a start. Early days - no reveal of too many ideas as yet. But as this 1st September post is a checkpoint, worth a mention.
This will be shared on the Coffee Shop - at https://www.passenger.chat/t30663.html and expanded on selectively on social media.. It's much more forward than backward looking so the trips of so far that have brought me here are mentioned above just in passing. I can tell you / suggest that, yes, I still have itchy feet and whilst physically around for the autumn you can expect more picture neat year which I will need to title for you because they won't exactly be obvious. Clearly there may be some of Melksham and Taunton and Trowbridge and other places more local.
Published Tuesday, 2nd September 2025
Trains to Felletin - a lesson Melksham must not miss
Barring a miracle, today (written 31.8.2025) is the last day of train service to Aubesson and Felletin in France. I went there a couple of months ago and travelled on one of the two daily trains to look, to learn. I arrived at Felletin on a near-empty train, with more staff than passengers, and had enough hours there to take a good look around the town. It was a Saturday, as on other days of the week the service was even less appropriately timed. In Felletin, I saw a bustling little town that has much to offer the visitor, and at the same time an economy that's not brilliant. And I saw streets clogged with private cars and a history that's not made the best of. There is potential, but "they" have made a decision to not exploit that potential.I think back to Melksham's train service and the period from 2006 to 2013 when we, too, had just 2 trains a day with the "too early, too late" 'joke' that was no joke. 3,000 passenger journeys a year sounded a lot - until you worked out that it was 1 or 2 people getting on or off each train - similar to I saw in Felletin.
Thank goodness that the potential was seen in Melksham and some sense came - an increase from 2 to 9 trains per day has increased the journeys to 63,000 per year. It should be more - with a reliable hourly train service, which equates to 16 trains a day, journeys should be at least 350,000. Thank goodness we have not, like Felletin does today, lost our service. But we still have a lot of work to do to ensure that under the big changes underway on public transport admin and politics and political expediency, we don't stagnate or slip back. In my view, there remains a need for the community, the users, the local government planners and the local politicians to advocate for and support their local service to ensure it's not swept under the carpet and starved of staff or development at the altar of efficiently saving operating costs.
Since 2013, we have come so far forward, but we have faded back on unreliability (as I write, another of today's trains in cancelled through lack of staff) and we must ensure that for the future of our town we move forward - as Corby, or Ebbw Vale, or Tweedbank, Leven, Alloa or Ashingdon have done and that we don't fall back from our "halfway there" position and find ourselves loosing again as Felletin and Aubesson do today.
Published Monday, 1st September 2025
Wonderful friends
It is wonderful to have friends. Not necessarily people you see every day, but people you engage with from time to time and even after gaps of months or years, it's as if time didn't matter when you have even the shortest of interactions with them again. Delighted to catch up with a couple of people yesterday at the River and Food Festival, and online / overnight with others too. It's a bright, sunny morning and I'll probably wander into the park again today to have a further look around, perhaps catch up with a few other people, and bring home a lunch that's a little different to our normal fayre. If you see me in the distance, I may or may not wave. I have a huge respect for those running the event and helping in a huge number of ways, and that's your main purpose being there - not chatting to an old fogie looking to press his point of view or muse at length over old times. But, please, do tap into me as needed for knowledge, background, thoughts I have come across over 70+ years as / when / if they can help the town, or indeed wider area, into the future.
I suggested earlier this month that we should elect a new councillor to fill the South Ward vacancy already created. I don't have what I consider the qualification to happily fill the role; it has in my view two key elements; and I fall at the first hurdle.
• Have time, ability and plan to fill the role through to May 2029 for the people of Melksham.
• Live in or close to the ward, being available to engaged with residents, keeping informed and keeping them informed on what's going on now and for the next years.
Your enthusiasm and engagement for the town matter; your politics don't really matter too much at the Parish level, provided that those politics and personal empowerment and gain doesn't drown out doing what's right by the town.
I have 101 things to write ... a lovely sunny morning and I need to post while it's still the morning.
Published Sunday, 31st August 2025
Melksham Cycle signage - a plea to fill gaps already identified
Next Tuesday (2nd September 2025), the Economic Developement and Planning Committee includes the following at Agenda item 8:Provision of Wayfinding Signs
Email from Wiltshire Council
We currently have around £13k in Section 106 monies for cycle and pedestrian signing in and around the town. The monies expire on 01/11/26 and issue has been knocking around for some time.
I think we’ll be hard pressed to send £13k on cycle signing in the town as most is not that old.
Mark Stansby has suggested we could look at some new / upgraded wayfinding signs such as ornamental finger posts etc.
Is there anything the town council would like to see?
For discussion and decision.
It is my personal view that signage improvements should be made in line with research already done jointly with Wiltshire Council and Melksham Without looking forward at the future of cycling and walking in Melksham, such as the local cycling and walking infrastructure plan (LWCIP). That way, improvements considered for the medium and longer term and which are already identified will be made, making the best of the fund available. I was disappointed not to see previous work such ss the LWCIP not even mentioned in the agenda item, and I would ask whether the Town Council will take such work into account as they reach their decision.
Pictured - an example of an already-identified location where signage should be improved. Cyclists (and walkers) comibg from the Town Centre onto Snowberry Lane and pointed left for the football and rugby clubs, and right for the oak and bowerhill. Absent is a finger board pointing into Daisy Close for the Town Centre for cyclists and walkers on Snowberry Lane from those other loctions and headed into town - "You have to know ...".
I have a clash of meetings on Tuesday evening - I have aleady submitted my question ahead of time to the CEO for section 3 of the agenda where a public question is allowed, but I won't be there in person or online. A substantial update on upcoming travel and transport issues at MEG Committee (Campus, from 18:30) is my priority over a couple of minutes to ask a question at the start of "EcDev". I am aware that just commenting on social media / my blog is not sufficinet to reach councillors. I look forward to hearing if and how my question is addressed and also outcomes / decisions made by councillors in section 8.
Published Thursday, 28th August 2025
Where have I been? A to Z.
I am just back [in Melksham life] for the autumn, having taken a deliberate break after leaving the Town Council on 1st May."A change is as good as a rest" and three months spent travelling around Europe on an Interrail pass, ranging as from Å in the Lofoten islands above the Arctic Circle in Northern Norway to Zilina in Slovakia brought me home in early August, having been via places from Angers to Vilnius on the way - Lisa joining me for some of those less extreme locations.
A week of rest and recuperation was always planned, but that's been extended unplanned as both Lisa and I tested positive for Covid 10 days ago and have been isolating, and suffering somewhat for a fortnight. Lisa had it far worse that I but we're both getting past it; I would describe mine more as "brainfog" that is - slowly - reducing.
Yesterday I took my first walk our around Melksham in the open air - delighted to be back, and happy to be in conversation in the park, in the nature reserve, and roadside with various groups on Spa Road. Love the community and people here in Melksham.
And so - what now? That delicate balance having - of personal necessity - stepped down but yet still being interested and helpful and having some knoweldge which could and perhaps should be useful to help the new team. To make that available, to not hide area in which I can help such as transport, splash pad operation, social media and web work, business operation but yet not to do anything that will force people to feel they should listen.
There are probably more retired that active councillors, more departed than current staff, around. The best approach - at least the approach I am taking - is to be available to help, quiety, as best I can where I have a (and it will fade) knoweledge but not to push that unwanted onto people.
Published Monday, 25th August 2025
Not standing again for Town Council. Here is why.
I wrote in to ask for a bye-election in Melksham South Ward for a new Town Councillor to replace Jon Hubbard who resigned the role 3 months "in". I pointed out to others that they could write in too, and explaining why I thought it was a good idea in my blog. I have no idea how many (other than it was 10 or more) wrote in, and no idea whether or not that number would have been reached if I had not let people know it was available without me telling them.
Enough people wrote in for an election to be called - nominations in early September and a vote if there are multiple candidates in early October. And considering that there were five people willing to be Town Councillors who were rejected by the incumbents a couple of months ago, it's clear to me that there are people who would be more than willing to take on the role, even if they are not to the taste of the incumbents.
I have been asked by friends, by people I know in the South Ward, and indeed by a number of people who interact closely with Town Councillors, whether I will be standing to represent the South Ward on the Town Council again, and I promised to reconsider doing so. There was no great rush over this while I was away - and indeed the final decision needed to be made at home and with family support.
Decision made - I will NOT be offering myself for election to Melksham Town Council at the by-election in early October.
Reasons:
1. There was a resounding silence and lack of sharing from current councillors to the publicity for the option to hold an election. Since it has been called there has been strong negative feedback on the whole idea, with no sign that the "powers that be" would welcome me back. I note that other experienced ex-councillors were unanimously rejected in their co-option process a couple of months back. And so I conclude that Melksham Town will be best served for the next four years by someone who's accepted onto the Town Council apart from the actual process of calling for a vote.
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. - All the other reasons previously given for me not standing in May! I still recon I can be happier, and do better, away from Melksham Town Council. And as appropriate and if wanted I can help them anyway.
For the record - 2. What I felt to be disrespect and bullying that lost you so many good councillors and staff as well as me. 3. The need to be physically in the council chamber to vote - not required at the time of my 2021 election. 4. The desire to specialise more deeply and effectively in a narrower range of topics rather than being relatively ineffective over a wider range. 5. Limitations that come with age - in particular loss of stamina, balance and directional hearing. 6. Concern at committing (and it is a commitment) to a further 4 years. 7. Effect on family, friends and self.
Illustration - from my recent visit to Denmark, Trains and buses connection at Skaerbaek - a dream for Melksham.
Published Tuesday, 12th August 2025
Been touring - wondering if this would work in Melksham
I have been touring Europe these last months - relieved of the responsibility of being a Town Councillor with the need to be in the Council Chamber perhaps 2 Mondays a month, and one Tuesday in three to phyically vote, and on other occassions for confidential working groups. It has been a huge relief personally not to have schedule things around often tense meetings, and especially frustrating when meetings have been cancelled, added or moved at late notice.Water under the bridge - I am no longer a Town Councillor. And yet - once an advocate for my home town, always an advocate for my home town. And I saw so many things that I ask myself "would this work in Melksham" and "what lessons are there for home". Other posts will follow with public transport specific elements across a wider area - but here are some more general things that have me wondering "why not at home". Of course, I have stepped away from being on The Council and whilst in some ways it lessens my position, it also frees me up to think the unthinkable and make the silliest suggestions, and some of them may tread on toes or be here already. If just one of these 20 inspires or helps something be taken forward, I'll be delighted and be happy to be laughed at for some of the others.
Dry, secure storage for bicycles at the points / places where local cycling journeys connect with longer distance ones by public transport. In Melksham you can take your cycle on the train - but NOT on the bus (why not?)
Public open green spaces are much bigger in some of the places I visited and in several places including here in Mosjeon in Norway they are kept mowed by robot machines such as this one. Could such things be an efficient way of keeping our grass in check in Melksham parks and open spaces?
Clear but subtle marking and segregation of cycle lanes - helping people know where to walk, where to cycle - and reducing (as far as I could see) frictions and collisions between the various groupings on the street.
Recently planted trees fitted with water bags (and, yes, I saw the council filling them). There will always be some loss of newly planted trees that don't 'take' - that's nature, but could that loss be efficiently reduced in Melksham and in the UK by the use of further aids to survival such as these during early months or years?
We have some blue plaques on historic sites around the Town Centre - could we have more interprettation boards and could we have electonic links from them such as QR codes to help people learn a bit about the area they are in ... and while we are at it link to dynamic content about what's going on around there in events, planning applications, etc - and to reporting and direction information too?
Waiting for public transport with the children? Provide them with an educational environment at the bus stop or railway station - these could and should be so much friendlier places.
It's estimated that the new station at Okehampton with a single platform is to cost £15 million - and such pricing rules out the case for many smaller stations. This is in Sweden - one of many seen there but not unique to that country. Like buses, some of the trains has a button to request the train to stop, and if you're standing on the platform as the train comes through, it will stop for you. This example is small in the extreme - perhaps just a couple of dozen passengers on and off each day - so not for Melksham Central. But how about Lacock, Beanacre, Holt and Staverton?
A museum, even in the most out of the way places, showing the history of the area and also the flora, fauna, and what makes the place tick to this day too.
Zebra crossings make sense. Why is it in Melksham that they are required to have yellow flashing beacons on them, putting up the installation and running costs. Would not more crossings at a lower cost each help people move around? 
Eating out in front of restaurants and bars in an area of the town and city centres where traffic is banned or reduced. I am not suggesting a statue of Elvis on a balcony above, but you never know
High chairs for adults and teenagers in the park - watch what's going on and provide variety too.
Flood gates which can be closed when waters rise and there's a risk of water damage to properties.
Sheltered seating in the park or on the beach to extend the season in which people can come out and enjoy the park.
Water feature running in the park at all times
Free to ride electric buses running around (this example, not unique, Colmar) from where people arrive in the town to the various attracitons and businesses within the town. Frequent and fast because there's no messing about with fare collection and ticket checking, and the vehicles are small with good doors so no long queuing at stops.
Music in the street
Duckfood dispenser - selling food that's good for the wildlife from a machine near the river. "Feed the birds - 2 euros a bag" according to Mary Poppins
And linked to the museum, why not offer an opportunity to guests and visitors to try out some of the old and long lost skills - in this case driving a railroad spike.
A map showing where the various routes go, and connections, at main bus stops
Heritage public transport also providing the regular daily services on a daily basis to the mutual benefit of traffic on bothIf you click on any images and open them in a separate frame or window, you'll see them in more detail. And please feel free to ask me questions on any of them.
Published Monday, 11th August 2025
Happyness in retirement - how does Melksham fare?
There are 58 constituencies in the South West of England, and I came across a happiness report from Legal and General rating them on factors like health and nature. Interesting to see Melksham and Devizes highly ranked on their nature pillar. I would love to have seen transport and environment pillars too, but perhaps work remains to be done in getting those to be mainstream topics for our happiness in our retired years?Published Saturday, 2nd August 2025
Melksham Neighborhood Plan - Referendum result, 31.7.2025
Thank you to everyone who voted yesterday (31st July 2025) in the Referendum for the Joint Melksham Neighbourhood Plan. The count was late last night, and the referendum was passed by 1903 votes to 239 votes (with 7 spoiled papers) - a turnout of 10.79%. So that's 88.8% of those who voted in favour, and 11.2% against. A big "thank you" as well to the whole team who put so much work into the plan, and to their families and friends - especially to those of community volunteers, and of staff who members have worked way beyond what would be expected, for their support and understanding.
The old neighbourhood plan, which was becoming out of date and would have expired completely by the end of the year is now replaced by the new one which will remain valid until 2038. Under normal circumstances, I might write "I hope this report does not just sit and gather dust on a shelf" but in this case I know it won't.
The previous plan has been used right up until the other week to provide evidence and guidance to planning applications as the town changes and grows, helping to steer us in a direction that mean that all the various pieces will join up making a town that's a pleasure to live, work and relax in, and to get around in and to have access to services that are provided by other teams beyond the plan. And I'm sure the new plan will be used, hand in hand with Wiltshire’s local plan and the national policy and planning framework (NPPF) for the bright future direction of our town.
The new Neighbourhood Plan can be found (here) and you are encouraged to read it and welcome to ask me any questions on it. The illustrating picture on this post is the official picture taken of the steering group members at their final meeting when they formally sent the plan to referendum.
Published Friday, 1st August 2025