a. Wiltshire Police
b. Melksham CAYPIG
c. Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service
d. NHS Wiltshire
e. Melksham Town Council
f. Parish Council Nominated Representatives
g. Melksham Oak School
(Partners and Stakeholders should declare in advance if they wish to speak on the night. Three minutes will be allocated to each Partner and Stakeholder)
Minutes:
All partners and stakeholders present at the meeting were given the opportunity to share their views on the Campus proposals.
Wiltshire Police – Insp Christian Lance advised that Wiltshire Police would be interested in basing Neighbourhood teams out of the Campus, this would free up deck space at the Divisional HQ at Hampton Park. It was felt that officers would be more accessible and be able liaise more with local residents.
The opportunity to be based with other partners would be very beneficial from a Police point of view.
Questions to Insp Lance:
Would you not be replacing out of town with out of town, moving from Hampton Park to the proposed Campus?
As the Campus is proposed as a one stop shop, there would be more foot fall than at Hampton Park.
Melksham CAYPIG – not represented at the meeting.
Melksham Old Peoples Forum – Brian Warwick advised that older people were concerned about the viability of retailers in the town centre if the library was to move out of town, they wanted the library to remain in the town centre.
They were concerned that if the Campus came to fruition that there would be free public transport for the residents of Melksham to use it to its full potential.
They wanted a commonsense decision, not a political one.
Pleased that there would be better swimming facilities if the Campus went ahead.
Would like an enhanced town centre library with tourist information included on site.
If Wiltshire Council could provide youth centres for young people, why couldn’t they provide drop in centres for the elderly.
Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service - not represented at the meeting.
NHS Wiltshire - not represented at the meeting.
Melksham Oak School - Stephen Clark, Head Teacher advised that he welcomed community use of Melksham Oak school facilities, but stressed that this should be controlled by Melksham Oak school.
He felt that the site proposed could be better utilised and that the school had no views on the relocation of the Library.
Melksham Town Council – Cllr Chris Petty advised that the Town Council supported the Campus but regretted the possible loss of the library from the town centre and had some traffic concerns about the proposed site.
Parish Council Nominated Representatives
Melksham Without Parish Council – Cllr Mike Mills advised that Melksham Without supported the split site option, which would keep the library and youth centre in the town and that it had concerns about the increased traffic around the Melksham Oak school.
Atworth Parish Council – advised that they had concerns about the lack of a financial case put forward by Wiltshire Council for the project, and had concerns about the possible relocation of the library and youth centre.
Broughton Gifford Parish Council advised that they supported the views of Melksham Without and Atworth Parishes.
Semington Parish Council – advised that they supported the Campus proposal.
The Chairman then advised that a five minute comfort break would be taken.
Melksham Chamber of Commerce – Graham Ellis advised that the Campus would be a facility to be proud of, but had concerns for the viability of some retailers in the town centre if the library were to relocate. He made the point that libraries were a changing facility with the advent of ipads and kindles etc.
The Chamber of Commerce supported the proposal of the Woolmore Farm site, but wanted it to be cutting edge not bleeding edge.
They looked forward to working with the Area Board in the future.
The Chairman thanked all the speakers for their views.