Agenda item

(reports in pack where appropriate)

• Air Quality Strategy for Wiltshire
• Reducing unnecessary street lighting
• Annual programme of Highway Works
• Update on lorry park

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the Seend Community Centre.

The Chairman advised that following the Annual Council meeting of Wiltshire Council on the 18 June, he had been re-elected as the Chairman of the Melksham Area Board, Cllr Rod Eaton was also re-elected as the Vice-chairman.

Chairman’s Announcements

Air Quality Strategy for Wiltshire.

The Environment Act 1995 placed a duty on local authorities to monitor air quality within their areas having regard to national and European air quality objectives.

Wiltshire is a high quality environment, however we have a number of locations where air quality objectives are not being met. These failures are in general associated with vehicle emissions and congestion and have health implications.

We would welcome your views on the Air Quality Strategy, which has been developed as an over arching document detailing our approach to air quality. Consultation on the document remains open until 18^th June 2010.

If you would like to contribute your views, please contact Gary Tomsett, Environmental Protection Specialist Team Manager, on 01722 434340 or gary.tomsett@wiltshire gov.uk.

Reducing Unnecessary Street Lighting in Wiltshire.

Wiltshire Council had been approached by a number of communities seeking to reduce their carbon footprint, reduce light pollution of the night sky and reduce energy costs. Street lighting and illuminated signs have been identified as a major use of energy by the Council in a recent review.

A start had been made with a project to replace the lighting units in the county’s 1,600 illuminated bollards with new low energy units. Dimming and turning off unnecessary lighting for part of the night have already been successfully introduced in trial sites at Urchfont and Tidworth.

The Council had set aside £5,000 for each Area Board to introduce schemes in their areas this year. The Area Board is asked to solicit interest from Town and Parish Councils and other interested parties to take part in the scheme. The Area Board would then decide on which submissions would go ahead in their area.

The Area Board was also asked to nominate an individual to act as Project Leader, to liaise with the community and resolve any issues with the public (the Project Leader should be appointed by the Board, but does not need to be a member of the Board). The Council’s staff and specialists would be available to advise on technical aspects, including the viability of the proposals, and would arrange the installation of the schemes. If successful more cash will be made available for schemes next year.

If you are interested in becoming involved in the scheme, please contact a member of your Area Board or the Community Area Manager. 

Highways Programme for 2010-11.

The annual programme of highway maintenance and improvement schemes for 2010/11 had been approved. This information was presented on an individual community area basis and is available on the Council’s website under Community Area Highway Information.

The information includes lists of proposed highway and related works for 2010/11 with facts and figures about the roads in your area.

Web link: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/parkingtransportandstreets/roadshighwayspavements/areaboardhighwayinformation.htm

Further enquiries should be made to Spencer Drinkwater, Principal Transport Planner, on 01225 713480.

Update on the Lorry Park.

A special Melksham Area Board meeting would be held on Tuesday 15 June 2010 at the Melksham Town Hall for further engagement on the future of lorry parking in Melksham, including the option of relocating the facility to the Leekes car park on Beanacre Road.

Melksham Swimming Pool.

Wiltshire Council had confirmed that it intended to keep a swimming pool in Melksham for the foreseeable future.