Corsham Almshouses saved - for now!

Wiltshire Council's planning meeting last night was livelier than usual with controversial plans for building nine single person's flats in the grounds of this grade 1 listed building on the agenda.

I spoke representing Corsham Town Council's unanimous recommendation for refusal of this this proposal and reminding the committee that this was backed up by overwhelming local opposition which demonstrated very strongly that this proposal is inappropriate.

As expected the meeting was packed with the good folk of Corsham (including a good few hecklers!). The debate lasted over an hour and a resolution was eventually proposed to reject the application which was carried by 6 votes to 3 (with one abstention).

So that is the end of round one! But I suspect this is not the end. The trustees may appeal - or submit an amended plan. But this must be costing them an enormous amount of money and questions may be asked as to whether this is an appropriate use of the charity's funds.

It was good to see how local opinion can make a difference - particularly when it is so strong, so vociferous and overwhelming that to override those views would be ill judged and a smack in the face of local democracy.

A Three Horse Race

Disappointed? Yes, of course but also energised by the whole campaign and overwhelmed by the level of support and encouragement from people within the town as well as from outside. This one was always going to be difficult to predict and there was clearly a sense of 'better the devil you know' and a tendency for people to revert back to 'safe mode' at the ballot box. The turnout was high at nearly 55% which does show people want to engage with the political system after all and make their views known.

It is a shame because I know I could have done a great job - and an important job in bringing some fresh thinking and energy to the new council. But what is really interesting is that Peter Davies has only a little more than a third of the vote - hardly a majority mandate from the people of Corsham.

Allan Bosley, the other independent candidate over in Corsham Pickwick, also deserves many congratulations for a splendid performance and a very similar result.

My biggest concern is that all four seats on our new area board are now Tory, in a Unitary Wiltshire Council with a two thirds Tory majority, and with a likely Tory government in the near future - hardly a healthy situation for us moving forward. So I feel my role is even more important - to ensure the new regime is held to their promise to allow local communities to have a greater say and influence on what happens in their locality, to ensure the area board really does take forward the vision of the Corsham community as expressed in the Community plan update, and above all to ensure it is certainly not 'business as usual in the new authority.

However, I do now feel more empowered than ever through Corsham Town Council, The Area Partnership 'CCAN' and Transition Community Corsham to work towards making Corsham a better place to live, to work and to visit and look forward to the challenges ahead

I plan to continue my blog and hope it will develop into a valuable interactive forum for local people. Thank you all for you support over the past few weeks. It has certainly been worth it.