Corsham Markets take to the streets

Local people seem to be really enjoying the new markets in Corsham High Street. It has been nearly a year in the planning and now we have not just one but a whole series of markets springing up in the town.

The regular Tuesday 'General Market' is already very popular with a range of stalls selling everything from fresh vegetables to Venetian masks! Meanwhile the monthly 3rd Saturday 'Farmer's Market' offers really high quality local foods and other delights and looks really attractive with their green a white striped roofs. I also look forward to our first 'one off' specialist markets starting on 30 October with an Italian Market.

And that is what we all wanted with the aim of creating a Visible, Vibrant and Visible market in the centre of Corsham to reinvigorate the local retail centre, encourage more people to shop locally and to draw more people form outside into the centre of our town.

I think the evidence is there that this is working already as these markets days are the busiest in our town and I have seem queues at many of our local retailer's shops which can only be good for the local economy and make the town a more attractive place to live, work and visit.

It's really great to see the pedestrianised High Street come alive in this way but let us also not forget our excellent Friday Country Market in St Aldhelm's Church Hall - and sometimes in Martingate, and of course the ever popular 'Fishman' every Tuesday morning in the Methuen Arms Car Park now joined by an excellent local fresh vegetable stall. Perhaps these should not move into the High Street as well where all the people are?

Is the Area Board listening?

The Extraordinary meeting of the Corsham Area Board on Wednesday was certainly extraordinary:

A school hall full of people unconvinced about the proposed traffic lights etc planned as part of the Section 106 agreement with the MOD developments at Basil Hill.

And an area board telling us that the legal team says it is not their business to change anything!

Who is running Wiltshire - the Elected Members or the Highways Department? Yet again it seems the 'silos' of local government are not communicating with each other - Highways - Planning - Conservation.

The problems seem to be:

• A massively overblown scheme to cope with a fictitious traffic projection for 2020
• Conflicting projected figures for traffic growth
• A concern that due process has not been followed
• Lack of consideration as to the conservation area setting at Pickwick
• Works which are unconnected with the impact of Basil Hill
• Lack of public consultation over this aspect of the project
• A huge amount of (public) money (about £2.5 million?) to be spend on these works
• Still no public transport plan in place
• A plan which is contrary to current thinking about traffic management
• A general disbelief that traffic lights are better than roundabouts

I was amazed when the chair of the meeting announced that this issue would no longer be on the agenda at the next Area Board meeting in October. I think he may be wrong!

I would not be surprised if this issue went to a judicial revue.

Edinburgh Festival 2009

Taking a week off from Corsham matters to spend a week in Edinburgh. This will be my 12th year in Edinburgh looking for new shows for Corsham Festival, The Pound arts centre or Rural Arts Wiltshire. Follow my regular twitter updates on the column on the right to find out what I been seeing and what I think of it all so far.

Basil Hill Traffic Management - is this really a solution?

Funny things are going on in Corsham at the moment. An exhibition has sprung up at short notice in the Town Hall today and is going to be on Neston Memorial Hall tomorrow 3pm - 7pm to show the planned alterations to traffic movement along the A4 in Pickwick, and Leafy Lane. What makes it odd is that is not the public consultation exercise as it may first appear - planning permissions were granted last year as this is tied in with the MOD Basil Hill developments. The works are costing millions and people are starting to ask why is all this necessary?


The reality is that this is not just about Basil Hill but about an apparent attempt to 'future proof' the A4 against future traffic growth and in particular future development of the land currently occupied by the MOD at Copernacre, Rudloe etc for other uses.


The exhibition is being staged now to pre-empt a possible angry scene at next week's first Area Board meeting on Tuesday 21 July 7pm in the Town Hall because local people are understandably really concerned about the blinkered approach to the way these proposals have been put together.


'Consultants' have been paid a small fortune to come up with a plan to addresses the future growth of traffic on the A4. In my view this was the wrong question! They should looking at the bigger picture here. First of all a few facts:

• There are currently no other proposals for development on the existing Copernacre / Rudloe sites

• There are currently limited traffic flow problems along the A4.

• The Basil Hill developments, once completed, will apparently generate no additional traffic in this area.

• Any existing or potential traffic speed issues are ignored in these proposals

• Pickwick is a conservation area and the addition of traffic lights is yet another addition of further unnecessary street clutter - exemplifying English Heritage's recent report on the decay and neglect of our conservation areas across the country from 'Cluttered streets' and 'intrusive traffic-calming measures'.

• The proposed works would not help to prevent a repeat of the recent tragic accident at the Bradford Road Junction

• The proposed shared cycle / footpath runs the length of Park Lane but the cyclists entrance to the Basil Hill site is still shown on Westwells Road along with the cars entrance - hardly an incentive to cycle from Corsham to work at Basil Hill.

• Although discussed there is no evidence as to how the cycle routes are planned to connect to the cycle routesto link with the Town Centre or Box

• Despite the apparent money available there is not even a single bus stop shown on the plans so public transport will be simply a last minute add on to the plans.

• A possible link to the rail service, despite enthusiasm from the MOD itself does not figure in any of the proposals

• I asked if cabling etc for real time bus information was being installed - I was told no but it could be added later - so the roads would be dug up as soon as they are laid. How daft is that?

My main concern is that the starting point for the consultation was all about traffic flow. There is apparently £450K (money from Basil Hill and Spring Park developments) for public transport improvements. This sounds a lot but there is currently not a single proposal as to how any public transport improvements could be made - not even a bus stop is shown on the map so once again we consider public transport as a last resort rather the natural default way of travelling in this country. Why could there not have been a more holistic approach to the whole consultation which considered cars, buses, trains, cycling, walking all together in the same proposal and on the same map? Everything starts from the assumption that everyone will simpy get in their cars and drive!

I do hope lots of people will turn up for the first Area Board meeting next Tuesday. We need to show the new Board that local people really do care and want their voice to be heard. Just because planning permission has been granted does not mean that the plans have to be implemented as they are currently presented or that they are necessarily the best solution to a perceived future problem.

It could be a lively meeting!

National Greenwash Day

EDF seems to be digging itself into a nice hole over yesterday's PR stunt over the so called 'Green Britain Day'. Not only have they pinched Ecotricity's marketing images from earlier in the year they have also exposed themselves as promoting the biggest Greenwash farce I have yet come across.

EDF is one of least green energy supplier on the planet. EDF is the biggest global corporate producer of nuclear waste and one of the worst carbon polluters in the world. Furthermore they are also demanding a reduction in UK wind power targets.

I am also concerned that other power companied seem to now be trying to jump onto the bandwagon: British Gas is promoting a 'Green Britain Day. For us, it's everyday', Npower has launched its Climate Cops educational programme ‘Every day's a green day for Climate Cops'.

Electricite de France (EDF) is not Green and not British, it is Nuclear, French and Brown. This is the biggest Greenwash scandal I have yet come across

There is now a lively facebook campaign to stop the 'greatest British greenwash of all time.' You can also read more on the Ruscombe Green blog: http://ruscombegreen.blogspot.com/2009/07/national-greenwash-day.html