HOW THEN ARE THINGS IN UPPER CHICKSGROVE ?
A number of years ago, residents of Quarry Lane, were asked whether we wished to become part of an adjoined Parish or remain a part of Tisbury Parish. I must confess I voted for the latter proposition but over the years have come to regret doing so, because all too often our once rural area now finds itself disadvantaged .
There was a recent enough Chair of the Parish Council who didn’t even realise that we were part of the Parish of Tisbury. We did once rustle up a local Parish Councillor, but she resigned very early on, I understood because she found that the circumstance of the Tisbury Parish Council had little in common with Upper Chicksgrove where she then lived.
PLANNING MATTERS
Over recent years the Upper Chicksgrove Quarry has reopened for use, and quarrying apart, there have been a number of additional permissions granted which seemingly will still be sustainable even should the Quarry itself become exhausted.
QUARRY FARM YARD .
The entirety of the top of this farm yard is residentially used, An owner having converted a main barn to a very nice house, part of which had permission to be temporarily used for business purposes. There are in that same upper farmyard, two other buildings which no doubt anon. someone will wish to convert into at least one large, and one small house.
There is too a lower farmyard, the similar Chilmark stone buildings of which, would undoubtedly gain permission for housing, if such an application was again made
Possibly anon someone will so make application , and thereby shock the neighbours , but surely such would be a proper use for the buildings, especially as all the buildings in both farm yards were recently connected to a brand new sewerage system, which allegedly cost the site owner a lot of money to install. One hopes it will run efficiently, when all buildings avail themselves of it, for one occasionally wonders.
Seemingly it was not possible to provide a connection to our riverside garden., the which immediately ‘Fronts’ all the southern barns of that lower farm yard . Never mind.
My wife and I enjoy that garden, possibly anon others might too, for there have been enquiries. made of us concerning our intent ,being as the garden is detached from our house. Someone had it in mind to build themselves a house there, whilst another thought to exchange our garden for a parking area elsewhere., another regretted the garden was no longer with the Farmhouse itself.
In the meantime the bottom farm yard has no residential usage, the farmer uses one basic asbestos farm building as a workshop/ store ,all the other buildings about are further lengths of very fine 1830 Chilmark stone construction which now house a motor repair workshop , a stone mason, and what seems to be an overflowing storage facility, all of which one heard tell, are seemingly part of the farm so maybe much of the bottom farm yard is excused the payment of rates? I do recall there was planning granted for one piece of the south barn to be used in connection with the furniture trade, however it seems no longer to be so used.
Happily a sometime tenant no longer in occupation of one piece, left after telling me that he was running a commercial garage workshop in the yard, so the neighbours could expect to hear a radio loudly playing all day.
On my birthday last July , realising that I too am getting older, thought to enquire of the presumed owner of the farm yard which his intent for it,? But alas these six weeks on , one still awaits a courteous reply to my letter, though someone told me to keep out of the Farmyard. as my presence upset one of its work force. Little change there as one has no call to go into it, despite that one understands that there used to be a public footpath through one of the farmyards..?
THE RAILWAY.
The Rail line advises that in early September it will again be carrying out repairs over a number of nights. Why one wonders can not the rail line be accessed from Tisbury Station rather than via the Upper Chicksgrove Level-Crossing ? For months on end there has been a daytime chap on the crossing to ensure safety. Maybe now the installed lights, and the hooter, and the wind turbine and the camera and associated items will allow the crossing to function without on site supervision.
THE NADDER BRIDGE
What plans has Wiltshire County Council for the bridge over the river Nadder the which, Quarry, Rail , Farm, and Residential traffic and walkers use to cross the River . The wretched bridge is disintegrating. What now of the £70,000 the Council was to spend upon its first aid repair. All one knows of that, was a photographic survey a couple of years ago. One realises that money is tight, but one also realises that money comes from rate payers pockets, so it would be great to benefit from our outlay.
WHAT OF SEEMINGLY EXCESSIVE RATES.
I live in what was once a Dairy building, now but adjoined to the main Farmhouse at both ground and basement level At the time we moved from the one part of the house to the other, our then openly attached Dairy building was given a far lower ‘rateable’ valuation than it now has, for it was later re-assessed as band ‘E’. Fortunate are those who similarly refurbished their houses since we did, for they pay the original lower rates attaching to un-refurbished property, for such is the system. Then of course there is the 10% discount given to every house in single occupancy. So guess what ; Our roadside Dairy Cottage now pays the second highest rates in our post code area, before us comes only the house recently offered for sale at two and a half million pounds. Unfortunately discounted rates are seemingly funded by those of us whose rates are not discounted. Escalation of Rates bring one back to the affairs of central Tisbury where incidentally one finds the like of our ‘Band F’ home, a proportionately less frequent occurrence.
THE OLD NADDER MIDDLE SCHOOL.
One does not presume to speak for anyone else, but from first mention of the above matter, I spoke against using the Nadder Middle School for the like of its current new usage. I recall there was a meeting at the school, which the then District Council invited me to attend. One did and one voiced ones contrary opinion, and was criticised by a fellow guest, a member of our then Parish Council, for attending and speaking at a meeting ,
‘I had no business attending.’ She said.
Anyway seemingly my opinion better expressed as the contrary opinion of others carried the day, so rather than be put to some other sort of use, the Nadder School premises was then used by a private school for some years, whilst the original school hall was shared with the Village. One later heard that one of the reasons that private school gave up its tenancy was the buildings inaccessibility to the students who’d. arrive at Tisbury Station by train.
It will be jolly interesting to see how accessible the new set up will be to those wishing to avail themselves of the facility, especially when there is ice covering the road, for even at the best of times the approach road seems to be treacherous, passing as it does through a large housing estate Forget not this building isn’t only there for Tisbury, but for the use of surrounding Parishes too, whom one trusts will also be financing it’s sustainability. Maybe some here about will be frightfully keen to avail themselves of this new centre, maybe not, who knows ?
Of course too there is the proposal to redeveloped the old Parmiter Site along side Tisbury Station as a housing development with some car parking. After the loss of so many other worksites in the village over recent years, maybe we’d do well to reopen that un-employment office on Hindon Lane.
I recall years ago attending a meeting of the then Salisbury District Council, when only our two District councillors voted in favour of houses being built on The Parmiter Site. I recall one of those District Councillors telling it was usual enough so to build rail side houses all the way up to London. Fortunately the rest of the District Council didn’t go along with the idea. How have things changed since then, for our Parish Councillors may see fit to turn the village’s only remaining worksite into an housing area with some Parking. Surely Tisbury needs employment, where else can it be located.?
THE PARISH COUNCIL
There are some on the Parish Council who are minded to turn a piece of privately owned land opposite the station into a parking site for rail commuters, and of course High Street shoppers !
The Village seems to have acquired a Business Association, and not un-naturally a lot of local business persons comprise its membership, as too a lot of its membership are also members of our Tisbury Parish Council. Speaking of which what happened to all those whom we elected at the last Parish Council election, who have since left ‘Office’ not to mention happened to some of their replacements subsequently co-opted by the Parish Council. Persons who in turn gave up their Councillorship? Others now fail to attend Parish Council Meetings through illness, or other reasons unknown to me.
Personally I have no wish for so much of our Parish Council to be co-opted by its persisting membership, whether they be members of the Tisbury Business Association or not. It would be good if newer and younger residents showed an interest in becoming Councillors, but somehow that seldom happens. One hears tell that fewer of us have either the time or the wish to be any sort of Councillor. Is it the realisation of that, which causes so many of our oft co-opted Parish Councillors to resign from office, or what? Things are not as they used to be, so maybe Tisbury might prefer its Parish Council to be more representative of everyone in the community.
I gave up standing for election to the New Forest District Councillor in 1978/9, having twice remained an un-elected Independent. Even so I did not so stand before having ‘sat in’ on the proceedings of two District Council Committees for over a year beforehand. Doing so that I might acquaint myself with what was what. Though unelected then , it doesn’t mean that one gave up ones interest in local affairs. so really can not understand why others seemingly lack the enthusiasm of yester year.
Sorry to be so opinionated but much regret the passing of the Salisbury District Council for in my opinion, Parish Councils are too parochial.
for our good.
Goodness knows what has happened to our Wiltshire County Council.
Did one hear its ennobled Chair once remark that no one down this end of the County was suited to any particular responsibility ? Maybe things are no longer so. Though if any of us are minded to offer our services at forthcoming elections, for either Parish or County, if not both ,possibly it would be a good idea to first sit in on the current Councils’ meetings , just to see if one really is interested in becoming a Councillor. The Wilts Council meetings can also be seen on the Internet.
WILTS COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTION.
Earlier this year, one made mention on line of an Amesbury WCC. vacancy. Seemingly the seat was then won by a young candidate standing for the Liberal Party, he having a majority of all of five votes. At a slightly earlier election in that Ward, the Conservative then standing , won the seat with a majority of only nine votes.
I do hope the new Councillor has a successful career., but maybe another time both Parish and County might just toss a coin for its seats, so doing might cheer the electorate.
Full Result of that County election.
p
Jamie Capp (Lib Dem): 361 (25.7%) aged 20. Won by 5 votes.
Robert Yuill (Con): 356 (25.4%)
Andy Derry (Ind): 292 (20%)
Les Webster (UKIP): 217 (15.5%)
Steve McAuliffe (Lab): 133 (9.5%)
Joshua Baker (Green): 60 (4.2%) Turnout: 31%
No comments:
Post a Comment