A COMMUNITY governance review by Wiltshire Council could see the local boundary lines redrawn so that the parish of Heywood would extend to the railway lines at the north of the town. As a result, the town council would lose revenue as housing areas would no longer be under their jurisdiction, a situation which the town council has described as “catastrophic” for Westbury.
Furthermore, it would mean that Vivash Park, which provides a lake and country park in the town, would fall under the stewardship of Heywood Parish Council. The town council say that Heywood does not have the financial capability to properly maintain the park, which they say will need roughly £25,000 a year.
Having put forward their proposals, Wiltshire Council is now asking town and parish councils for their response. Wiltshire Council’s proposals would see the areas marked as A on the map being transferred from the town council to Heywood, the areas marked B would transfer from Heywood to Westbury. This would also mean that Heywood, which currently has two wards, would be united as one large ward, and that the railway line to the north of Westbury would act as a boundary dividing line between the two areas.
In response, Westbury Town Council has suggested three possible options. The first option is to transfer back to Westbury the areas historically ceded to Heywood, namely the West Wiltshire Trading Estate, the residential areas north of The Ham, the former Cement Works, Park Lane, Hawke Ridge Business Park. The second option is to merge Heywood entirely into Westbury, and the third option is to keep things as they are, but ensure that the governance boundary for Westbury aligns with the settlement boundary.
Heywood Parish Council is not supportive of the plans to merge the two areas as they say that the two areas do not share identities or interests. The boundary review committee of Wiltshire Council has agreed with this in their 2022/2023 draft recommendations and has suggested to use the railway line as a clear dividing line.
Westbury Town Council approved their response to the consultation at an extraordinary meeting of the council on Monday 27th March. The response reads, “The government guidance that a ‘governance review offers an opportunity to put in place strong, clearly defined boundaries, tied to firm ground features, and remove the many anomalous parish boundaries that exist’ is noted, but we believe that this has been too arbitrarily adopted by the committee, and totally ignores the same clause which goes on to say that it should ‘offer the chance to principal councils to consider the future of what may have become redundant or moribund parishes’.
“Historically a parish was an area that was centred on a church and more recently has been redefined as being centred on a village or a small town. Heywood has no functional church; neither could it be described as a village or a town. It is simply a collection of houses which conjoin two small housing settlements, with an industrial estate stuck on the side, along with housing north of The Ham to make up the numbers. Anywhere else it would be described as a suburb of Westbury, as indeed are the areas of The Ham and, to an even greater extent, the West Wilts Trading Estate.
“The committee have arbitrarily accepted one of three different railway lines that lie on the northern edge of Westbury but has ignored other more appropriate ‘firm ground features’ such as the A350, the B3097, Bitham Brook or the Westbury – Trowbridge railway line, all of which could form logical boundaries.
Impact on the town could be “catastrophic”
“The proposal to transfer of a large number of housing units will result in a loss of revenue for Westbury Town Council, which will reduce the amount available for the town to spend which is catastrophic, and patently unfair on its residents as those households transferred to the neighbouring parish will continue to enjoy the amenities as before, Westbury being a town of high deprivation.
“This is not about precept but about the economic delivery of quality services to residents. As the transfer will result in improved income for the parish of Heywood, we would not expect them to have any appetite to reverse the transfer, or retain the status quo, but we would ask that the interests of the residents be protected and recognised in any proposal. The Paxman Estate has a large number of deprived families and individuals who regularly receive food bank deliveries via local councillors. We doubt the ability of a small, unstaffed parish, struggling to maintain its children’s playground, to continue this provision, contrary to the interests of the whole local community.
Impact on Vivash Park
“Vivash Park is a Westbury town project that has been years in the making and has involved much negotiation before its transfer from David Wilson Homes to the town. It has been totally ignored in the governance review, and it was apparent that the existence of the park was not known to the committee, otherwise we are sure it would have been mentioned.
“The running and maintenance of the park requires daily management due to the presence of the lake and access by the public, plus the onerous requirement to deter others from moving onto the land. It currently occupies a large part of staff time. Section 106 money has been spent on capital projects to bring the area up to standard and running costs are estimated, going forward, at in excess of £25,000 per annum, not to mention the salaried staff time and equipment that is taken up, something that Heywood Parish cannot replicate.
“Whilst a suggestion has been made that this land remains within Westbury, as the town is better staffed and resourced to manage it on a daily basis, this is only part of the issue as the majority of users of the park come from areas that are in or planned to be in Heywood, meaning that in nine years when the Section 106 monies run out, the people of Westbury will be expected to continue to maintain the park out of their pockets.”
Vivash Park can be found off Slag Lane and Hawkeridge Road. Heywood Parish Council was approached for comment.
