Councils disagree over change of boundary proposal

HEYWOOD Parish Council has objected to proposals from Westbury Town Council to change their boundary, to include West Wilts Industrial Estate and The Ham. 

The two areas are currently governed by Heywood Parish Council.

The town council say the reason behind the boundary review is due to locations close to the border of Westbury where common usage and practice have given places an identity that is not compatible with their official location. For example; West Wilts Industrial Estate where many of the businesses list their location as within Westbury, although they lie in another parish.  

Mayor of Westbury, cllr Mike Sutton says that this is a consultation about ideas for the future, not certainties due to happen. 

However, during a meeting of Heywood Parish Council on Wednesday 23rd October, they chose to object to the proposals on the following grounds: 

“1.The proposal would incorporate the Storridge ward and part of the Hawkeridge Village ward into Westbury, leaving the remainder of the Hawkeridge Village ward to form a new Heywood parish with four parish councillors.  Administratively, it would be very difficult for the parish to continue with just four councillors.

“2. At present there are approximately 350 houses in Heywood parish and Westbury Town Council’s proposal would see 157 of those incorporated into Westbury.  This would have a major effect on the finances of Heywood Parish Council which has a small budget.  It has a number of annual expenses which cannot be reduced and the parish council would have to seek to substantially increase the council tax paid by the remaining houses in order to maintain its budget.

“3. There is no mention in the Westbury proposal of the children’s playground in Hawkeridge Park which is owned by the parish council and would be incorporated into Westbury if the proposal was adopted. 

“4. The recent electoral boundary review carried out by The Local Government Boundary Commission for England recognised the rural nature of the Ethandune division, which Heywood Parish is a part of, and stated that this should continue in the future.  

“5. The parish council is currently preparing a draft Neighbourhood Plan for the area.

“6. The suggestion that areas should be included in Westbury simply because Westbury forms part of their postal address does not hold water as there are plenty of areas nationally where the postal address does not coincide with the administrative area.”

Suzanne Wickham, Wiltshire councillor for Ethandune, covering Heywood Parish said, “I attended the Heywood Parish Council meeting and I totally agree with their response to the proposal put forward by Westbury Town Council.

“If this proposal was implemented it would reduce Heywood Parish so significantly that it would not be viable in terms of the number of councillors or the precept required for the council to function.”

In response to Heywood Parish Council’s comments, Westbury mayor, cllr Mike Sutton said, “Westbury Town Council are only responding to  the consultation on community governance and like many councils, putting forward its views on suggested ideas from our perspective. I would remind people that in the past there was a Greater Westbury that incorporated a large part of the surrounding area and that boundaries have always been subject to change and revision.

“In answering the specific points I would say; Storridge is an anomaly in the sense that the residents see themselves as being in Westbury and having residents on the Ham in two councils, depending which side of the road they live, is an absurdity.

“Westbury currently runs 10 play areas and having another incorporated will lead to greater  efficiencies to the benefit of all.

“Businesses on the industrial estate already refer to themselves as Westbury and advertise that in many of their literature and many Westbury residents work within the business there. There have been representations from many based in both the old and new estates who have said they would welcome being within the town boundaries.

“In regard to finance we would point out that residents in Storridge and along the Ham although paying council tax to another parish, mostly avail themselves of the facilities in Westbury and although we are most pleased to avail them of our facilities, it should be noted that the burden falls on Westbury residents. Westbury is also heavily involved in such areas as CCTV where we work jointly with the West Wilts Industrial Estate.

“The spread of housing is controlled by the unitary authority and Westbury more than any other town in Wiltshire has seen a vast increase over the past years and is almost full up to the settlement boundary. Whilst nothing is yet decided, the new spatial plan for Wiltshire requires yet more houses for the town and surrounding areas and that could well include the area mentioned by Heywood, which could further complicate matters.

“In conclusion, I would remind everyone that the consultation is about ideas for the future and is not necessarily what will happen.”