The BA13+ Community Area Partnership’s latest meeting was held on 18th February at the Laverton in Westbury. The theme of the evening was the Environment.
The guest speakers were Anne Dunderdale (on AONB), Aisling Hunt (Wiltshire Wildlife), Andi Whitcomb (NFU) and Eddy Watts and Shirley McCarthy (Melksham Climate Friendly Group).
Anne Dunderdale spoke eloquently regarding protection of our landscape by extending the Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to include the Westbury Escarpment as far as the White Horse, including the Bratton Hill Camp. These areas were well used and much loved by local people. It would protect the Wellhead Borehole as well.
A lot of hard work had gone into putting a case forward for the extension. They have high levels of support from Andrew Murrison MP and Sir Andrew Motion, who had visited the Wellhead Valley and been very supportive; however they do not have the support of Wiltshire Council.
Anne said it’s something the town wants, it’s good for the prestige of the town, it’s good for tourism, and all the reports and investigations have been self funded, so it’s frustrating not to have the support of Wiltshire Council.
Aisling Hunt then introduced The Recycle for Wiltshire project, a partnership between Wiltshire Council and the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. Westbury was very poor at recycling. Initiatives such as a Repair Café and a clothes swap workshop were to be introduced as well as various cookery courses. Working in schools is a great way of getting the message across to parents. They will be working in Westbury for six months to a year.
Cllr. Jerry Wickham stated that he is the portfolio holder for waste on Wiltshire Council. He explained the serious issue is that we need to drive waste down. Every tonne of waste put into the ground costs £80 in tax. The important thing is to use Westbury to develop a toolkit in the coming year to use in other areas as well. Matravers School, Bratton Primary and Westbury Juniors are the three schools to be targeted initially.
Eddie Watts then spoke about the Melksham Climate Friendly group which was set up in 2006. The five areas they focus on are transport, waste (including the indiscriminate use of plastic bags), energy, food, and wildlife (they have set up a wildlife garden). Eddy spoke briefly about each of these projects.
Shirley McCarthy introduced herself as the Energy lead in the Melksham Climate Friendly group and explains she also leads the Melksham Community Area Partnership’s Energy theme group.
Shirley firmly believes climate change is the single biggest challenge that the planet faces. Small groups and even individuals can definitely make a difference. People need to be upskilled and informed and the voluntary sector is uniquely placed to help deliver this. Shirley also described the aims of The Wiltshire Clean Energy Alliance.
It would be good to see Westbury area residents coming together to form an environmental group with similar aims to Melksham and Bradford on Avon.
Andi Whitcomb then spoke about her work with the NFU, about the challenges the county faces, and with relevance to our Community Plan. We learned that the NFU was founded in 1908 and is not affiliated to any political party. Everything they do is on behalf of their membership – the farmers. There are 38 county advisers across the country and Andi represents Wiltshire. 60% of the food we eat in the UK is produced here.
Farmers contribute £116 million to the county’s economy each year. Around 14% of the county’s farmland lies in this district, with 346 farm holdings registered. Farmers protect wildlife, habitats, water quality and natural resources through both regulation and voluntary initiatives such as planting dedicated wild bird seed mixes.
The date, venue and theme of the next Partnership meeting is to be agreed at the next Steering Group meeting.
Phil McMullen, BA13+ Partnership Coordinator
