WESTBURY’S next area board meeting will take place in Heywood Village Hall on Thursday 11th February.
It is the first time that the area board has been held in a different venue to Matravers School.
Chairman, cllr Russell Hawker said, “This will be the fourth area board meeting. At the first meeting we said that we would come out to the villages, particularly when there is an issue in the villages.
“There hasn’t really been a particular issue but we thought we would try coming out to the villages anyway. We chose Haywood because it’s halfway between the surrounding villages and the town. We hope that as many people as possible will come down, and there will be some useful updates on some issues.”
The meeting will see the launch of a specialist health report of the Westbury area. The NHS survey measures the state of health and wellbeing by using a number of indicators from the numbers of people purchasing fresh fruit through to childhood obesity.
This report was produced by NHS Wiltshire in collaboration with Wiltshire Council, with contributions from Wiltshire Police and Dr Foster Intelligence, and using data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
There will also be the opportunity to ask questions of the county’s public health team.
The meeting will also be considering more than a dozen applications for grant funding from a wide range of organisations from the town and surrounding villages.
Cllr Hawker said, “We are delighted we have had so many applications to consider. The area board funding is specially earmarked for the community and it is great to see such a wide range of applicants from sports clubs through to help for carers.
“We still need more grant applications however. The new financial year starts in April and this is the last meeting of the financial year. Applications can be held over to the next financial year as well.”
Also on the agenda will be updates on the plans for town centre improvements – and people attending the area board will get the chance to peek into the future with a display of computer aided images showing how the improvements might transform the rotunda area. Other items on the agenda include transport for young people living in rural areas and updates on a variety of issues that have been raised with the board.
The meeting starts at 7.00pm but everyone is welcome to attend from 6.30pm for refreshments and to chat to their local councillors and partners such as police.
The Westbury Area Board is one of 18 area boards across the Wiltshire Council area. It covers Westbury and the villages of Bratton, Coulston, Dilton Marsh, Edington and Heywood and comprises four local councillors.
For more information on the work of the board visit www.wiltshire.gov. uk/areaboards or call community area manager Sally Hendry on 01373 864714.
