Westbury Town Council has had a busy year with two hugely successful events in the town centre.
The Summer Fayre was very well attended by Westbury residents, dinosaurs, creepy crawlies and many more, with an evening concert headlined by Complete Madness.
Recently, the brilliant Christmas in Westbury was well supported by local businesses and charities ending with a spectacular Christmas lights switch on including the High Street’s new Christmas snowflake lights, which were joint-funded by the Westbury Area Board.
Westbury is seeing the benefits of our town caretaker Andrew Thomas, who is taking great pride in keeping Westbury spick and span. The Westbury White Horse also enjoyed a thorough clean ahead of Queen Elizabeth’s 90th Birthday celebration and the lighting of the town’s beacon.
The Town Council, committees and working groups have been active in contributing towards improving the safety of our highways, installing new waste bins and benches, fitting two new CCTV cameras in a busy communal spot, and introducing a Blue Plaque Trail leaflet.
We had appreciative feedback from residents about our hanging baskets and flower displays. We are grateful for the support of our sponsors whose contributions help make the roundabouts so cheerful.
The Great War Group produced a thought-provoking film ‘The Everyday Tommy’ that is still available to view on the Town Council’s website, plus ‘Westbury’s War’, a guide and tour of local war sites.
The Town Council is proud of its new look newsletter that we hope will encourage more people to become involved in local government.
We have set up several new groups: the Operational and Organisational Working Group that is looking at how the council can be more efficient, reviewing its policies and practices and considering how it deals with the services that will transfer from Wiltshire Council as part of its budget cuts.
The Grants Scrutiny Group has introduced a new draft Grant Aid Policy and application form that it hopes will provide more structure to applicants and tie in with the council’s business plan, aims and vision.
The Grade II listed Laverton building has received a facelift: the windows have been repainted, and the meeting rooms and stunning main hall have also had a refresh. It’s a beautiful and well-equipped venue for the community and we are pleased to have so many new groups join us this year including a rock choir.
The council’s Laverton Working Group was successful in achieving a Heritage Lottery Fund grant that will be spent on creating ‘Victorian Westbury’ that tells the story of Abraham Laverton and Victorian Westbury. We are very excited that this will be opening to the public in January 2017.
Westbury Town Council would like to take this opportunity to wish the Westbury community a Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.
Deborah Urch Town clerk,
Westbury Town Council
