The owners of the Karma night club  on Station Hill had asked for a Judicial Review of the decision by local magistrates on the closure of the club. The magistrates had upheld the Council Licensing Committee’s decision to close the club after breaches in the licence conditions. The application for Judicial Review of that decision has been refused by the higher court, which means that the closure decision is now final. 

Local Councillor Chris Caswill, who supported the police’s request for action on the club, says the outcome is very welcome for the residents in the area and for those local businesses who had to put up with the late night,alcohol-fuelled, excesses in the area. 

“This has been a great example of local community co-operation – between the police, the council, elected councillors and local people. It gives a clear message that the future of Chippenham town centre is a positive one, with a healthy and welcoming evening economy, where everyone can come, enjoy themselves peacefully, and feel comfortable  – and where local residents can enjoy a good night’s sleep, as they are absolutely entitled to do. “ 

“It is also message that we mean business in keeping the town centre safe, and that we won’t hesitate to take action  again if needed.”

The route and timing for the Olympic torch through Chippenham on the morning of Wednesday 23 May are now known and will be

9:46am – Bristol Road, Marshfield Road, Park Lane, New Road, High Street, Market Place, The Causeway, London Road

10:16am – London Road (then back into the convoy)

The next meeting of the Chippenham Area Board will be held on Monday 30 April, at 7pm, at Abbeyfield School, SN15 3XB

http://www.abbeyfieldschool.co.uk/index.phtml?d=151991

Opposition to the NHS Bill and the directions being taken by our Parliamentary leadership is growing. One sign of this is challenge to the Bill coming up at the Party’s Conference in early March.  Another is the launch of a group called Liberal Left, who are explicitly opposed to the Coalition because of  the string of Government policy attacks on the vulnerable and the disadvantaged – and of course the parliamentary support for the disastrous NHS Bill.  You can read more about this initiative at;

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/09/liberal-left-clegg-cameron-liberal-democrats

You will see it has generated plenty of controversy!  Their own web site is at

http://www.liberalleft.org.uk/index.php

Wiltshire Council has finally reached an agreement with ING for the redevelopment of the Bath Road car park and Bridge Centre site. but there is still a long way to go. The car park and the Bridge Centre will remain open while ING prepare and submit a planning application. Chris Caswill is in touch with ING, asking for an early meeting between them and local residents.

Network Rail have withdrawn their planning application for extra car parking on the empty space on Cocklebury Road.There were shortcomings in the application, which will hopefully be addressed in a revised proposal.

This web site will from now on carry a link to the web site of ’38 Degrees’, a campaigning organisation which connects directly to the big issues of the day, and is having an amazing impact on government.  You can take a look at the site at http://38degrees.org.uk/

The thousands of people who signed up to the 38 Degrees petition on the proposal to privatise our forests made a huge contribution to the government’s change of mind.  38 Degrees also played a big part in the ‘pause’ on the reckless NHS  proposals and is still campaigning for more improvements.  And now they are getting stuck in to the proposals to hand the countryside over to developers. 

Its worth a look – and then you can add your voice to any campaigns you want to support.  It is making a difference!

The Happy Days nursery on the Ivy lane School site has been given a grant of £2303 by the Chippenham Area Board.  This is to help the nursery improve their outside play area.  Chris spoke up for the proposal at the September 12 meeting – “this is a really good use of Area Board grant funds – it will not only make the area safer and more pleasant for the children at the nursery, it will also increase the amount of time when it can be used. Its good to see the work the teachers and governors are doing for the nursery, which is a vital facility for lots of local parents.” 

At Tuesday’s Wiltshire Council meeting in the Olympiad, the Conservative majority showed no interest or concern about government proposals that threaten a large reduction in the ability of local people to influence planning applications.  

These proposals include a new top-down, imposed presumption in favour of development and (most shocking of all) a requirement for the financial contributions from developers to be a major consideration in planning decisions – a move described by the Royal Town Planning Institute  as appalling and damaging :

http://www.rtpi.org.uk/item/4581/23/5/3

Chris Caswill had proposed that the Council should express its concern about these changes, both to Ministers and local MPs. However Conservative councillors said they didn’t know enough about any of this, and even argued that discussing these concerns was “a waste of time”. They voted by a large majority to do nothing.

Chris commented “I am really alarmed  at the ways in which government is proposing to encourage developers and sideline local people. This is quite contrary to all the talk about localism, and about local communities making decisions. Now I am even more alarmed at the ill-informed and complacent response of Wiltshire  Council.  Even though the Royal Town Planning Institute has been expressing its concerns about these proposals for months, Conservative councillors  who are on our county planning committees seem completely out of touch with what is going on around them.  Those who did know are apparently quite happy to see local involvement in planning overturned by the influence and financial clout of large developers.”

“Its yet another example of the odd mix of incompetence and indifference to the inclusion of local people that seems to characterise this Council administration.”

Those who are concerned about the upcoming plans for 5500 more houses around Chippenham may want to connect with the ‘Save Our Green Spaces’ community alliance.  Details on their web site :

 http://www.saveourgreenspaces.org/