Trowbridge Governance Review

Below is our submission to Wiltshire Council which will be made tomorrow.  Promoting an expansion of the boundaries of Trowbridge is one of our key priorities.

Transforming Trowbridge, a group of experienced private sector volunteers supported by the principal employers in the town, is working hard to attract investment and jobs into Trowbridge.  The outcome of this review is fundamental to our success.  If the town boundaries reflect the aspirations of the Core Strategy then your fundamental policy ambitions to make Trowbridge a strong and successful County Town will be achieved and we will have a well-resourced town council to meet the needs of the people living here.

We urge the Council to ignore the recommendations of the Working Group and resolve

-          That, in the absence of compelling evidence to the contrary land, allocated in the Core Strategy for the expansion of Trowbridge should be included within that town’s boundary as this will ensure community governance arrangements will better reflect local identities and facilitate effective and convenient local government which is the requirement set out in the Government’s Guidance
In particular

-          That the A350 represents a natural boundary between West Ashton Parish and Trowbridge

-          That Elizabeth Way represents a natural boundary between Hilperton and Trowbridge

-          That Trowbridge’s largest and most prestigious employment site, White Horse Business Park, is included within the town boundary

The Government Guidance and the wider strategic and policy issues seem to have been ignored and are barely referred to in the Working Party’s report on the Trowbridge review.  The principal reason for this review is brought about because of the decision of the Council to focus on Trowbridge as one of the three centres of population targeted for growth – not Hilperton, not West Ashton, not North Bradley etc etc.

The boundary extension is key (in these days of austerity)  to affording and developing sporting, health and well-being facilities for Trowbridge, joining up neighbourhoods to green spaces and corridors, allowing residents to connect with the surrounding countryside or town facilities without the need for cars.  Trowbridge, in the future will need to be more self-sufficient and this review offers a key opportunity to enable this to come about.

The conclusions of the Councillors on the Working Group have been reached without apparently taking these fundamental facts into consideration.  The Group seem to have been more focussed on parochial matters. 

At a consultation meeting I attended a councillor on the Working Group contradicted every contribution that he personally disagreed with. 

My own contribution on behalf of Transforming Trowbridge was criticised because we had a clear priority to press for an extension of the town boundaries and, therefore, we were biased. 

Apparently organisations with policy positions are not allowed to lobby for an outcome but it is OK for a Councillor with an agenda to be part of a so-called independent panel and promote the outcome he wants to see.

The Council’s strategic policies and Government Guidance have been largely ignored in the Councillors formulation of their recommendations in the report. That cannot be right.

Jeff Ligo

Director