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Core Strategy - more like Cor blimey strategy, says Paul Macdonald
(July 14, 2012)Over 300 sixth form students
in Warminster will have to battle their way through their studies in
very cramped conditions while the county council that should be battling
on their behalf has agreed to add to that pressure.
Wiltshire Council is currently praising itself on
adding the prospect of more than new 900 homes on the Frome side
of Warminster in their 'cor blimey' strategy to satisfy government
demands.
"I was at the core strategy consultation at the assembly
hall several years ago, " says former councillor Paul Macdonald. " It
was so shallow. ''Cor Blimey' I thought as post-it notes were used for
us to express our views!"
The result of those WC events, which has
been much delayed as the coalition election caused confusion and
indecision, will see several thousand new residents in a 'dormitory'
area of the town of Warminster.
"Frome and Westbury
have accepted the role of dormitory towns to places like Bath, Bristol
and Trowbridge where large numbers of their residents live in the town
but happily work elsewhere.
"The crucial difference is the precedent and impact on the setting of Warminster by building out towards Longleat, Cley Hill and Salisbury Plain," claims Paul. "Once again the unitary authority has failed to deliver decision making professionally to the lowest practicable level. Our town.
"The crucial difference is the precedent and impact on the setting of Warminster by building out towards Longleat, Cley Hill and Salisbury Plain," claims Paul. "Once again the unitary authority has failed to deliver decision making professionally to the lowest practicable level. Our town.
"Do we want yet more households as history has proved
so often coming here in hope of working in Warminster and then being
unemployed adding to local burdens."
Kingdown school has for many years had the
one of the highest 'numbers on roll' in Wiltshire and since become a
'community' school .
It applied for funding which was turned down for a new
building within its current school for a proper sixth-form area. The
students already suffer under the handicap of cramped conditions.
"Nine hundred new homes as part of nearly two thousand
that our town is supposed to add to the already heavy pressure on
health, social and emergency services now demands a complete
re-appraisal," says Paul.
"And apart from Kingdown where will the infants and
juniors from those households get their education?" asks Paul who was
former chairman of Princecroft School governors.
"Decades of developers have promised much but not delivered.
"Decades of developers have promised much but not delivered.
"We put a huge amount of work in the eighties and
nineties into protecting the environment and setting of Warminster,
balancing the imbalance between housing and jobs which gave our town the
highest unemployment rate in the county, and building respect for local
government.
"My final comment is that the LibDems and Tories with
their Localism Bill and the area board of Wiltshire Council are a waste
of time!"