MARK this important event in your diary – Area Board on Wednesday, October 18 at 7pm at Melksham United Church. Why? Well, after months of questioning and lobbying and in spite of our naysayers we will, at last, get an opportunity to ask our elected officials to account for the spend to date on bringing our Health & Wellbeing Centre (the campus), from the drawing board to reality. We will have the opportunity, one that we must take, to ask those responsible for a detailed update on the project.
Because there is nothing to be gained by ambushing the Area Board and those responsible for the campus project here are some of the questions that they must be prepared to answer. This time the Melksham community, many of whom are sceptical about whether or not the campus will ever be built, will not be fobbed off with vague generalities; we need specifics and we need to be listened to.
We need clarification on what will finally be included in the campus, what has been deleted or added and why? When construction is scheduled to begin and end; (not just another list, we all know about the Market Place, the cricket pavilion, the soccer/rugby fields and the skate park), in other words when will Melksham have its campus?
We want to know what has delayed the project and what steps have to be completed before actual construction can begin on the Melksham House site?
We want to know what has been spent so far and how much is left in the campus kitty?
We want to know what happened to the September 2014 committee headed by Councillor John Hubbard that was supposed to act as the conduit between us, the stakeholders, and those responsible for implementing the project?
We want to know when a new H&W centre liaison and oversight committee, (provided with real ‘teeth’), will be inaugurated?
There are so many questions that will be asked and we will expect those elected officials responsible for this project to be open and candid, the days of excuse making, blaming, buck passing and information darkness must end on October 18 – it is time for our community to be treated with the respect we deserve.
October 18 is an opportunity for Wiltshire Council, the Area Board, town council and parish council to come together with our community in a new partnership for progress. Don’t waste it, turn up with your prepared questions and expect answers – remember, it’s your town.
Councillor Martin Pain
Melksham Town Council