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LibDems rejoice

ACROSS the country the greatest results for the Liberals since the days of Lloyd George. In the South West, Caroline Voaden and Martin Horwood elected as our MEPs, and Wiltshire with the fourth highest voter turnout at 44%. Together with the Greens and Change UK, our collective votes outnumbered the votes for the Brexit Parties, and there is hope we can form an Alliance for the future.

The Conservatives and Labour knocked into a cocked hat with neither of their official positions taken seriously by the public, and even Douglas Alexander the former Labour Cabinet Minister saying on the BBC R4 Today Programme that “Labour’s position of a ‘Jobs First Brexit’ is a bit like a buildings first earthquake”.

The current Reith lecturer, Supreme Court Judge Jonathan Sumption, this morning also commenting in his lecture that the decision by Tory Leader David Cameron to hold a referendum in the first place was deeply flawed.

The Brexit Party certainly got the largest number of votes for a single party, and congratulations to them for that achievement, but with no policies other than a no deal Brexit one has to wonder where they go next, especially given some of their MEP’s deeply unpleasant personal views.

The best quote of the week must however go to former President Barack Obama who when delivering the commencement address at Rutgers University New Jersey said of the current strain of anti-intellectualism: “Let me be clear as I can be: In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue. It’s not cool to not know what you’re talking about. That’s not keeping it real or telling it like it is. It’s not challenging political correctness… that’s just not knowing what you’re talking about.”

We need a return to well thought through, decent and fair policies from politicians and that is what we in the Lib Dems are working on.

Dr Brian Mathew, Liberal Democrat Wiltshire Councillor for Box & Colerne

It’s a Brexit fiasco

THERE must be plenty of people who are sick to the back teeth of the Brexit fiasco. Every politician and pundit seems to be stuck in their own arguments and too scared to change their mind or look at the bare facts. Here are a few that I have taken directly from Office of National Statistics so at least these should be accurate.

In the 2016 referendum 17.4 million people voted to leave the EU and 16.2 million people voted to remain. The voting population at that time was 56.1 million. Thus 31% voted to leave and 28.9 voted to remain. This means that the majority of 40.1% did not actually vote. This could be because they were uninterested, did not know what to vote for or were happy with the status quo.

There was a higher proportion of the elderly population that voted to leave and a higher proportion of the younger voters preferred remain. In 2016/17 there were 1.45 million persons between 16 and 17 years old. During 2016 /17 1.05 million persons died, predominantly elderly.

If we assume the majority (i.e. the non voters) now know what it is about (it’s been on the news every night !!!) then it is obvious to any thinking person that another referendum is the only fair way to solve the impasse. Whatever that result the Government will then have a mandate to get on with running our Country.

Rick Jotcham, Trowbridge

Promises kept?

A FEW years ago a Trowbridge Town Councillor wrote: ‘I have had a long talk with Lance Allan this morning about the Paxcroft skatepark and outside gym, and I have some very good news.

‘The Community Governance Review will make changes to the boundary between Trowbridge and Hilperton. Area 3C, South of Hilperton Drive, will bring 210 houses into Trowbridge. This will generate £25,000 per annum in council tax for Trowbridge Town Council.

‘The proposal is that the £25,000 should be spent on community projects and, subject to council approval, that the extra income could be put into the skatepark and gym. The arrangement will be over a period of at least four years giving PMRA £100,000 for the project.

‘Obviously, those people brought into Trowbridge will not be too happy about the huge increase in their council tax as they only pay £12 per year to Hilperton Parish Council, so we will have to “sell” the benefits that the changes will bring, and probably have to ask all Paxcroft residents how they would like the money spent.’

Here we are several years later, in the 2019-20 financial year, and I wonder just how much Trowbridge Town Council has actually spent on the area which transferred from Hilperton PC to Trowbridge TC? Of course, any figure should ignore the play areas which WC paid TTC to adopt. Or is it hoping that people will have forgotten what was said?

Until 2021 the area concerned will still be part of the Hilperton Division at Wiltshire Council, so an answer would be appreciated.

Ernie Clark, Wiltshire Councillor for Hilperton Division, Stonelea, Hilperton

Thanks shoppers

ON BEHALF of Christian Aid, I would like to thank all those people who contributed to the Trowbridge town centre collections on 14th and 17th May. £128.18 was donated which will go towards improving the care of pregnant women in Sierra Leone. This country is the world’s most dangerous place to become a mother. Through your gifts and all the other money donated nationally during Christian Aid Week, lasting change can be delivered where it is most needed in the poorest parts of the world.

Alison Hicks, Christian Aid Week Organiser in the BA14 Area

We’re all to blame

WHEN are the climate change protestors going to wake up to the fact that they are now responsible for climate change, just do the maths you do not have to be an Einstein to work out that there are too many people on the planet, something the so-called experts fail to mention because of the climate situation.

Unfortunately it is no longer acceptable for people to have more than one child, the money saved on child benefit could be used to help combat climate change. If they insist on having more then they should have to pay a tax for every child over the one.

The protestors have not come up with the answer of how they intend to generate all the extra electricity so that they can use their electronic phones, tablets and everything else that requires electricity. Once they have generated the electricity and charged up all the batteries how do they propose to dispose of all the batteries once they are life expired, batteries with very toxic metallic elements in them. Also they all want to have hot water and showers produced from apparently toxic boilers.

We have to be grateful to the protestors though especially the teenagers because there will be less cars on the roads due to the fact that they will not be learning to drive, there will be less air traffic because they will not be flying off on holidays and no more going to McDonalds so good news for many cows.

If they really want to protest do it in China or India or America because they are by far the worst polluters of the planet, the amount we contribute to climate change would be like pouring a bucket of water into the sea.

Climate change is a concern for us all but please vent your anger where it matters most.

K A Wareham, Brookfield Rise, Whitley

Such super show

LAST night my daughters and I went to see the TAOS musical theatre production of Oklahoma at the Arc theatre in Trowbridge.

This was the first time we had been to one of their shows and we were amazed by the energy and talent not to mention all the hard work that must have gone into producing such a fantastic performance. Thank you all for a great evening, proving that you don’t need to go far to experience great theatre!We are looking forward to the next one,

C. Franz, Address supplied

Help our children

ACROSS Wiltshire are amazing people who are helping to transform young lives by taking action with  The Children’s Society. This Volunteers Week (1-7 June) we would like to  thank each and every one of them.

Right now there are 2,754 children living in Wiltshire classed as children ‘in need’ and sadly this number continues to increase steadily.

The need is great and every hour volunteered, every campaign action taken, every donation made makes a real difference.

Nick Roseveare, CEO The Children’s Society

Share LINK costs

I WOULD like to say thank you to Trowbridge LINK for inviting me to their AGM last week. This volunteer group help the infirm, elderly or otherwise disadvantaged with transport, mainly to hospitals and medical centres, but also to clubs etc.

As a Town Council we are proud to support Trowbridge LINK with core funding. However, as with many other grants yet again we are in-effect subsidising the Villages. Trowbridge LINK operate in the Villages as well as Trowbridge, but do not receive support from the Village Parish Councils. Whilst I am in favour of continuing with grants of this type, I will be proposing that the Town Council recovers the apportioned amount grant funding back from the respective Parish Council - they must pay their share.

Trowbridge LINK and other Charities or Organisations supported by the Town Council can be assured that whether the Villages pay up or not, their core funding from the Town Council will not be affected. For more information on the fantastic work Trowbridge LINK do in our community visit www.trowbridgelink.org.uk

Edward Kirk, Town & Wiltshire Councillor for Trowbridge Adcroft

Time for youth

IN response to the letter ‘Social conscience’ from last week, I too would like to voice my views on the soon to be Drynham by-election. Trowbridge, not without its problems, is a great place to live, work and to bring up a family.

What the town needs now are councillors with their eye on the future and not the past. I personally would like to see some of our young people put their names forward to stand for local elections. People with young families and who are eager to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in.

Why, because the future of Trowbridge is their future now. I’m sure the ‘old guard’ will want to keep things are they are; however, I think it’s time to look to the future, not just for Drynham but for Trowbridge as a whole.

Peter Milner, Wilton Drive, Trowbridge

Wildlife in danger

DUGALD McNaughtan’s article (Fighting to save the food chain, May 17 2019) is commendable; however as insect charitty Buglife and broadcaster Chris Packham have observed recently, telecoms transmissions are also a factor in declining insect numbers. Heating effects can kill insects outright, while the radiation causes reduced fertility; anything which flies in the air is going to be affected.

A few years ago I met an acoustics student on the train who said “to get the coverage they want, the Government are going to have to absolutely hammer us with signals”. For the first time in years, the swans do not appear to have nested successfully by Bradford’s Town Bridge (just a bare patch of ground and a single feather when I looked yesterday morning). Nor the blackbirds who usually inhabit the bush in my garden which is dying back, attacked by fungus, just where the signal hits it from the 4G streetlight transmitter (activated a year ago) 12 metres away. Neither is there any signs of the goldfinches who normally nest in the conifer 6m away, whose top has started to deform and where the rose branch I trained up it has withered and died.

Feral doves tried to nest on a ledge in The Shamblers twice last year without success - on each occasion (March and May) the eggs were infertile. Generally there are less small birds in the town and more crows and gulls, which have better resistance and prey on the smaller species.

It would be wise for Wiltshire Council to revisit their policy on wireless internet and telecoms provision. As Juvenal, ‘the last of the Roman poets’, wrote: “Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another”.

It is easier to criticise industries when they are no longer making money (climate changers coal and oil are now mostly either closed down or depleted in the UK) but Government is heavily reliant on income from telecoms licences. How much Wiltshire Council makes from transmitters on streetlights and other public property is currently, I believe, the subject of an FoI request.

Perhaps it is a case of the goose that lays the golden egg, Midas-like, making all the other eggs infertile.

Martin Valatin, St Margaret’s Hill, Bradford on Avon