Category Archives: Politics

As a parent of one child at primary and one at secondary school I have seen the tiredness creep-in through October. For school staff too, the holiday can’t come soon enough. With school finances being rapidly eroded by inflation, the pressure is on for schools to deliver the best education possible with less and less […]

Every now and again I hear people say, “There’s no point objecting, they’ll build it anyway”, or “It’s not worth the battle” or “Money talks”. It annoys me, quite frankly. I’ve never been afraid to have a scrap and nothing gets me riled-up as much as someone who throws their weight around like they own […]

Whilst thankfully, fuel prices at the petrol pumps have reduced slightly over the last few weeks, I expect, like me, you have concerns about the cost of living, especially as winter approaches. I am pleased that Wiltshire Council has been getting on with distributing the £150 Government energy rebate on council tax bills for households […]

In the middle of July, during the hottest week on record, people from all over the area (and beyond) enjoyed the spectacular Market Lavington Vintage Meet. Emily and I took the kids along on the Sunday and were blown away by the variety of things on show. It took me a good forty minutes to […]

The Jubilee Weekend was a fantastic display of patriotism and adoration for the Queen but also a reflection of community spirit, neighbourliness, and friendship. I think after so many months of not being allowed to see each other, followed by the cautious opening-up of life, everyone has realised just how much social interaction suffered. With […]

Encouraging local youth initiatives is a bit of a pet-project for me at the moment, not just in The Lavingtons but across the Devizes area. I am working with a variety of stakeholders to improve youth provision and thankfully I am starting to see some really positive changes. Enthusiasm from Devizes Town Council is strong, […]

The first Ukrainian settlers are due to arrive in The Lavingtons shortly, thanks to the compassion and support of a number of our neighbours. The thought that terrified and vulnerable families have been offered shelter and hope by local residents is amazing. Locally, over 200 households have offered safe homes for people fleeing from the […]

I am sure we have all been impacted by the sudden increases in energy costs and so I thought I would borrow from my neighbouring councillor Tamara Reay (Devizes Rural West) who is also portfolio holder for Climate Change. She has put together some useful information which will be helpful to many of us in […]

On Tuesday 15th February I sat in Full Council from 10:30am until 9:10pm to debate the new budget. I will spare you a complete summary since the agenda pack was 597 pages of A4… front and back! I will instead pick out two elements that grabbed headlines. The Council proposed an increase to parking charges […]

Happy New Year! I am never quite sure what the acceptable cut-off date for that exclamation should be. Wishing you all a “Happy New Year” towards the end of January probably signals that I am still clinging onto Christmas cheer instead of kicking myself that it’s cold and grey and I haven’t made a start […]