How beautiful our villages are in the Summer!
Due to the heat this last week we delayed our family walks and bike rides until the evenings. It’s my favourite time of day to be out in the countryside. Walking from the water tower at Tilshead over the plain and back down into West Lavington, the wildflowers seemed endless, butterflies danced constantly and the heat rose up from the paths which had baked in the sun all day. On Friday, Buddy and I took our bikes out for an eleven mile loop from West Lavington up Stibb Hill, down to Gore Cross to New Zealand, around to Peartree Hill, along the ridge above the Cheverells, before dropping down behind Dauntseys. For a 10-year-old to declare unprompted, “We are lucky to live in such an amazing place”, made my heart melt. He’s absolutely right.
The strict policing of Peartree over the last 18 months, which saw many people getting a stern warning or even a ticket for driving or parking off the track, seemed a little heavy-handed to me at the time. I wasn’t aware that you couldn’t drive on the grass and nor was anyone else I spoke to last year! Coming down Peartree Hill at 9pm on my bike last week it all made sense. In the thirty years I’ve walked or eaten a picnic on that beautiful hill I’ve never seen the grasses and wildflowers like they are now. It was like an African savannah after the rains have come. Incredible!
Last month I mentioned that trees were going out of fashion. Aside from the number lost to industrial logging worldwide, most planning applications we receive locally are for tree removal. A lot of these are due to Ash Dieback or monster Leylandii but it’s always a shame to see something cut down. For years now West Lavington has been responding to every application with a request that a new tree be planted either on site or via a tree planting scheme. This month I wrote to the Cabinet member for planning to request that this become a standard footnote to all approval notices for tree work. It won’t be legally binding, however, it will hopefully encourage everyone to reduce the nett loss of Wiltshire’s trees.
I must apologise to the two people that wrote to me recently concerned that I didn’t see the beauty or importance of Stonehenge! I can be pretty sarcastic at times and my tongue-in-cheek tone in last month’s magazine went under the radar of some. Of course I love Stonehenge, both for its beauty and incredible history as well as the boost to our local businesses through the tourism it attracts. Last week I wrote to our Public Transport team to request a re-routing of the Devizes-Salisbury bus in order to provide a better link to Stonehenge. As an aside I also requested an extension to the timetable to allow people working or studying in Salisbury or Devizes to get to and from their destination at the start and end of the working day.
Finally, work continues to find a solution at Black Dog crossroads. Numerous ideas were examined by Atkins and put out to Parish Councils for consultation. The responses have now gone back to the Highways team combining the voices of residents who have made their thoughts known over the years. Now I await a single proposal which I will take back to all the Parish Councils for discussion. Watch this space… but perhaps don’t hold your breath.
You may contact me about this or any other matter by email to dominic.muns@wiltshire.gov.uk or by phone on 07585 394 178.
