Holt has been selected as a potential site for a new scheme - provisionally entitled ‘Village Agents’. This is a scheme in which local people either volunteer or are employed on a part-time basis to become a trusted community member and resource. They network widely with parish councillors, transport providers, faith groups, social groups, police and health and social care providers to become known in their community. They can visit people at home to provide high quality information and enable access to a wide range of resources.

They can carry out a series of practical checks, such as smoke alarms, falls prevention strategies, benefit entitlement, energy efficiency. They can also identify unmet need for individuals and communities and respond by initiating an individual or group response – ranging from replacing a door handle to initiating a lunch club. They can refer to voluntary or statutory agencies as appropriate.

Wiltshire Council would commission a voluntary sector agency to run the scheme, the council itself would only provide the funding and monitoring of the scheme. Planning for the pilot is in early stages and it is still to be confirmed who this agency will be, however it is planned the scheme will be launched in Holt early next year.

If you have a road which satnav systems are sending unsuitable traffic along go to http://www.teleatlas.com/index.htm 

Select ‘Report Map Changes’ and tell them the problem.  Get others to do the same - the system will probably ignore a single response but will take note when there are many.

Remember also it’s not in the providers’ interest to send their customers up dead end streets or on roads they’re legally banned from so where a problem is reported they can normally be expected to do something about it.

Winter weather permitting the parish stewards will be going round the villages putting right any minor road defects and doing repairs such as filling potholes, clearing blocked drains and doing other odd jobs on public land.  If you see anything you think needs fixing either call ‘Clarence’ on 0800 23 23 23 or inform your parish clerk who can put it on the stewards’ job list.

Action dates for our villages are:

South Wraxall - Jan 20th; Feb 17th; Mar 17th.

Monkton Farleigh - Jan 21st; Feb 18th; Mar 18th.

Staverton -  Jan 25th; Feb 22nd; Mar 23rd.

Holt - Jan 27th; Feb 23rd & 24th; Mar 24th

Wiltshire Council is currently consulting on possible changes to speed limits on ‘A’ and ‘B’ roads in the county.  One of their suggestions is that the 50mph limit on the A363 between Farleigh Wick and the Monkton Farleigh junction should be removed, increasing the limit to 60mph.               Many residents have pointed out the danger of turning into and out of this junction even with the existing limit, and we’re concerned that an increase in permitted traffic speeds would seriously increase that danger.             The consultation runs until Friday February 5^th.  We’d like your help to persuade the council that the speed limit should not be increased.  Please send an email with your comments on the proposal to me at holtstaverton@yahoo.co.uk  .  I’ll pass on all comments to Wiltshire Council.             You can see more details about the suggested changes to speed limits on the council’s website at www.wiltshire.gov.uk\speedlimitreview   

Your comment

“Please, you have to make council see sense here. Our junction is already dangerous, with many ‘near misses’. Even our village police officer will vouch for the dangers, when we have to pull out onto A363. It is just madness to raise the speed by 10 mph, this would mean that vehicles coming from Bath, who now often exceed 50 mph, would then exceed the 60mph, which would make our problems worse.”