TISBURY IS COMING BY £400,000 From the HINDON LANE DEVELOPMENT. A number of local groups wish to have a share of the cash.

`THE SWIMMING POOL’
want half the £400,000 for its refurbishment. I believe the Parish recently spent £25,000 on the Pool. If it was in need of £200,000 of refurbishment one may wonder why we did so. Furthermore Messrs Fry had offered to donate a brand new swimming pool to the Parish in consideration of planning matters. This offer was refused by the Parish Council, seemingly on the basis that we already had a very nice pool, thank you.

FONTHILL PARK CRICKET CLUB,
which is situated in the Parish of Fonthill, on a site owned by the Fonthill Estate . It thought to have £45,000 donated to it as a contribution towards a new Cricket Pavilion. A very eloquent presentation of the plea was made by I believe the Club’s President, in tones of voice that reminded me of one of Peter Tinniswood’s ‘Tales from the Long Room.’ The more so as he seemed appropriately be-sweatered in either the Downside Colours or those of the MCC. We were assured that the Fonthill Estate was all in favour of the rebuild. None would doubt that for a moment, but as a member of the audience said ‘ It would be tantamount to handing our money back to The Fonthill Estate which one way or another begat it. In the recent past Tisbury Parish Council donated money to this Cricket Club so that it might replace its mower and attend its loo. Why Oh Why should we pay any money to the club. It is not situated in our Parish, so surely the Club would better look to Fonthill for funding. MORE THAN ALL THAT. Tisbury Parish already funds its own Village Cricket Club for which , the Village gratefully accepted as a gift , the fabric of the Wooden Shop Building that was then sited at the bottom of Tisbury High Street. The Tisbury Parish Council paid some £9,000 to re-erect the fabric as a Cricket Pavilion on the King George Vth. Playing Field which adjoins the Campus Site.

ST. JOHNS PRIMARY SCHOOL, needs to refurbish what is described as its Toilets at a cost of £20,000. The Gathering was all for such refurbishment in theory, but thought that funding would better come from some Educational Source, until it was explained that none was available.

IT WOULD SEEM TO BE A GREAT MISFORTUNE FOR THE FUTURE OF PRIMARY EDUCATION IN TISBURY AND ITS SURROUNDING AREA that The sometime Governors of the School failed to expand laterally when the Nadder Middle School shut up shop. Was that due to a lack of foresight or what?

TISBOWLS
wishes to replace its Pavilion at a cost of £100,000. Whose Pavilion ? Possibly it is the property of Tisbury Parish ? A while back a Club Member made a presentation to The Area Board requesting some £1500* seed money towards the progression of a planning application concerning the replacement of the Pavilion. Possibly the Area Board had better detail of the matter, than had we who happened by that evening just to see what went on. To me at least , the Public Detail of the application seemed at best sketchy. Was it resolved how many members the Club had, or what its Green Fees were etc. ? Well at this Year’s Parish Assembly a seasoned former Parish Councillor advised there were about thirty Club Members. Seemingly what was requested was £3,333... per person. Surely this is an expense too far ? On the first of June 2010 the Bowls Club received match funding of £750.00, on the second of July of that year a Grant from SWWAB of £1,465.* And on the 25th August £750.00 from Tisbury Parish Council. According to last years accounts some £1,910 of this money has been spent on associated planning matters. Such expenditure left a balance of £1,055.00 in the kitty.

SPORTS CENTRE,
seemingly wish to have a fitness and aerobics studio. Is this a euphemism for what was recently referred to as a need for a Dance Studio ? Whichever it is estimated to cost £120,000. One Parish Councillor enquired why those who thought to be fit and aerobic couldn’t do their thing in the Nadder Hall, which she said had an excellent sprung floor in need of bouncing persons. Well she said something similar. The response to that was equipment would have to be lugged from the Sports Centre and back for every session. That was countered by the suggestion that it would be more economical to either store the existing equipment in the Nadder Hall, or buy further equipment and similarly store that there. The other Elephant in the room was that the Sports Centre is owned by the Unitary Authority and there was little guarantee that the place will remain open. Surely this is a non starter as an idea.

PURCHASE OF GROUND ADJACENT TO SOUTH WESTERN HOTEL. Never take no for an answer. So much for consultation and listening to Public Opinion. The Village has been here before. Still there was no mention of the area of this piece of waste land. If I may quote from Minutes of The Tisbury Parish Council.

‘b. Parking in Tisbury/acquisition of land adjacent to the South Western Hotel. A brief discussion confirmed the view that the residents at the meeting on the 16th September had indicated little support for the proposal to buy the land for car parking and even less support to buy the land for amenity use.’ etc.

I am unsure who keeps pushing the matter of the purchase of this waste land which is priced as though it is highest grade agricultural land. I am aware that there are some in West Tisbury Parish who are keen on the idea, so why not get West Tisbury to buy the land using its own funding.Certainly the Parking in Tisbury is problematical. The Assemblage was authoritatively advised that at no time was it impossible to find a Parking Space in the Car Park, then another advised there was more often then not parking available alongside the Football Ground. So what was the problem ?
The problem is that because so many non resident commuters are availing themselves of Tisbury’s free parking in the vicinity of The Western Hotel, double lines are to be placed there early next month. Cars will then seek free parking elsewhere. Probably alongside the Football Ground, or maybe in the Car Park. THAT BEING SO SURELY BOTH AREAS SHOULD HAVE TIME RESTRICTIONS PLACED ON THEM.
Those of us of the Parish but ‘without’ the Village Envelope would be greatly inconvenienced by such restrictions, as too would be the various enterprises who currently routinely accommodate their Trade Vehicles in the car park as a matter of course, as they have every right to do, but even so Time Restrictions would be for the common good. What a shame that the Station Works Site wasn’t encouraged to be developed exclusively for business units and Parking, for under current Planning Regulations we will soon have another sixty houses built on that site, but then there were many who wished to see that anyhow !

Tisbury’s situation is not unique. The Village of Shiplake in the Thames Valley is currently up in arms concerning the new street parking regulations about to be introduced. Letters are being written to the paper by persons complaining that they own three cars and but the one parking space, and they would most surely be selling up and moving. That apart why are there to be new parking restrictions ? Because Commuters are driving into Shiplake, which is on a branch line, from places such as Reading and Henley purely to avail themselves of the street parking. It is all most unfortunate, but foreseeing such problems is what local Governance should be all about, Tisbury tends to react to successive fait accompli rather than be proactive.

BUS SHELTERS for Children not welcomed by a West Tisbury Resident, but surely Tisbury PC isn’t to be paying for West Tisbury Bus Shelters?

WARDOUR SCHOOL, which incidentally seems to have parking problems of its own, needs £1000 for equipment. Whilst the writer of this Blog was keen that Tisbury get itself a more adequate DISPLAY BOARD for Public Use, such as was promised by an earlier incarnation of Tisbury Parish Council. A Suggestion that Tourism be encouraged by inviting a CARAVAN CLUB site into the village was a non starter as even the proposer of the idea didn’t vote for it.