TISBURY PAST PRESENT AND FUTURE

It is only relatively recently that Tisbury has been under the auspices of the Salisbury District Council. Before then we had our own fiefdom designated as Mere and Tisbury Rural District Council. An assemblage of 26 Parishes, the whole represented by 26 Rural District Councillors. Tisbury’s 1656 voters had G.E. Maidment Esq as our Councillor and West Tisbury’s 452 voters had Lt.Col N.H.Boardley as theirs. The Council Offices were in Mere.

There is talk of us being again recast from the melting pot. Not only the fact that when the next General Election is called we will no longer be in the Salisbury Constituency, but there remains the possible amalgamation of Tisbury with West Tisbury. That makes sense. There is too the suggestion that Salisbury District Council should be abolished and that we become under the ‘direct rule’ of the Wiltshire County Council with its Offices in Trowbridge and Swindon.

Rumour has it that the Tisbury Parish Council is less than pleased with the Salisbury District Council, and that it is in favour of a Unitary Authoriy. Can this be so? If it is so, surely it is either an expression of a Tantrum, or of end of term hi-jinks.

All are entitled to an opinion, but so far as I know the Salisbury District Council has looked after our interests very well. Do we really wish to be governed at a local level by a County Council that chose to close and sell off ‘our’ Nadder School premises at the time we are about to have some sixty if not one hundred and twenty new houses thrust upon on, in compliance with Government directives.

Any complaint that the Village Social Housing is inclined to occupation by incomers from the whole District Council Area, may easily be accounted for by the fact that the District and Rural Councils respectively, built and own the accommodation. They are not nor ever were a Parish perquisite. Would Parish Councillors now welcomingly accommodate tenants from the whole of Wiltshire should the Unitary Authority become a reality? To deny the occupation of these houses to incomers, is as unreasonable, as to ban outsiders from buying into all those smart new speculative developments scattered about Tisbury. That happens in Jersey.

One may not doubt that various of our Councillors attended the one day Housing Seminar held in the City Hall. There was an open evening session where at , members of the Public were given the opportunity to speak, and ask questions. One such question directed to the Chairman of the Housing Committee concerned Council Accommodation.

‘Some twenty eight years ago, some Councils started selling off Council Accommodation at concessionary prices. Was this a grave error?’

As I understood it the answer given by the Chair, who sits as a Conservative, was overall a ‘Yes’ . The wisdom of hindsight is fair enough, but some Conservatives at the time spoke out against selling off Council accommodation, having had the foresight to see that it would lead to deprivation. I was of their number. Saying so did not do me much good, but it is nice to know that one was not so wrong. The trouble is that ‘There are none so deaf as……… . JBP. PLEASE SEE BELOW A DECOUPAGE OF ITEMS GLEANED FROM AUDIT COMMISSION REPORTS,

Salisbury District Council
Comprehensive performance assessment……………………….  Good

CPA is about helping local councils improve services for their communities. The Commission assesses the performance of councils and the services that they provide for local people. Our assessment helps councils to focus on improvement. The assessment comprises evidence from other external review bodies plus the Commission's judgements. The way that Salisbury District Council is run and the delivery of services has been assessed as good (on the scale excellent/good/fair/weak/poor

Wiltshire County Council

Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA)
This is a council that is improving adequately and demonstrating a 4 star overall performance.

A further Statistics whilst on Site

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust Trusts 4

Organisation Trust type 3
Overall score 4
Financial reporting 4
Financial management 3
Financial standing Internal control Value for money 4

Healthcare organisations.
Salisbury Health Care NHS Trust Salisbury District Hospital (1.2 miles) * Distance (miles) SP1 Quality of Services FAIR Use of Resources Excellent 1.2 Fair Excellent

* The Healthcare Commission does not assess individual hospitals. However, the overall rating we publish reflects the aggregated performance for all hospitals belonging to the NHS trust.
** The Healthcare Commission inspects independent providers of healthcare services but does not award performance ratings.

Only 4% of Health Care Trusts got the Highest Rating of Excellent

J.B.P.