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Tisbury

Tisbury has recently had a kerfuffle concerning a village Hall. Now I am on dangerous ground here because I am not entirely sure of the facts. There is the Hinton Hall generously donated by a benefactor to 'us'. The Church not the Village? There is the Methodist Hall that belongs one supposes to the Methodists, There is the Victoria Memorial Hall which may together with the Elizabeth Hall be vested in Trustees. Then there was a piece of land adjoined to the Elizabeth Hall, which was made available for the construction of our excellent Village Surgery. Was not that site originally earmarked for the construction of a new Village Hall? If not it should have been, and if it was, surely it should have been retained for such use. We can be very grateful for our local medical facility. I recall that when we moved here in 1981, our children referred to the then Surgery at the Elizabeth Hall as 'The Garage Doctor'. Maybe the Elizabeth Hall might have been built as a continuation of the Victoria Hall rather than athwart it? Such arguments are now all water under the bridge, but illustrate the need for actual 'Planning' for our future. It is unhelpful to consider individual applications without relating them to the need of the village as a Community. What point is there to a Parish Council should they fail so to do? If a shop is to thrive it needs turnover, as does a set of fuel pumps need 'through put'. If a shop is too small or the through put too low, neither will be financially viable. There always has been an unending supply of hobbyists wishing to trade on their particular interests. Is Tisbury to become the preserve of the Boutique Trade? The decision is partly our own. Nodding one's head thoughtlessly in either direction can get us all into a lot of trouble. Traders come and Traders go. There are empty shops for rent or sale. There is a planning application for two shops at Bib and Tucker where there was only one before. The Parish Council gave that application their support. Doubtlessly they gave due consideration as to whether Tisbury is short of empty shops? Bib and Tucker have gone from both Tisbury and Shaftesbury, The Fat Quarter has closed, the News agency is in suspension, is Messrs Adlem up for sale? Have Heron Foods and Parmiter moved to Semley? There is something going wrong in Tisbury. We have all these new houses, why does not business prosper? Quite plainly because we are all shopping at Waitrose, Sainsbury, or Tesco either in Salisbury or Shaftesbury. Our two Motor Engineering premises wouldn't be able to cope with all the motor cars in this village. Cars get serviced in Salisbury, Gillingham, Semley, or at any of the seeming half dozen garage outfits on the old Railway Station Site at Wilton. If any of us doubt the better use that Station Works Tisbury can be put to, please go and see what Semley and Wilton old Railway Stations have to offer. See the Chichester site at the top of the Avenue at Wilton, or less recommended that new Farm Site off the A350 again at Semley. What about all those trading areas at Blandford? Don't want anything like that in Tisbury, but there is demand for many smaller units. However if we think building 60-80 houses at Station Works or Hindon Lane will be beneficial to anyone now living or trading in Tisbury, it won't be. This village will become a moribund congested Commuter and Retirement area. Yes we do need a balance in our future redevelopment, however we must ensure that our 'Scales' are still in good working order. A Community plan for our area is an absolute necessity. These ad hoc decisions made as one planning application follows another should be unacceptable. The responsibility for the future of this area has been entrusted to those of us who live here now. We have a marvellous life. Each of us with his own personal vicar, but we seem to be very short of people who are willing to engage themselves in local civil management, no matter whether inside or outside it. Tisbury Parish Council. It is good news that two new Parish Councillors have been co-opted to fill those vacancies. It would not be an unreasonable suggestion that the names of persons wishing to be co-opted as Parish Councillors should first be posted on the Parish Notice Board. Anyone who stands for Election by Public Ballot would have his or her name and address so displayed. I have been trying to get the Tisbury Parish Council to let those the Council represents, know from whence they come. They do not wish to publish such information. When I suggested that maybe I would do so on their behalf, I was advised through the Parish Clerk, that should I do so, I would be in breach of the Data Protection Act. Really what has Parish- Pump Politics come to? Mea Culpa I have no wish to be invidious, and realise that the fault is probably entirely my own, but I do not have the slightest knowledge of one of our new Parish Councillors, nor know where he lives. There is such an initial to the name in the telephone directory with a Tisbury Exchange Telephone number. The address given may either be a misprint, or may be that number really is located in Salisbury as the Directory suggests? Telephone numbers no longer necessarily serve an address in their apparent exchange area. That being so Tisbury is no wiser. The 'track record' for co-options to this current session of Tisbury Parish Council has proved to be less than satisfactory. It might be an excellent idea if Candidates for co-option were also required to sit-in on a few Council Meetings before joining the Parish Council. There are other Councillors with a variable record of attendance. If any have such a detached view of Parish Affairs, it is no wonder that only seven members of the Public came to the last Annual Parish Assembly. Papalscope out of focus? Several months ago retiring County Councillor Richard Willin was good enough to advise those who elected him that he would not be standing for re- election this May. One might have supposed that the Party Political Machine would have gone into overdrive when such news was made Public. I would not know anything about that, but am surprised to read in the March 2005 issue 12 of Focus, that the Conservatives were looking for a Community minded person to represent Tisbury and Mere on the County Council. At the last District Council Election the Party did not offer a Candidate, and at the Election before that it produced a Candidate who lived in Porton the other side of Salisbury. Why have they not yet found a Candidate willing to stand? Surely they should have a selection of eager beavers, for such an assured seat? In Hampshire County Council Elections at the Start of the 1980s. the Conservative Party in Brockenhurst rejected a soon to be elected Member of Parliament, and Junior Minister, seemingly because he worked in London! Why should it surprise one if Tisbury is short of Party Political Council Candidates? Being any sort of a Councillor used to be a privilege. Something has gone wrong; the system started to deteriorate after the reorganisation of local Government in the late 1960's. Before then Councillors rose through the ranks from Parish to District and so on to the County Council. That system was buried when Party Politics interfered, greatly to the cost of us all. There is a meeting of the SDC Planning and Regulatory Committee at 11am. Thursday 17th March at the Alamein Suite. This should touch on some of the matters mentioned above. It is open to the Public to attend if any should wish so to do. Finally please will Tisbury and West Tisbury amalgamate into one Civil Parish? We share so much, and being two Parishes merely raises everyone's Council Tax. Monday, 07 March 2005.