NewsArchive

working to keep Devizes a special place

News Archive

Trust contributes over £3,000 to Crammer Wall Appeal

At a concert at St James Church, arranged to raise the final funds required to undertake the repair of the Crammer Wall, Ted East and Tony Sedgwick handed over a cheque for £3,349. Of this £849 was donated especially by Trust Members with the balance coming from legacy funds the Trust uses for special projects.

The Crammer is an intrinsic part of Devizes life and it has been marred by the state of the collapsed wall for some time.

The Trust is delighted to have been able to help with its restoration.

Civic Building Awards 2011

This year for the first time the Trust for Devizes will be presenting Civic Awards to recognise commercial and residential buildings which enhance the character of the town and contribute to its reputation as 'Wiltshire's hidden gem'.

There will be two categories of awards:

	Best Presented commercial and public building

	Best Presented residential building.

There will be two winners, one from each category. In addition, Distinction Certificates will be awarded to all buildings which the judges feel make an outstanding contribution to the town.

Buildings must be located within the parishes of Devizes and Roundway. Applications for awards are open to any building which enhances the appearance of the town, whether listed, old or new.

For full details and an application form click here.

Air Pollution worsens as traffic jams become the norm

The latest set of air quality figures published by Wiltshire Council demonstrates just how bad the traffic situation is becoming in Devizes: we now have seven monitoring points giving pollution levels above the permitted EU maximum.

Air pollution is not just evidence of traffic problems which are getting worse and which the Council seem reluctant to address, but it is also a major problem for people who suffer from asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory diseases, sometimes causing serious problems and reducing life expectancy.

The Trust questions proposals to build yet more homes here until plans are produced for alleviating the traffic problem which is a blight on our beautiful town and will be holding a Public Meeting to explain its views on Wed. 22 June at 7.30 in the Town Hall.

Public Anger at Housing proposals 23 June 2011

The people of Devizes turned out in force to hear the Trust’s Traffic Advisor, Tony Sedgwick, outline the impact that building yet more houses in the town would have on traffic congestion and air pollution. More than 150 attended the meeting at the Town Hall, with numbers being forced to stand

He emphasised that air pollution was now over the limit imposed by law at at least seven points in the town and the Council had a statutory duty to put forward proposals to bring this level down. Building more houses without investing in ways of reducing traffic would make matters worse. He underlined the danger to public health posed by polluted air, quoting from a number of authoritative sources such as Parliament, the European Commission and the British Lung Foundation.

The meeting was told that the Trust was being advised by a specialist in European law whose opinion was that if the Planning Committee approved more building, knowing that it would increase pollution, already above the legal limit, it would be acting illegally.

The Council’s draft Core Strategy, now out for public consultation, was totally lacking in any proposals to tackle traffic congestion or pollution and was, in Tony’s words “ High on Ambition and short on detail”. It claimed that by 2026 traffic would be flowing more freely, yet contained no policies which would bring this about.

Many of those present contributed to the debate and it was clear that the general view was that Devizes has had too much house building in the past few years without the necessary infrastructure. Now is the time to stop, get the infrastructure in place before considering further expansion. If not, more houses would mean more traffic and more traffic would mean higher levels of pollution.

Ted East, the Trust’s Chairman, called for a vote on the motion that no more approvals should be given for housing until the air pollution problem was solved. This was carried overwhelmingly.

“No More Houses” Campaign gathers Momentum September 2011

Following the Trust’s initiative in exposing the true situation about traffic pollution in the town at a Public Meeting, our campaign to persuade Wiltshire Council to postpone any plans to build yet more homes until it comes up with a viable strategy to reduce pollution has gained considerable support.

It was noticeable that all the candidates in the Devizes Town Council by-election placed tackling this problem at the top of their agenda. Now the three local councils, Devizes Town, Roundway Parish and Bishops Cannings Parish, have written to Wiltshire pressing them to adopt this policy.

Our representatives have met with the Area Board and found a large measure of agreement on the way forward. We understand that the Board are pressing the Council to think again on the number of houses to built and to delay any new developments until the back end of the planning period (up to 2026).

Meanwhile the Trust has continued to research the issues resulting from pollution emitted from vehicles and has found disturbing evidence of serious effects on young children, even whilst they are still in the womb. We have also uncovered recent research which establishes a link between traffic pollution and coronary problems. So it appears that our situation give rise to concern for everybody who lives in a high pollution area, walks through it or even sits in a traffic jam!

We continue to press the legal case for action, aided by an expert in European Law. We are now also being advised by a retired Consultant Cardiologist on the Public Health aspect

This is an issue where the Trust is determined to bring about change. If we fail and Wiltshire Council continues down the course it has set, we believe that the consequences for Devizes will be dire.