Over the last few months, working with a few stakeholders, Devizes Town Council has been trying to get to grips with the future management of the Crammer, one of the town’s iconic landmarks.
This stakeholder group is now keen to progress the project and will be holding two workshops with interested parties that will represent the broad depth of our community.
The workshops will form part of an academic study known as Participatory Systems Mapping into the Crammer. I have set out below more information about how that will work, but in essence, the first workshop will explore and identify ‘factors’ and the interconnections, identify what we currently know about the Crammer, and how these bits of information impact each other. The second workshop will bring participants back to analyse in greater detail the outcome from session one which will go on to support the development of a clear vision for the Crammer, with some objectives and management principles to help us achieve this through positive intervention.
It is hoped that the first session will take place on Tuesday 5th September, with the second session being on Tuesday 19th September. Each session will last between 2 and 3 hours and start at 6 pm, because of this timing refreshments will be provided.
We are looking for members of the community to join these workshops. If you feel that you have a particular interest in the Crammer that you believe is not being put forward by anyone else or you have experience in the management of urban ponds, we would like to hear from you by completing the questionnaire via the link below. We want to hear from all age groups.
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/G35NRN2
We can’t guarantee everyone will be able to join the meeting, but we will do our best to ensure we select different viewpoints.
You may be aware that for some time the Town Council has been pushing for a reduction in the speed limit within the town centre from 30mph to 20mph, which we feel will make being a pedestrian within the town centre much safer. At the end of last week, the formal consultation period started, therefore you will have an opportunity to comment on the proposals. The 20mph speed limit will run from the Brewery Corner up to Long Street, taking in Castle Lane, Wine Street and the High Street. It will also include Commercial Road and roads leading from it.
As I have mentioned in a previous musing, the Town Council is keen to provide more Electric Vehicle charging points in the town, focusing on the Central and West Central car parks to ensure both those living in the town centre and those visiting have easier charging access. These chargers are immensely expensive and therefore, for the Town Council to be able to support this project, it requires grant support from the Government’s On-Street Residential Charge Point Scheme and with the support of our contractor an application was made. At the time of making the application, it was understood that the Government were reviewing the scheme, but all parties were led to believe the old scheme would continue until the revised scheme was agreed. Some weeks after our application was submitted, officers chased to see when a decision would be made but were advised that all grants are currently on hold, awaiting Government approval for the 23/24 application round. This means we now have to wait until the new grant is announced. This is immensely frustrating as we know how important it is that our community have access to a reliable EV charging points.
Finally, at the end of last week, we heard the very sad news that one of our former street cleaners, Steve Sheppard lost his fight against lung cancer. Steve was a well-known character in the town centre and very much an ambassador for the Council. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time
Town Clerk, Simon Fisher