Duncan Hames for Chippenham

Duncan Hames recently joined fellow school governors, staff and George Ward School pupils to mark the start of building work for Melksham’s new school.

The school has been given the green light for a completely new school building, providing state of the art facilities in a bright and modern learning environment.

Duncan Hames commented “This is excellent news for young people in Melksham and their families. There is no better investment that could be made in the community than into the education of the next generation.”

Duncan has also backed the plans for a new building for the Chippenham campus of Wiltshire College, but has urged that care be taken to work with local residents and ease problems with construction traffic and congestion.

Duncan Hames, prospective Lib Dem MP spent a weekend with the police in Chippenham, patrolling the streets in the night. To see for himself what they are up against when the pubs close.

Duncan said “Going out with police officers gave me a great chance to see the work they do, and how we might be able to make their jobs easier. The Lib Dems want to see more police on the beat. We would scrap plans to waste millions of pounds on ID cards, and invest in more local police officers instead.”

In a recent survey of local residents, Duncan found that more than half considered crime and disorder an important issue to them.

Local residents across Wiltshire are reeling after the Labour government pushed through a number of local Post Office closures in spite of fierce opposition. 

Liberal Democrats led campaigns to keep them open, starting petitions and calling public meetings, but the government and the Royal Mail refused to listen.

Local campaigner Duncan Hames said “Sadly the consultation was a complete sham.  No matter how many local objections were raised, the Post Office has pressed ahead regardless. More closures could also be on the way, he warns.  The government are about to decide whether to scrap the Post Office card account.  If they do, thousands more Post Offices across the country could face the axe.  This has to stop, before more of our local communities suffer as a result.”

Jon Hubbard and Duncan Hames say it is time to clean up Melksham.

Melksham town has overflowing bins and litter in the streets say two local Lib Dem campaigners.

Litter in the streets was the top issue in Jon Hubbard’s local residents survey. They are campaigning to tidy up the area and have already had some successes, such as persuading the council to empty the bins along the footpath from Hazelwood Road into the town centre.

Jon Hubbard, speaking about the campaign, said “Local people keep reporting issues to me about the mess on our streets. I am pressing the council to sort it out. I am also campaigning against the Tory’s new ‘two finger bin policy’. Shockingly they are now refusing to empty green bins that cannot be pulled along with two fingers! The Tory policy is an insult to people trying to recycle.”

Duncan Hames, who is the prospective Lib Dem MP for the Melksham area, added “It is vital that people feel proud of their town. Melksham is a lovely place and I want to help keep it that way. The council should be making it easier for people to recycle - not harder. Jon Hubbard is doing a great job in this campaign for Melksham residents. Together we also want to see plastic and cardboard recycled from the doorstep which would help protect our environment.”

Bradford-on-Avon residents fight housing plan for golf course

Duncan Hames, prospective Lib Dem MP for Bradford-on-Avon, is working with local residents to fight plans for 200 houses on a golf course in the town.

The owners and developers of the site have applied for permission to build an access road from Greenland View and Mythern Meadow.

Local residents living near the site have collected hundreds of petition signatures, and the Liberal Democrat Town Council, have listened to the concerns and opposed plans for any development on the site. The decision now rests with West Wilts District Council.

Duncan Hames commented on the plans, “I am backing local residents all the way. This site is not allocated for housing in the local plan, and should not be built on.

“It is a valuable recreation space for people in the town, local roads are not suited to the increased traffic from more houses.
“How could the district council approve even more building in Bradford, when nothing has been done to tackle air pollution in the town?”

Duncan Hames spoke at the public meeting in July and is helping local people mount their campaigns.

Duncan Hames joins protesters against the council’s handling of traveller consultation.

Duncan Hames, prospective Lib Dem MP for Chippenham, has slammed the secretive approach of Tory-run North Wiltshire District Council to deciding on future travellers sites.

The Conservative Executive of the district council were poised to approve a new traveller site earlier this summer without even telling local residents.

At the last minute, an angry crowd forced them to start a public consultation.
The council still insisted on keeping several of the sites they had considered a secret, and only went public with a handful of most unsuitable council-owned plots.

Duncan Hames, along with local councillors Sylvia Doubell, John Scragg and hundreds of local people, marched through the streets in protest to the way the council had handled the consultation.

One banner during the march read ‘NWDC need to listen’ and another declared ‘Its time you supported us!’ After a shambolic consultation process, the council finally announced that all the sites had been rejected.
They have now put-off solving this issue for the new Wiltshire Council to decide.

Duncan Hames said “All the council have achieved is to waste lots of staff time and council taxes, causing many local residents lost sleep and worry.”

Local Labour and Conservative councillors have teamed up to prevent Liberal Democrat questions about Chippenham Hospital.

Residents have expressed shock after it emerged that Conservative and Labour councillors have prevented the Lib Dems from looking into the cuts at Chippenham hospital.

In a surprise move, the Conservative council voted to oust Lib Dem Chris Caswill as the head of the council’s watchdog committee, after doing a deal behind the scenes with a Labour Councillor.

The committee is there to keep a check on the actions of the Tory controlled council and other local agencies.

Local councillors have said they believe the move came about because Cllr Caswill was pushing hard to look into recent health cuts.

Cllr Caswill pressed for the Wiltshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) to be called into account for their closures at Chippenham hospital several times, but this was always blocked by the Conservatives.
Now they have got rid of him all together.

Duncan Hames, prospective Lib Dem MP said: “Chris worked very hard for local people, too hard for the Conservative Party’s liking.”

“It is a disgrace that local people will not get their questions asked by this important committee.”

There are now fears that his replacement, the only Labour councillor in North Wiltshire will silence the issue.

The councillor is also a paid director of the Wiltshire NHS Trust, which would make it very difficult for her to lead inquiries into any matter relating to Chippenham hospital.

Wiltshire College launched their plans to completely re-develop their Chippenham campus. The plans were unveiled at a public exhibition on Thursday in the college’s Cocklebury Road site in the town.

The event was attended by local councillors, neighbours, and Prospective Liberal Democrat MP for Chippenham, Duncan Hames.

Duncan Hames commented:

“The college’s exciting plans are a major investment in the future opportunities for families in Chippenham and have my full support.

“A project on this scale has many challenges, and clearly the college must take great care to minimise the disruption to local residents caused by transport and parking issues, especially during the construction period.”

After the presentations from the college and its architects, visitors had the opportunity to ask questions and discuss the detail of the proposals with representatives from the college and its advisers.

Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat Party Leader, has backed the campaign to reopen Corsham railway station.

The declaration of support came as the party launched a set of radical new transport policies which include significant improvements to local railway infrastructure.

The campaign to reopen Corsham railway station has been an ongoing battle for local residents, supported by local Lib Dems, since the station closed in 1965.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg said:

“These proposals offer a radical alternative vision for transport in the 21st Century, compared with the tired short-sightedness of both Labour and the Tories.”

Prospective Liberal Democrat MP, Duncan Hames added:

“I am delighted to have won the support of my Lib Dem colleagues in Parliament for the Corsham Station Campaign.

“Corsham is a growing town, and plans for more jobs at Basil Hill and Spring Park further support the case for rail services here.

“I believe that re-opening Corsham Station would also reduce traffic jams on the A4 into Chippenham and Bath, and overcrowding of the station car parks in Chippenham.”

The Wiltshire Primary Care Trust today decided to shelve plans to reduce medical beds at Chippenham Hospital from 43 to just ten. Instead, it decided to stop at 20, pending a three month review led by the North Wiltshire Practice Based Commissioning Consortium.

Local campaigner Duncan Hames said “This further three month reprieve is very welcome. The Chief Executive is right to say it would have been foolish to press on blindly with a reduction to just ten beds while the transfer proposal was being considered.

“This process is really good news for Chippenham Hospital. I met local health bosses last year to urge them to support it. Bringing ten beds from Bath to Chippenham will help secure the hospitals future” concluded Duncan.

The summer will be a pivotal time for Chippenham Hospital. Duncan Hames has met with the Chief Executive to discuss how they can improve their bid to government for capital investment.

Today the Wiltshire PCT responded to a question from Duncan Hames to announce that they are in the final stages of re-submitting that bid to the Department of Health and hope for a decision in May or June, Chippenham residents will then expect a decision on moving beds from Bath to Chippenham in July.