There is a requirement to have an Annual Meeting of the village by the end of May. The meeting is called by the Chairman of the Parish Council. However, since the local elections on 1 May, the Parish Council has not been quorate (ie There are insufficient members to conduct official business) and, as published previously, fresh nominations have been requested. Wiltshire Council has set a date of 19 June for these elections. At present it is not known how many nominations will be submitted. If there are more than 3 (Tracy Ewart and Peter Smith having been nominated in the previous round), then an election will have to be held. In which case it is possible that those already nominated may not be elected. This makes setting a date for the village meeting problematic. The published plan to hold a meeting between 26 and 29 May is cancelled.
However, a meeting of the village will be held on 10 June at the Village Hub, St Peter’s Church, at 6.30 pm with Chris Hilldrup, National Highways Route Manager for Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, who is responsible for the A303 as the guest speaker. He will prove an update on the A303 and provide an insight into strategic planning for a M4 to Dorset Coast route via the A350 to Warminster, A36 to Salisbury, and A338 to Ringwood as reported in the May edition of the Community Matters magazine. There will be an opportunity to ask questions and to state concerns about the A303 in the village.
If it is clear who has been nominated for the Parish Council by 10 June, then the usual annual meeting of the village will take place after Chris Hilldrup’s talk.