To meet and enhance the educational, social and other needs of existing and new communities.

The provision and improvement of community facilities is important throughout the District. The five towns are well served educationally, each having its own secondary and primary schools.  These facilities are also often available for use by other members of the community outside school hours. There are many civic and church halls available for community and health care use throughout the towns. The District Council is endeavouring to ensure the provision of community halls in the allocated residential developments. In the rural areas there is reasonable primary school provision and most villages, even many of the smaller more remote settlements, have either a village or church hall which can be used by all sections of the community for various activities.

Community and educational facilities to serve all sections of the community, particularly the young and the elderly, are very important to the social well-being of the community. Changes in provision can make new demands on, or release, land for new uses. Consideration for these facilities is therefore an essential element of the Plan.

From time to time land and buildings in community uses become surplus. Rather than allowing their condition to deteriorate, the District Council will encourage effective re-use or redevelopment of these sites in the interests of the community.

The District Council is concerned over the effects of the decline in a number of rural services and facilities important to village and rural life. These changes are illustrated in Table 6. The decline in village services brings increased difficulty in terms of access to shops, schools and health care, causing particular problems where public transport is limited and expensive. There has been a decline in the provision of food shops, health clinics, mobile shops and doctors’ surgeries. The Council recognises the importance of other social facilities such as public houses, village schools and multi-purpose halls to rural communities across the District.

These types of major changes to villages and rural life have occurred across the County of Wiltshire and in many places these have taken place despite some population growth. In order to maintain a broad base of community facilities in villages and rural areas, the Council will seek to safeguard essential services and facilities such as village shops, public houses and post offices. If, however, they are to be affected by development proposals then a satisfactory replacement or alternative should be provided. This might be achieved by the provision of a new community facility or extending/improving existing facilities. In general the Council wishes to maintain and improve the existing range of rural community facilities.

Source: Wiltshire County Council, Environmental Services Department

With the growth of the District’s population comes the need to provide additional and improved education facilities. New primary schools have been completed at Lower Studley, Trowbridge and Staverton. Several new and extended primary schools are proposed to meet the education requirements arising from new residential development. Land and infrastructure contributions to meet these education needs will be sought from developers by the District Council in accordance with the requirements of the Local Education Authority.

Current and future housing development in the District makes it necessary to safeguard land for new primary schools at land east of Melksham and land south of Paxcroft Mead, Trowbridge. The precise locations of these schools will be identified in development briefs for the areas.

The Chief Education Officer has identified the need for a two form entry primary school with a land requirement of about 1.8 hectares in the south or north of Warminster. As yet a suitable site has not been identified.

Community Halls

Community and village halls are important local facilities and provide a focus for community activity. The District Council supports the provision of such facilities and will encourage local initiatives wherever possible in association with new developments. The precise locations will be determined in the respective development briefs. However, at Paxcroft Mead the site will be closely related to the village centre and green, on land east of Melksham the site will be centrally located with the local shopping centre and at Leigh Park the site will be provided in the local centre.

The proposed expansion of Bowerhill will necessitate the provision of further community facilities to meet the demands of the increased population. A site will be required to accommodate additional community facilities including local shops and also possibly the new community hall. The new site shall be in a central location, east of Falcon Way, near the main public open space. The additional community facilities envisaged for the site and its extent shall be defined in the development brief to be prepared for the housing development.

Community health services appear to be adequately provided for in the District at present. However, current and future development make it necessary to safeguard areas for further provision at Paxcroft Mead and Leigh Park. It is understood that the Health Authority envisages further expansion of patient services at Melksham and Trowbridge Hospitals and areas adjacent to the hospitals are included for this provision. Land adjacent to Trowbridge Hospital is safeguarded for use as a cricket pitch in Policy R7 until such time it is needed for the provision of health care facilities. Land is also allocated at Bowerhill for community facilities which could include enhanced health facilities.

It has been suggested that the police station in Bradford on Avon should be relocated in a central location should a need be established. A site to the west of the fire station is safeguarded for the police station relocation as identified on the Proposals Map.

The Council is actively seeking additional land for cemeteries in Bradford on Avon and Melksham. Both existing sites are nearing full capacity and adjoining land at Melksham is subject to waterlogging. Any new cemetery needs to be conveniently accessible to local residents and in close proximity to the existing site.

The District Council is aware of the difficulties experienced by travelling show people, who travel the country holding fairs and circuses, in finding suitable sites for use as quarters and of the requirement to consider the needs of travelling show people in the District Plan expressed in Circular 22/91. There are no sites with planning permission for travelling show people in the District.  Policy CF11 seeks to guide travelling show people to appropriate sites having regard to their needs, environmental and highway considerations. It is noted that show people require secure, permanent bases for storage of equipment and for residential purposes, generally occupied in the winter months.

The District Council recognises proposals for caravan sites for gypsies need special consideration by virtue of the particular needs of gypsies consistent with their nomadic lifestyle. The Council notes the advice expressed in Circular 1/94 Gypsy Sites and Planning and defines gypsies as ‘persons of a nomadic habit of life, whatever their race or origin’. The gypsy community for the purposes of Policy CF12 includes long distance travellers. There are two permanent gypsy caravan sites in West Wiltshire at Bratton (10 pitches) and Fairhaven, Dilton Marsh (7 pitches). The Council will monitor the need for further pitches and seek to ensure adequate provision is made for gypsies residing in, or resorting to, West Wiltshire and permit appropriate schemes for additional caravan sites for gypsies in accordance with Policy CF12.