Category: News

 
Updated 10th November – Lorna Taylor

Village Gates

Village gates are an effective speed-calming measure. They highlight to drivers that they are entering a village and that the speed limit has changed. Installation of these at the entrance to other villages has been proven to reduce vehicle speeds. Due to ongoing concerns about speeding in Farley and Pitton, seven locations have been proposed for the installation of village gates. These are:

• Townsend – Pitton
• White Way – Pitton
• Lucewood Lane – Farley
• Grimstead Road – Farley
• Ben Lane – Farley
• Pitton Road – Farley
• White Hill – Pitton

Funding for an initial two locations was approved at the recent Wiltshire Local Highway and Footpath Improvement Group (LHFIG) meeting, with Wiltshire funding 75% of the cost and the Parish Council funding 25%.

As the Community Speedwatch Team have documented the worst speeding issues in Lucewood Lane, Farley and White Way, Pitton it was agreed to install gates in these locations first, with others following additional funding next year.

Pitton Nature Trust

Trustees of the Pitton Nature Trust attended the Parish Council meeting on 27th September and presented two proposals for consideration.

The first proposed that the Pitton Nature Trust take over management of part of The Close in Pitton, to create a small wildflower meadow with ongoing management by volunteers.

The second proposed that the Pitton Nature Trust and the Parish Council work in collaboration to effect the transfer of some land at Roundbarrow Farm, to create a community orchard. Both of these proposals were accepted by the Parish Council and detailed discussions will proceed.

Community Engagement – Allotments / Community Garden

In the summer the residents of Pitton and Farley were asked for their views on developing allotments and/or a community garden within the parish. Twenty-seven people replied and the key messages were:

• Many felt that any such facilities should be within walking distance of residents, and accessible on foot to school children
• Several questioned the need for either, given that the majority of village houses have reasonably-sized gardens
• Others highlighted the community nature of these types of spaces, where people can share ideas and garden produce
• In general respondents were more supportive of a community garden than they were of allotments

The Council will continue to consider the need going forward. If you would like further information on the feedback please contact the Parish Clerk.

Calling Farley residents

The Pitton and Farley Parish Council currently has 4 councillors from Pitton and only 1 from Farley. They would therefore welcome expressions of interest from other Farley residents who would like to join the Parish Council. Please contact the Parish Clerk if you would like further information.

Dun Valley Magazine

The Parish Council has noted that the current editor of the Dun Valley Magazine
(who has done an excellent job) intends to stand down from the role in March 2024. The Parish Council provides some financial support to the DVM and can continue to do so but would first like to check that residents feel it is still a valuable method of delivering local information. Let us know what you think by emailing the Parish Clerk. If you would like to keep the Parish magazine, then a new editor will need to be identified as soon as possible.

clerk@pittonandfarley-pc.gov.uk

Email: clerk@pittonandfarley-pc.gov.uk

To residents of Pitton and Farley,

Pitton and Farley Parish Council has been made aware of a potential change to the ownership of the Silver Plough public house in Pitton. Many residents have contacted us to raise their concerns and make suggestions for this much-loved amenity to remain in the village, including listing it as an Asset of Community value (ACV)

We are in the process of confirming the current situation and will add this matter to the agenda of our forthcoming Parish Council meeting, which is taking place on Wednesday 7th December, from 19.30 at Farley Village Hall.

Residents are invited to attend to hear the discussion and take part in the public session at the beginning of the meeting. Alternatively, you may email the clerk at the address below with your thoughts and concerns.  The outcome of any discussions will be published in the meeting minutes which will be available the week following the meeting.

Contact: clerk@pittonandfarley-pc.gov.uk

Thank you

 

Due to rotting of the hand grips the monkey bars will be unavailable for use until repairs have been made.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation by not using this facility.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

We are deeply saddened to hear of the death of Her Majesty The Queen.

Wiltshire residents are invited to share their thoughts and memories of Her Majesty The Queen in a special online book of condolence.

Many residents have been enquiring about the situation at Roundbarrow Farm. For more information please see the below report from Wiltshire Council:

FDMSP-01-22 Report.pdf

Speed Meeting Notice.pdf

Consultation Paper for Public Meeting 1.pdf

During March and April the Pitton Community Shop Steering Group organised a community survey and held two public meetings to review the potential for the creation of a community shop in Pitton. The group promised to keep everybody in touch with the survey results and any ongoing plans.

We are pleased to announce we received an overwhelming positive response to keeping a shop in Pitton village.

The main details from the survey results are shown below:

• 167 households responded, representing 343 people. The response rate for Pitton was 64%.
• 156 felt that it was important to have a village shop in Pitton.
• 139 felt it was very important to have a Post Office in Pitton.
• Pitton residents said they were more likely to use the shop more frequently (daily or 2-3 times a week).
• As expected, Firsdown and Farley residents were more likely to use the shop once a fortnight or occasionally.
• 97 said they would use the shop on both weekdays and weekends.
• Opening hours between 8am and 6pm were the most popular.
• The most popular products to sell were newspapers/magazines, greeting cards/wrapping and local produce – followed by bakery, meat and dairy, fresh fruit and vegetables. Several commented that a modern farm shop style, well-stocked with fresh produce, would encourage them to shop more locally.
• Postal services were seen as by far the most important service followed by prescription collection. 76 gave support for a tearoom and coffee shop.
• Most people surveyed do not have regular food deliveries to their homes. However, there was little difference in the level of importance placed on the shop and post office between those who had deliveries and those who did not. This suggests that deliveries do not remove the need for local convenience shopping.
• Most respondents travel into Salisbury for their main weekly shop so the average round trip for a main weekly shop was 11.6 miles.  Some cited supermarkets for convenience shopping, while others mentioned the One-Stop at Laverstock, the Winterslow shop or the BP garage – with an average round trip of 7.7 miles.
• 62 expressed an interest in buying shares and 61 in volunteering in the shop. People also offered to make donations, help with fundraising and/or provide a loan.
• 10 offered to provide professional advice or services and/or to join the steering group.
• The age range within households reflects the village demographic. There was good support for the project across the age ranges with a similar number of responses from adults over 65 (151) and adults under 65 (158).

We are now moving forward to create a legal entity which will be a Community Benefit Society. The initial committee members of the CBS will be the existing Steering Group members who will be responsible for reviewing potential locations and for developing a business plan detailing the funding, share offer, establishment and operational plans for the shop.

We will then hold a public meeting, around late summer/early Autumn, at which the business plan, location, funding requirements and details of the share offer will be presented for discussion.

This will be followed by a share offer. Then the members of the management committee of the CBS (or board of directors) will be elected at an AGM attended by those who have purchased shares. An important factor in the rules of a CBS is that voting is based on one vote per shareholder i.e. votes are not counted by number of shares held.

If you would like a copy of the full survey results please contact Brian at briancudby8@gmail.com.

Please address any other questions to any member of the Steering Group being; Brian Cudby, Ken Howard, Rachel Morrison, Lorna Taylor, Cliff Whitley and Lyn Whitley.

Pitton Community Shop Steering Group – May 2022

 

Pitton Community Shop v1.pdf