South West Wiltshire
South West Wiltshire Area Joint Strategic Priorities
South West Wiltshire Area Joint Strategic Assessment
Cllr Tony Deane
Chair of South West Wiltshire Area Board
Since the last Community Area Joint Strategic Assessments (CA JSAs), we have worked to improve outcomes for our communities and there are many examples of great locally led projects that have made our community area a better place to live, work and visit. Through the Area Boards there is a growing level of community involvement in decision making and the information presented here will allow us to go further to ensuring that we focus on creating healthy and vibrant communities. As well as the challenges we face there are many opportunities for us to make our community stronger.
This new assessment allows us both to focus on the future and to reflect on all we have already achieved.
South West Wiltshire
The Mere Community Area covers 101km2 of mainly rural countryside in the south west of Wiltshire. It is dominated by one settlement, the ancient market town of Mere, and comprises seven parishes.
The community area lies on the ancient Wessex Ridgeway and many archaeological finds have been made of stone and Iron Age implements. To the east of Mere the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty skirts the eastern and northern part of the community area.
The town offers an unusallly extensive range of convenience stores, boutiques and an electrical emporium, restaurants, service providers, hotels, as well as many well known local businesses operating on The Old Quarry Trading Estate. Zeals village has a trading estate based on a wartime airfield site. The other villages have small businesses associated with agriculture, retail and IT.
Tisbury Community Area is made up of 16 rural parishes in the south west of Wiltshire and Tisbury is the largest village in the Community Area.
The parishes that surround Tisbury are primarily made up of rural villages and farms. The changing face and fortunes of agriculture has played a great part in sculpting the present landscape. There has been an increasing emphasis on tourism in the area in recent years.
The Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), covers the entire community area. The road network is dominated by the A303 to the north and the A30 from Salisbury to Shaftesbury and the majority of the village link roads are very minor.
The Wilton Community Area covers 174.9km2 hectares of rural countryside in the south west of Wiltshire. There is only one large settlement, Wilton itself, which may have given the County of Wiltshire its name.
Once the capital of Wessex, the town which prospered well before Salisbury even existed had its main heyday in the 17th and 18th centuries. Wilton House, part of The Pembroke Estate, continues to be a major draw for tourists coming into the area.
The town of Wilton serves as the main service centre for the community area although for a greater range of shops and facilities it has always been overshadowed by the City of Salisbury just three miles to the east. The rest of the community area, which covers 15 parishes, is very rural in nature consisting of small villages and isolated hamlets. Much of it has large tracts of chalk down land associated with parts of Cranborne Chase to the south. The area has 20 out of Wiltshire’s 135 Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
Our Community Areas JSA for 2016
What we’ve changed since 2013/14
Children and Young People and Transport
Local people wanted to do more to increase transport to outlying villages and the area board allocated funding to assist the purchase of community transport, primarily to support the delivery of youth activities. A new minibus is now in operation, run and managed by Zeals Youth Trust and used by other local community groups.
Community safety
To increase the number of first aid trained people in towns and villages and access to lifesaving equipment, such as community defibrillators, 10 first aid training sessions took place in 2015/16, with over 120 attendees. Public defibrillator demonstrations have been included as part of these sessions, encouraging local parishes to consider their own local plan.
Culture
To develop cultural activities to bring young and older generations together a bowls initiative in 2015 brought together regular club members and younger people. An intergenerational quiz and a cricket fun day also helped to bring people together.
Economy
To support local business the Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty ran an event for local food and drink producers and artists at the Larmer Tree in April 2016, with support provided by the area board. More than 15 local businesses ran displays, with a high turn out from both other businesses in the area and residents.
Health & Wellbeing and Community Safety
Local people also voted to do more to keep facilities open and to combat social isolation. The focus has been on bringing people together to improve local footpaths and significant progress has been made through work between the area board, Wiltshire Council’s rights of way team and local volunteers. Work is underway with The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) to explore new circular walks in the area.
There was also local concern about the impact of winter weather leaving people socially isolated. The area board has funded six tailgate salt spreaders and 10 push-along spreaders, which are now available to be used by trained local volunteers in strategic locations during the winter period. The Health and Wellbeing Champions are encouraging all households with older or vulnerable people to have their own salt shaker to minimise trips and falls on ice. By working together the community is better prepared to help itself and keep people safe in extreme weather.
Local people have also trained to become Dementia Friends and local businesses have received presentations on how to support those with dementia. Tisbury and Wilton have started the process to encourage local businesses to become ‘Safe Places’ and support vulnerable people.
Housing
To encourage limited development in villages (particularly affordable housing to provide young people with a better chance of staying in the area or accommodation for older people), slightly increase population and help protect rural services the area board is working closely with Wiltshire Council’s New Housing team to explore local development opportunities.
Cllr Tony Deane
Chair of South West Wiltshire Area Board
Since the last Community Area Joint Strategic Assessments (CA JSAs), we have worked to improve outcomes for our communities and there are many examples of great locally led projects that have made our community area a better place to live, work and visit. Through the Area Boards there is a growing level of community involvement in decision making and the information presented here will allow us to go further to ensuring that we focus on creating healthy and vibrant communities. As well as the challenges we face there are many opportunities for us to make our community stronger.
This new assessment allows us both to focus on the future and to reflect on all we have already achieved.
Download the South West Wiltshire Community Area Joint Strategic Assessment via the button below
To find out how Mere, Tisbury and Wilton Community Areas compares to other Community Areas on a specific theme please visit the relevant Key indicator page.
Additional population, deprivation and life expectancy data can be found in the:
Mere Your Community Data pack (click here to view the PDF).
Tisbury Your Community Data pack (click here to view the PDF).
Wilton Your Community Data pack (click here to view the PDF).
Download the South West Wiltshire Community Area Joint Strategic Priorities via the button below
At a Community Event in South West Wiltshire, residents voted on which issues to prioritise locally. The full range of issues that could be voted on, as well as those selected as local priorities can be found on a summary slide, accessed by the button below. The items shown in red are those that have been selected by the local community as priorities in South West Wiltshire Community Area.