Laverstock & Ford Parish Council

Parish Council Chairman, Ron Champion, inspects the newly  installed interpretation board.

On Thursday 16th May, the Chairman of the Parish Council, Mr Ron Champion officially ‘opened’ the newly installed Interpretation Boards and Ceramic logs at the Whitebridge Boardwalk. The boardwalk is on the route of the Farm & Spinney Trail and it has been the desire to install interpretation boards for some time in order to give visitors more information about this special wildlife area. The appeal for help from a Graphic Designer in the pages of the Newsletter brought forward Mr David Liversage, a local resident who also teaches at LeeHurst Swan School. His pupils soon produced designs for the boards and the project expanded with the production of ceramic plates featuring the flora and fauna to be found there. Jason Turner, the PC arboriculturalist, was able to mount the plates on logs and install them in the ground as shown in the photos. The pupils were very excited to look for their own plates which number over 30 and are featured all along the boardwalk and river from the white bridge all the way to Riverbourne Rd. After the ‘official opening’ all present returned to the Community Farm for tea and cakes. It was hoped originally to also be able to officially open the new pond and boardwalk spur at the same time but the poor weather earlier in the year has delayed their completion. This should take place at the end of May, beginning of June.
Do visit the boardwalk area for a delightful walk; what someone has described as Salisbury’s best kept secret!



Pupils from Leehurst Swan School with three of the ceramic plates mounted into logs along the boardwalk.
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Our Parish Plan outlined the need for the following action:
"The Parish Council will continue to secure representation from the four communities and will seek further ways to improve its association with them for example by rotating the venue of Parish meetings."

Future Parish Council meetings will be held at Old Sarum (Primary School), Hampton Park (Greentrees School) and Laverstock (PC Office at River Bourne Community Farm) on a rolling programmed basis.

The next meeting on 17th June  will be held  at River Bourne Community Farm at 7pm. Residents are welcome to attend.

Details of meetings and agenda are to be found on our Meetings page.
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Planning Applications
The PC is providing a which table lists the Planning Applications that have been referred to the Parish Council for their opinion. Applications are generally considered by a team of three
Councillors, but may occasionally be referred to the whole Council. Full details may be viewed on the Wiltshire Council website.
The RESPONSE is the view of the Parish Council and will be considered, along with other consultations, by Wiltshire Council, who will make the decision.
Click here to see the table of applications.
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Click here for more details
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Alderbury & West Grimstead School’s Family Fun Day
Saturday 15th June 2013
11am – 2pm
We will have performances from Phoenix Stars Cheerleaders, the Downton band and the Salisbury Youth Circus.
Also there will be a bouncy castle, welly wanging, beat the goalie, a wide variety of stalls including a plant stall and hands on art & craft stalls.
As always we will have a bbq, lots of homemade cakes and a variety of refreshments.
This will be a fun day for all the family whatever the weather!
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The Rotary Clubs of Salisbury and Winchester are holding the annual Clarendon marathon on Sunday 6th October 2013.

The marathon starts from Wyvern College.
Walkers set off at 8.30am relay runners at 9.30 am and the full marathon starts at 10.30 am.
The route will be the same as last year and there will be minor disruption to traffic for approximately 15 minutes along  Church Road from 10.30 am
The runners will turn into DuckLane from Church Road and thence onto the Clarendon estate
For more information please see the marathon website
http://www.clarendon-marathon.co.uk.

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Interested in wild plants?
Wild plant charity Plantlife (www.plantlife.org.uk), are hoping to reach out to many wild plant enthusiasts and nature lovers by inviting them to become wild plant 'pioneers' and subscribe to a free quarterly e-learning bulletin to learn more about our native wild plants via the 'Wild About Plants' project website - www.wildaboutplants.org.uk . The Wild About Plants project aims to help people reconnect with the outdoors and their local greenspaces. Working with schools, families and communities from all walks of life and with fantastic free downloadable resources, the team hope to engage people with the nature on their doorstep. In recent years subscribers have been asked to record the plant life in their local area and recount what they used to see/pick and forage for. Wild About Plants is funded by Natural England through Access to Nature, as part of the Big Lottery Fund's Changing Spaces programme. It is a partnership project involving partner organisations throughout the country.
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Area Boards

Giving power back to the people
What is an Area Board?

The Area Boards are a new way of working to bring local decision making back into the heart of the community. They are a formal part of Wiltshire Council that try to find solutions for local issues such as road repairs, traffic problems and speeding in villages, litter, facilities for young people and affordable housing.

People who work with the 18 Area Boards include councillors, community area managers, democratic service officers together with one member of the council’s top decision making committee, the cabinet. It also includes the local NHS, fire and emergency services, police, town and parish councils, community area partnerships and many other groups.

By working in partnership with local communities, the council can achieve so much more than it ever could on its own. We hope this will lead to better services, better communities and a better quality of life for everyone in Wiltshire.

Southern Wiltshire Area Board meetings
6 June 2013  Morgan's Vale and Woodfalls Village Hall  6.30pm for 7pm start
1 August 2013  Alderbury Village Hall  6.30pm for 7pm start
3 October 2013  Coombe Bissett Village Hall  6.30pm for 7pm start
5 December 2013  Downton Memorial Hall  6.30pm for 7pm start
30 January 2014  Alderbury Village Hall  6.30pm for 7pm start

Salisbury Area Board  (Bishopdown Farm) meetings
27 June 2013  Salisbury Methodist Church, St Edmunds Church Street  6.30pm for 7pm start
12 September 2013  South Wilts Grammar School, Stratford Road  6.30pm for 7pm
14 November 2013  Alamein Suite, City Hall  6.30pm for 7pm
9 January 2014  Alamein Suite, City Hall  6.30pm for 7pm