Graham Ellis - my blog
Where my vote goes - Melksham South Ward
My postal vote has arrived and I'll be returning it in the next few days, voting for Simon Crundell to be my Wiltshire Councillor for the next four years. In the end, my decision was surprisingly easy. Let me tell you a few things you may not realise about Simon that helped me choose.Simon is one of two candidates I have heard from or seen on social media in the past three weeks, and he has been also available throughout the last four years. During those 4 years he has not been afraid to inherit difficult roles ("poison chalices"). So he comes with both local government experience to do an effective job, and a young keenness to do a fresh job. I don't always see eye to eye with Simon, though surprisingly often I do - he's very much his own man and aligns well on environmental issues, including but not limited to public transport. And I trust Simon and Melksham can; I know he will represent and consider my views as appropriate.
Over the past 4 years, I have been concerned at the same person being both one of my Town Councillors and my Unitary councillor, as I have seen that gives rise to conflicts of interest - look (in the South Ward) at issues where the Town and County have negotiated over both Melksham House and the Blue Pool. I would be delighted to have my Wiltshire Councillor being a different person to one of my Town Councillors - that would be good for both councils, and for the time the people have to give to the role. Simon is not standing for this or any parish council - he shares my concerns.
My decision is not a party one – far from it – but I do feel re-assured by a candidate who is on a consistent platform from one election to the next, as Simon has been. Simon's refreshing too - I learn from him.
We can learn from history - but we must look forward. To elect a candidate who has a record of supporting strategic planning across the whole Melksham area, developing and encouraging business development and environmental issues; we shouldn't have so many empty shop fronts (but neither should we encourage businesses that have little chance of success) and we should look to encouraging Melksham as a modern, connected city. Four out of our five candidates are known to me by their history and track record, and that knowledge helps me confirm that Simon is the best candidate to represent us for the next 4 years as we move forward.
I will - temper - my comment by saying that whilst Simon comes out top for me to the extent that I'm offering this public endorsement, we have other candidates too who put there heart into this, and I hope and look forward to working closely with whomever is elected as my Wiltshire Councillor for the common future good of Melksham and the county. I have personally stood down from the Town Council to allow me more time to specialise on travel and transport issues; it's 15 years since the train group became a partnership and passenger numbers have risen 25 fold in that time. Bus services have survived in Wiltshire unlike in other counties (we have some good staff at Unitary level), and are growing again – now full buses into Bath, increased frequency, etc, but we still have a lot of work to continue with. We need appropriate public transport use to grow in order to avoid gridlock as the population grows. Simon has been very much a protagonist, supporter and indeed user of public transport - and joined up train, bus, and cycling too.
Graham Ellis, 20th April 2025
- written as a retiring Town Councillor, and resident of Melksham for 25 years
- also a former business owner, and employer in the town
- member of the SCOB (Campus Operations Board) throughout its life
- past President of the Melksham Chamber of Commerce and Industry
- concentrating as I ease out many activities on making our public infrastructure and transport better for existing and new residents, the town’s economy and the environment.
Melksham South Ward - who to vote for?
I have a decision to make - who to vote for as my next Wiltshire Councillor. I would say "on 1st May 2025" but with a postal vote, the decision really needs to be made next week. No choice given to the electorate for TOWN council - seats for everyone who volunteeredBefore I talk about my criteria for making my decision, I will stress - whoever is elected I will look to support in their working and activities for the good of the ward, where I was a Town Councillor for the past four years, and for the general good of the whole of the Melksham area and indeed Wiltshire.
We have five candidates in the South Ward - three representing political parties which have put up candidates in all 98 wards, one representing a party with 44 candidates, and one of 18 independents across the county. No less that three of our candidates are former mayors of Melksham, a further one has been very active in local politics over the years (and is brother of yet another former mayor) and the final candidate is new to me. For me, there is no blindingly obvious candidate to choose and I am listening, reading, learning all about the new candidate, and updates and manifestos from the others.
My criteria include:
* Is this person also going to be one of my Town Councillors?
* What does this person's track record tell me?
* Does this person live in or near the ward?
* Does this person listen?
* Is this person honest and complete?
* Is this person effective?
* Does this person know the ward and the town?
* Is this person informative, communicative and trustworthy?
* Does this person's vision align with mine?
* Is this person robust enough to stand up to bullying (and not a bully themself)
* Does this person support and cherish staff as a valuable team resource?
* Will this person have enough time and family support to do the job?
* Is this person looking at a national rather than Wiltshire Agenda?
* Is this person consistent in what they say, party/grouping, actions?
* Does this person see projects through?
* Is this person likely to have influence at WC?
Interesting list, isn't it? How much weight I give to each of these items and what my considered view/guess is to some of the woolier points will temper my choice.
Published Thursday, 17th April 2025
"All change, please" - or not quite!
I complete my four year term on Melksham Town Council at the end of this month. There will, I'm sure, be a separate post looking back on a time that has been character building and has kept my brain active - but what to do with that active brain for the next couple of years? 2000 hours spent on Melksham Town Council activities is "released" - I am not going to someone who spends my time released being a thorn in the side of the new team. Rather, 1000 of those hours will be spent on myself and family and friends ... and 1000 hours going back into public and sustainable public transport advocacy and promotion with the Melksham Transport User Group, the West Wiltshire Rail User Group, and TravelWatch SouthWest.There is much to be done in developing, changing, promoting our use of walking and cycling in Melksham, and on bus and train provision and use in and beyond the town - having them go where people want, when people want, at a price people can afford, users feeling and being safe, and with information at their fingertips to know what service is available. We have come forward hugely over the last 15 years (and I have been there) but it's still work in progress and it needs not only immediate advocacy, but also medium and long term planning so that as new residential, leisure and employment comes to the town and region, there are natural mass transit flows that are well catered for and people want to use the cycle, the bus, the train because it's really good for them. We HAVE come forward but we still have a long way to go in a changing world and if we are clever, we can make it better.
It is - to me - hugely significant that both Melksham Without Parish Council and Melksham Town Council have given grants for this year to the Melksham Transport User Group to help us rebuild after something of a pause based on campaign fatigue, and the "old guard" retiring. The grants may be small compared to other grants given, but they are hugely significant. They confirm support from our local councils to our group and its objectives - we are aligned and working with them. As we are with our MP (who I met in parliament in late March along with the Regional Development Manager of GWR, Network Rail and others) and with others.
A date for your diary - 13th May 2025. Location - Melksham Campus - Time - 19:00. The first AGM of the newly revitalised Melksham Transport User Group. Much more about this anon. This weekend I am in Devon and Cornwall - travelling around by bus and train and observing. There are some "I wish we did that in Melksham" elements ... and some of those would - or rather will - be small changes to make a big difference. We've done some of those before - let's do some more for the future too. And let's enjoy doing it too - as teams together - motivated by shared general goals, insprired by progress, and debating differences in a friendly way so that we come up with the strongset solution outcome for everyone .
Published Sunday, 13th April 2025
Bus getting better - but still work in progress?
A decade ago (top 3 pictures), and this year (lower three) - we may grumble, it may not be perfect, but my goodness have we come forward! All the bus stop just outside our home. We have moved from 2 buses an hour to Bath a couple of minutes apart to 2 buses at near enough half hourly intervals, and the bus stop is much cleaner and cared for. Recently, a new timetable has appeared showing (nearly) all services that call there, and there's bus tracking of most services on the MyTrip app and on the Bustimes website. All good stuff. A few things keep it short of perfect - it would be nice if the x34 service that calls at 07:46 Monday to Friday and runs to Chippenham (both railway and bus stations) was shown on the stop. It is a very useful pick up, and there's a return service from Chippenham at 14:40 from the bus station and at 14:46 from the railway station. For completeness, the SB2 bus should also appear on the timetable - from Seend into Melksham and calls here at 09:33 on Tuesdays. The 14, x34 and SB2 should be added to the flag. In terms of the actual services, last bus of the day is as early as 16:50; I know that later services (and Sunday) buses are available in the Town Centre - a five minute walk, but perhaps a line on the poster to tell people this?
Slightly wider afield - I would really like to see three extra bus stops on the routes that call at the stop outside and the one across the road on request. Unlike a train service, it costs nothing in run time to add an extra stop if there are no passngers.
1. The 14, 271, 272 (and 68, 69 and 273) should call on request at the top of Station Approach to provide connections between buses and trains (and the x34 and 14 should also call close to there on the Chippenham Road) - it is absurd that Melksham's buses and Melksham's trains don't connect when they run so close to each other
2. The 271 and 272 (and 273) in the direction of Melksham should pick up in Bath at Manvers Street just across from the Railway Station - they drop off there, on the way in but don't pick up on the way out. This is a tricky one as it would be very popular to the extent it would slow the bus down. It would also speed up train to bus connections and save passengers half an hour quite often.
3. The bus stop on routes 271, 272 and 273 at the entrance to The Spa in both directions has been swept away in the installation of the Melksham Eastern Relief Road. Residents of The Spa wanting to catch the bus towards Devizes now have to cross two busy roads to get to the nearest bus stop past two roundabouts, and to catch the bus towards Bath they have to make three crossings - one with lights and two over carriageways just off a roundabout with no control over road traffic
Published Wednesday, 9th April 2025
Ten Melksham Town Council matters
Melksham Town Council has cancelled its software contract with "ModGov" that has been in use for official business for all my time on the council. This decision was taken to save money as it was felt that the software and facilities offered were/are in excess of what is needed at our tier of government. I understand that a new web site will be fully operational by the middle of next month (May 2025) on which documents such as agendas and minutes will be published. In the meantime, notices of meetings, etc, will as a minimum be posted on notice boards and available on request by email from the Committee Clerk. I have requested them for this month while I remain on the council.Draft Minutes for my last full Town Council meeting - mirrored ((here)). The Mayor, Tom Price, thanked councillors for their support and commitment over the last four years and particularly during his year as Mayor. He also thanked everyone who made the Mayors Reception a success. And thank YOU, Tom, for leading us for the last year
Key points / outcomes from the meeting:
1. East of Melksham Community Hall - deferred to next council and noted that it might make sense to do one bigger and more useful hall in with other new developemnts.
2. £12,000 granted to Melksham Rugby Club to purchase two mobile floodlight units for Melksham Rugby Club Juniors. There were some arguments (with which I agree) that this should have come though the grants system for equal vigilance but that's an internal thing for MTC and pragmatically this is a good case.
3. After considerable discussion and explanation, it was resolved to proceed with the Shurnhold Fields scheme
4. It was resolved to pay Melksham Without Parish Council the £10,800 we owe then for payments they made last autumn with our agreement on the Neighbourhood Plan for which £10,000 was budgeted anyway, and to make a delegate the spending of up to £6,000 more for the conclusion of the plan.
5. £10,000 for tree planting has been moved from this (2024/5) budget to the 2025/6 budget because it had not been spent but the project was to go ahead
6. Various financial planning and signatory matters were considered, with changes to be allowed to happen over the next year. However, a suggestion that the Town Council bring payroll in-house to save money was rejected, on the grounds that we would be in trouble paying of staff if the RFO left.
7. We approved the signing of the deed for the purchase of the Blue Pool. I noted (but it's not in the minutes) that (a) the transfer includes the wall between the campus and the blue pool, but not the path beside the wall, (b) that the Town Council has unfettered access rights via the Campus to the rear of the Blue Pool, but not to the side, (c) that Wiltshire Councils' swimming pool equipment which is housed in the Blue Pool is not a consideration in the transfer and (d) the meeting that was called in February for early March to take ideas forward of what we do with the Blue Pool now was postponed and will not now happen until after the elections on 1st May.
8. Contrary to what the draft minutes say, we did NOT note the variance report, which I believe to be statistically misleading. It reports an overspend of £65,000 on Town Hall (cost centre 101) staff salaries, NI and pensions, but that's 9 months expenditure versus the full 12 months budget; salaries, NI and pensions are costs that carry on, and the difference against 75% of the budget would have been £121,831 or for the whole year I estimate an overrun on this one budget item of £162,441.
9. Quite a number of other items were lost off the agenda (perhaps they'll come back to the next council) including the passing of the minutes for the finance meeting in February which need to be passed and not just noted because the committee itself did not pass them.
10. The council approved a one year lease running 1st April 2025 to 31st March 2026 to continue its hire of the maintenance depot on Bowerhill.
Published Tuesday, 8th April 2025
A walk into Bowerhill
6th April 2025 - my Daily Mile was around Melksham South and the northern end of Bowerhill, with an objective to look at pedestrian crossings with lights. I used a dozen crossings, checking the spinner at the control box I used in each case.
They all had spinners, and 11 out of the 12 worked. Some had cameras to sense movement and check that someone was actually waiting. 11 out of the 12 correctly changes for me, the twelvth cancelled me out probable because I stand quite still while waiting. I wonder what the regime is for checking these things? 11 out of 12 does not sound bad until it leaves someone stranded and unable to cross.
The Spa and Bowerhill are old haunts – we lived there in the semi-detached at No. 404 from 1999 until 2018, and during that time restored our listed building from uninhabitable to very nice, and grew a business from a shell to a flourishing training company - so much flourishing that we bought another property as our training centre and hotel. We continued to have a home and office at "404" until we retired, and we sold that home and moved into what had been the training centre. It's more practical for us - 404 was thin and tall with 55 steps from the entrance to the top floor, and we were getting no younger. At 48 there is a single flight of stairs, and we have bus stops right outside. But another story there!
While we were living at 404, it was suggested to me that I was nosey enough about what was going on around, and making suggestions and helping with the immediate area, that should stand for Melksham Without Parish Council. After giving it some very serious thought, I declined.
* I was running a business and didn't have the time I felt the job needed.
* I lived in the Blackmore Ward as it was then, which was already represented by two excellent councillors I did not wish to displace.
* I was concerned at the drubbing I saw councillors getting from members of the public at a meeting.
Clearly those things changed after we had moved into the town and retired, and I had become closer with the residents in the ward in which we live and I ran for the Town Council and - against predictions of people telling me I didn't have a chance - I was actually elected.
It has been a mixed experience but old times come back and I have enjoyed working on wide Melksham area projects with some of the very people I chose not to oppose for a place on MWPC - they're good people who put a lot in to the parish.
Anyway - enough of history and an old man's musings - see instead some picture from the Bowerhill Ward of Melksham Without today! Some ah "aww - that is nice" others are good / better that they were, yet could be so easily tuned to make them hugely better.
Published Monday, 7th April 2025
Melksham Splashpad for 2025
There has been much discussion over the last 24 hour as to whether the SplashPad should be open this week (writing 6th April 2025). Talk generated by the unseasonally lovely sunny weather which has brought people into the park to see ... a Splashpad bereft of features and clearly with refurbishment incomplete and not in a condition in which it can just be switched on and run. The talk has been confused by various old posts from Facebook from last year being (re)published / authorised in groups a year after they were made.This year - 2025 - the pad is due to open at 11 a.m. on Friday, 18th April, and open daily from then on until mid September, closing each day at 6 p.m. It remains free to use by humans of any age, with a requirement for those not yet or no longer able to control their outgoing bodily functions to wear appropriate protection. Children must be supervised by their parents, guardian or appropriate other adult. Staff are around to monitor the pad and water quality, and in an emergency please ask for help - but they are NOT lifeguards.
There is a caveat that the Splashpad is open "if safe" and safety MUST come first. If the temperature is under 10 degrees, if there's thunder and lightning around, if it's a howling gale then the pad will be closed. But then no-one in their right minds would want to use it in those conditions. If the water quality causes significant concern to staff monitoring the pool, they will close it as a precaution until adjustments are made - that's typically for an hour or two a handful of times during the season. Customers pee-ing or poo-ing in the pad cause water issues, as does large doses of sweat and suncream washing off people - there are no showers to rinse yourself before you go in the pad. Mechanical failure, staff shortage (if someone goes off sick or is required to help at an emergency anywhere in the Council's area) may very occasionally leave the pad being unable to open - these are rare and unpredictable events and people are typically very understanding if they happen and are "signposted" and explained. It is very easy, though, for staff at times of emergency to overlook keeping the public informed.
The safe operating capacity the Splashpad operates with is 60 people. There is no counting mechanism there and so this is approximated / judged by a member of staff who at busy times will operate a queue at the gate. It only happens for a few hours each year. Please be patient if you're wanting to splash at the same time as everyone else. Although we operate with a 60 limit, risk assessment is done for a higher number. That means we are utterly sure that we are within safe limits even though guessing at the actual numbers in there (have you ever tried counting children at play?)
Enjoy your spring and summer on the SplashPad
In the summer of 2023, I (as a Town Councillor) was trained to operate the Splashpad and to monitor and log the operation and usage. I have been CRB checked, fall under the council's insurance and have emergency first aid training. I am actually a trained swimming pool lifeguard too - though that was many years ago; the ethos of always keeping an eye out for everyone's safety around water remains.
2023 was fun one day a week. In 2024 with the refurbished cafe in operation, I felt that the work-desk and I were in the way of the catering staff and indeed a couple of accidents in that room confirmed that. Don't get me wrong - the team working for Craig are utterly lovely but there were awkward interfaces that had not been set up and managed to make it enjoyable and safe for the staff on both sides. No longer a councillor, I will not be on any Splashpad duties this (2025) summer and that's a double relief as I'll be travelling a lot more and a weekly duty was very limiting.
So - why is the pad not open today and this week?
It's a difficult judgement call. At this time of year, temperatures are often such that it's pleasant to be in the park, and yet too cold to make good use of the pad. As the weather is unpredictable, it's impossible to plan to be open every good day it will be used, but then close on every day when the temperature will not make it popular. The graphic at the top of this article ((here)) shows the daily temperatures for last summer - Bristol Airport data, but Melksham not hugely different.
In making the judgement, it's not only a question of having the right weather, but also having opening times when there will be customers around. Sensible to open during school holidays in the right weather. Not so sensible to open during the day when the children are at school as the customer base is decimated. Last year we switched from 10 til 5 to 11 til 6 to be open during the warmer late afternoon rather than the cool mornings, and to give schoolchildren a chance to have a splash after lessons. Experimental change worked and it's those later hours again this year.
There is also the issue with season length of getting the expert contractors - required twice a year - to commission and decommission the systems. It's their busy season, they need booking well ahead, and once the system is commissioned for the year there is a "turnover" cost each day of keeping the pad ticking over even if not open. Your council has been a frugal one on expenditures such as this (political discussion!) and so it's the established Melksham ethos to leave commissioning as late as possible to save money.
"Over and out" from me ... nah, you may see limited further comment and I am happy to answer questions but in discussions with newly
Published Sunday, 6th April 2025
Why do some bus stops have shelters?
Obvious answer - to protect people waiting for buses from the rain. But think about it - that means that shelters should be provided where people wait for the bus and get on, and probably not at places where people just get off the bus.
The question has been asked as to whether we could have a bus shelter at the stop across the road from Bud's Bar in Lowbourne, seeing as there's one at the stop directly outside Bud's Bar across the road. Let's take a look
Outside Bud's people wait for and join the bus at the stop with the shelter, outbound from Melksham, on 2 buses an hour through the day - routes 14 and 271, as well as on route 273 in the evenings and on Sundays, and on route x76 to Marlborough.
Across the road from Bud's people alight from the bus on town route 15 (twice a day), afternoon services on route 14 and in the evening and Sundays on route 273. They may alight from as well as join the Monday to Friday single service on x76 to Bath, and in the morning they join the 555 school service to Corsham.
Now - it's not a good idea to get children cold and wet as they wait for the school bus. But providing a bus shelter, and then paying for the maintenance of it for the next 20 years, does not strike me as good use of public funds. Better to suggest to the children, parents, and bus company that on wet mornings the children join the bus at the Bath Road stop which is just 200 metres from Bud's Bar, on a safe road with a good pavement, and already has a shelter used to pick up by more buses in an hour than stop to pick up across the road from Bud's Bar in a week.
Pictured - the sheltered alternative already available for school pasenger pickup
Published Saturday, 5th April 2025
Your next council(lors) - Melksham South
And so - nominations have closed for elections to Wiltshire Council and for the parishes including Melksham Town and Melksham Without.All across Melksham Town and Melksham Without, there are fewer candidates for the Parish (MTC and MWPC) councils than there are seats available, with the exception of the north ward in Melksham Town where three candidates - Saffi Rabey, Phil Alford and Geoff Mitcham are competing for two seats. Three very different candidates, and all three have a long track record of active support for Melksham Town. I hope that whichever candidate is not elected is co-opted by the new council for one of the vacant seats in a neighbouring ward and can bring his or her energy and good to the town over the next four years.
Here in Melksham South, three candidates for four places means that we are already assured that our town councillors will be Jon Hubbard, Andrew Griffin and Jenny Crossley. I welcome them - already - as our new councillors and look forward to learning more about Jenny, and about Jon's manifesto for the next four years, as they are both looking for your vote in the Wiltshire Council election in the South Ward. The full list of five candidates - on whom you vote on 1st May - for your single Wiltshire Councillors is in the graphic supporting this post.
Published Friday, 4th April 2025
High Street changes - Melksham
Our Town Centre - High Street, Bath Road and Church Street, has changed. Gone are the greengrocer and the traditional baker, stores like Woolworths who used to be in every town, and Peacocks and Clarks, and the were-big four banks - Midland, NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds. I am writing this morning with the departure of WH Smiths from their remaining High Street outlets - though I don't think they've been in Melksham since (?) 1973 (in the premises now occupied by Kingstons - see photo). But our town centre is not dead - it has changed for modern times.I walked up Bath Road and the High Street the other afternoon, and again late this (Saturday) morning, and there are barbers, and hairdressers, and nail bars. Are there to many? It would seem not - all busy the other day, and some busy to the extent of as many people waiting as having their hair done today.
We have a good variety of places to eat and takeaways - some not so busy during the day, but they are certainly not quiet in the evenings. And a whole host of other businesses too - travel and estate agents, tattoo parlours, opticians, charity shops - largely characterised right across the board by being personal service suppliers, rather than selling hard good which, these days, are mostly bought from what's referred to as a doughnut of supermarkets and outlets around the perimeter / outskirts. For Melksham, this ring is not as defined as elsewhere - perhaps party because a smattering of the shops remain. Could this be because our town has grown and yet the town centre hasn't. Until recently there were few vacant shops - there ARE a few vacant at present - perhaps a combination of UK and wider world economy issues and how the UK fits in, and a seasonality as some businesses have struggled over the winter.
And as well as the new mix of shops and other business destinations, we have people. This morning the Bank Street and the High Street were solid, with traffic backed up to Spa Court on the road in from Devizes, and some buses such as the 272 were full and standing, x34 pretty busy too. We have the spring market yesterday, today and tomorrow (if only the Tuesday Market were that vibrant with stalls and customers) and the whole thing was running well. Hmmmm - almost well, we could really do without the nose to tail traffic and without people standing on the Bath bus even before it arrives in Melksham - we have the challenges of future growth to consider so that we continue to have an attractive Town Centre and don't get choked with people.
Published Sunday, 30th March 2025