Please provide full details of the event, including date, time and location and give as much notice as possible.

Alternatively you may send the details via email : please clearly mark the email “Mayoral Invitation”



Mayors Message

It is a great honour to be elected Mayor of Trowbridge for 2009/10 by my fellow town councillors. This is my second term as Mayor having previously served in 2001/02.

It is interesting to look back at changes in Trowbridge; we have regretfully lost some of our traditional manufacturing industries, Ushers and Bowyers; beer and bangers and the town has become less more of an administrative centre. Thankfully work is underway on the old bottling plant site for a Sainsbury’s, the brewery is an attractive residential development and the Wincanton site is being transformed into modern retail outlets. Some old sites have yet to be developed, this is not the fault of the Town Council or the planning authority, rather it has to do with the private sector, the recession and central government delay in funding the relocation of the College to the Bowyers site. 

I fought against the loss of our Magistrates Court and County Record Office and I opposed the Hospital closure. NHS Wiltshire aims to replace it with a new, state of the art, Primary Care Centre but want to build it on part of the Cricket Club’s ground. This would be a poor decision.

The disappearance of the District Council creates an opportunity for the Town Council to assume responsibility for some front line services on behalf of Trowbridge, such as Parks and Open Spaces. We should look carefully at such matters and decide upon them in the overall interest of our population. We must however always, but especially in these hard recessionary times, keep our Town Council Tax down to a sensible affordable level.

We have adopted this approach for the modernisation and enlargement of the Civic Hall. For administrative and economic reasons it makes great sense to group Town Council functions together. The Council rents difficult to access offices in Fore Street, has an inadequate Information Centre and a dated Civic Hall that is not fulfilling its potential, hence the desire to redevelop the building to house the majority of our activities in a new Civic Centre. This must and can be done without overburdening the Council Tax payer. 

As our town develops and comes through the recession you can be sure that Trowbridge Town Council will continue to serve the needs, interests and aspirations of local people.

In a busy calendar there are some events that I particularly want to mention.  As an ex Royal Engineer I will be fully supporting Armed Services and Veterans’ Weekend – 27/28 June. The following weekend is Trowbridge in Bloom judging and towards the end of July the West Wilts Show, also in Trowbridge Park. This year all the Trowbridge stalls and activities will be located in the Civic Hall.  I look forward to seeing you there.

During my mayoral year I hope to meet and talk with as many residents as possible, ably assisted by my Deputy Mayor; Councillor Clive Blackmore. I particularly welcome meeting the many volunteers who do so much for the less fortunate.  My two chosen charities – Trowbridge Link and Disability On Line – reflect this general theme.

If you wish to discuss any of the points I have raised, or anything else appertaining to our town, please contact me at the Town Council

Regards

Jeff Osborn
Mayor of Trowbridge