Services Committee, February 8. In our kitchens
The Christmas activities were well received although St George’s Day’s been cancelled.
But the Charter Fair is going ahead. Christmas fair? Still to be decided (well, they have plenty of time, haven’t they?) Meanwhile the Guildhall remains closed.
The first agenda item is about Idverde. (If we remember our Latin classes all those years ago, it must have something to do with being green. Good.)
David Bradley’s here to tell us about what choices are available after the ground maintenance contract with Idverde comes to an end in October next year. Should they stick with Idverde or do it themselves? Put in solar panels where they can? Replace the council-owned vehicles and the buses with non-polluting alternatives? Work out how they can re-use rainwater? What about LED lights? It largely depends on cost.
They’re thinking about it.
There’s been a lot of interest in selling ice cream in the parks apparently (difficult to appreciate when snow’s still on the ground) and they have an Environmental Policy Action Plan. But it needs a serious magnifying glass to read and they’re not getting their new van until May (might even be a bit of sunshine by then.)
So to the EPAP.
David B’s been working really hard on this, with his colleagues. They’re going to meet monthly for the next two years and are planning to make Salisbury as carbon neutral as possible by 2030, with clean air a priority. They have a list of 40 items and they’ve only cleared three so far – an audit of SCC’s own environmental impacts, reusing rain water for landscaping purposes and encouraging more cycling.
But only three? Well, they’ve done better than a lot of other councils, haven’t they? Still, more cycling and recycling sounds a good thing to aim for.
Cllr Berry thinks David and his team should be congratulated for the huge amount of work they’ve done already on the project. Cllr Walsh thinks they should bring in an expert from outside and Cllr Hocking thinks it’s a good idea to have someone not previously involved. Cllr Walsh thinks the officers are doing a grand job but is curious to know why more councillors didn’t support the idea of people-friendly streets.
Cllr Sirman thinks they should wait until the corona-pandemic is over, while Cllr Hocking thinks Salisbury residents should be consulted. But people-friendly streets isn’t just about pollution, is it? Aren’t they moving the traffic back into already heavily-polluted side streets? (Yes. I live in one. Not unusual to have vehicles with their engines running parked both sides of the road and on the pavements while they wait for their children to come out of the drama club or church.)
And families that have had essential groceries delivered to them via SCC, Your Local Pantry and Anybody Can Cook can still get them once the shop in Catherine Street they want to run as a community/social supermarket is opened. They reckon that should be in April this year.
So – want some more good news?
There’s actually one thing: although perhaps not so good. The crematorium’s done well. And we know why that is, don’t we? But Andover and Romsey have had new crematoria so that’s resulted in a reduction of business for Salisbury. No? People use Salisbury for the experience. The staff get excellent feedback and folk are not hesitant with their recommendations.
Lush House car park has had its surface seen to, and the crematorium’s going to open on Saturday mornings due to being rather busier than usual, lately.
Okay. Cheer up. Summer’s on its way.
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