That's a bit harsh. It was a great mistake to have but a Unitary Authority for Wiltshire. Our area is certainly disadvantaged by the loss of the Salisbury District Council. We were deprived of it by the Conservative Majority at County Hall. Although one contests the suggestion that our area's County Councillors are lacking in skills, say for the sake of argument they are, whom should be blamed for that, other than the Party Political Branches who selected them as candidates in the first place. There was a time one progressed through Parish or Town Council and then District, and only after that did one aspire to County. Currently often ill- matched candidates are one way or another sponsored at every level, sometimes on the basis of there being no one better to offer.

Our system of local Governance just isn't good enough. Both at County and District, too many vote for the Rosette rather than the woman or the man. Non attendance at the Ballot Box by disillusioned Electors may precipitate less favoured candidates into Office. In Wilton two County elections back the current , and then sitting C. Councillor , was dislodged by the intervention of a minority interest candidate from elsewhere, this caused the seat to fall to a Conservative, which surely was not the intent of the interventionist ? One might wonder whose Idea it was at the last County Election to re-allocate that particular Conservative to Mere Ward, which despite the Conservative Candidate's competence, and his Murisson Backers, he had not had the slightest chance of winning. The Candidate's non election was an accident waiting to happen, as forecast by me in a Blog prior to that Election.

Goodness knows where this has left Parish Councils. The majority in the Salisbury Area haven't been elected at the Polling Station, but sit either due to an initial insufficiency of candidates, or by later co-option, all be it by that said insufficiency . THIS IS NO FAULT OF THOSE INVOLVED, but it is another fault of our electoral system. There are several things that might rectify its problems, but the most important is that since an elector for a Parish Council will always have several votes to cast, then there should be a requirement that the elector uses all his or her available votes. It's all very fine voting for ones favourites, but when one does only that, it skews the apparent worth of all who stood for election, let alone those who failed to be elected ,who are left out in the cold, when had everyone cast all their votes they might not have been.

Should one be surprised that Tisbury Parish Council has raised its Precept by all of 10.3% for 2015/2016. This they have done to finance a proposed BROCANTE Sale in the Village. I didn't vote any into Office, to in my opinion WASTE £2,500 of our money, let alone acquire an additional grant from County of £1,900 which of course is our money too. Maybe Parish Councillors should reconsider their positions before spending what amounts overall ,to £84.21 of our household budget. J.B.P. Friday 13th.March 2015.