Getting Started

After several years of constant nagging I have finally succumbed to the pressure and started this blog.

Over the coming weeks and months I will try to keep you all informed with what is happening in Shepton Mallet, Shepton Town Council and Mendip District Council from a Shepton Conservative perspective, so if anyone has any queries or suggestions for future posts that they would like to see just drop me an e-mail at john_parham@btconnect.com and I will try to oblige.

For this first attempt, I thought I would try to put to rest the rumour that Mendip District Council is going to be leaving the town in the near future.

Can I state categorically, for the record, that there is absolutely no plan for Mendip District Council to move from its current site.  I think that that is unambiguous enough, even for the local conspiracy theorists that abound in the town. I have no idea where this rumour came from, but it is untrue.

Mendip is conducting what is known as a accommodation review currently, as with any operation that employs hundreds of people, you have to periodically take steps to ensure that the buildings and internal layouts are not only fit for its current usage, but are sufficiently flexible for any likely changes that may occur in the near future.

With rapid changes in technology, changes in our clients’ requirements, and still to be announced changes in funding, Mendip District Council must be able to adapt to those changes that it will be required to make. The current survey is doing just that, and a report will be published next month which will bring into focus what changes, if any, will be necessary.

If changes are required, decisions will have to be made how they are to be funded, and over what timescale they will take place, however, moving to another site will not be up for consideration.

Furthermore, not only is the future of Mendip District Council safe in Shepton Mallet, we are currently engaged in advanced negotiations with Capita, other local councils and other public service organisations, to bring more jobs to the town, and they too will be largely based around the current campus. So far from jobs leaving the town, we are extremely hopeful that new jobs will be coming into the town in the near future. All this in addition to the statement I made last week that Mendip have assured the Town Council that their needs will be fully accommodated in the future.

So there you have it, I have stated clearly on three occasions that there is no plan to move, the council has confirmed that statement, and Councillor Harvey Siggs, leader of the council has also confirmed that position, maybe now the rumour mill will find another target for a while.