PLANS not to host a community event in Salisbury to mark the Queen's Jubilee have come under fire from councillors.

A tree planting project has been announced instead with a Jubilee Avenue of trees across Hudson’s Field.

In addition to the Jubilee Avenue, and on top of the usual tree maintenance programme, Salisbury City Council says it has decided to spend an extra £15,000 on the first stages of a city-wide tree planting project to help create a "greener, healthier future for ourselves, our children and our wildlife".

Read more: Tree planting project in Salisbury to celebrate Queen's Jubilee

Cllr Charles McGrath, the leader of the Salisbury City Council Conservative group, is urging that this be reconsidered to "give the city of Salisbury the chance to mark this once-in-a-lifetime occasion".

He said: "An event marking HM the Queen's Platinum Jubilee would be a great opportunity for Salisbury residents to come together and celebrate at the heart of the city. Ideas for such an event, including a tea party on the Guildhall Square, have been discussed by councillors over the last few months and were met with considerable cross-party support.

"While we're more than aware of some fantastic community events being planned across Salisbury, it's disappointing that the city council's leadership group has not budgeted for this in their recently passed budget. I would urge them to reconsider and give the city of Salisbury the chance to mark this once-in-a-lifetime occasion."

This was echoed by Cllr Sven Hocking who said amongst his concerns about the budget that it "utterly failed to support the Queen's 70th Jubilee (not even tea, biscuits and bunting in the Guildhall)".

In a letter to the Journal, he also hit out at the Environmental Policy Action Plan presented to the city council's services committee adding: "Given how terrible the Tories were supposed to have been you would be forgiven for expecting a radical new green and environmentally progressive plan.

"Unfortunately not, the only thing that has changed is the tasks set in motion by the previous Conservative Administration that were due to be completed this year, have been pushed out until the following year, or even later.

"There are no plans to “green up” the city centre, no more planters, no more hanging baskets, no air quality improvement plans, no electric vehicle replacement program, the tree planting plan already in place is all but unchanged as there is almost no budget to do any more, nothing about increased public waste bin recycling, even the key performance indicators in the plan are so woolly you could drive a mammoth through them.

"This policy is long on promises, short on delivery and hopelessly lacking in ambition, another 'Do Nothing' platitude from a 'Do Nothing' Administration.”

A statement issued on behalf of the leadership group of the council said: "If Cllrs McGrath and Hocking want to find the funding for a party for thousands of people, including the costs of security, hire of trestle tables and seating, marquee hire, entertainment etc, they are welcome and we would not stand in their way.

"But our administration has a limited amount of money and an agenda to improve the environment of our city in the longer term. That’s what we promised voters, and we are delighted to see that lots of community groups and neighbourhoods are already planning their own Jubilee celebrations.

"These two councillors cannot, logically, on the one hand criticise us for not doing enough for the environment, and on the other, criticise us for spending money on planting trees. This is just party political point-scoring from a group that refuses to engage with us in a shared administration that has to make tough decisions, and prefers to sit on the sidelines, sniping.

"With reference to Cllr Hocking’s letter, he and Cllr McGrath are also members of Wiltshire Council, and they know that it is the only council with authority to do anything to improve our air quality, as it’s a traffic management matter. The City Council does not have this power.

"He is also wrong to say we are doing nothing about recycling bins for the city centre as we have already told him we are currently in talks over grant funding to provide this facility.

"He is further wrong in that we DO have an electric vehicle replacement policy but given the delivery times and the enormous costs of electric vehicles this cannot happen overnight."

 

Get more Salisbury news. 

You can also like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date, as well as signing up for one of our newsletters.

If you want online news with fewer ads, unlimited access and reader rewards - plus a chance to support our local journalism - find out more about registering or a digital subscription.

Email newsdesk@salisburyjournal.co.uk with your comments, pictures, letters and news stories.