Marlborough’s past heritage should be projected into the future to make its famous High Street more attractive to visitors, and less dominated by traffic by introducing creative changes.
That was the message Marlborough town councillors heard last night (Monday) from Louisa Davison when she presented an exciting project inspired by the community arts and culture group We Love Marlborough.
And to their surprise she launched into poetry at the start of a meeting packed with political argument by quoting William Henry Davies:
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see in broad day light,
Streams full of stars, lie skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
“When I was preparing this presentation, I was inspired by this poem written by WH Davies in 1911,” said Louisa. “Compare it to Marlborough High Street. Does it say ‘stand and stare’ or ‘full of care’? Does it encourage us to ‘turn at Beauty’s’ heritage of the town? Or does it encourage us to rush in, do our shopping and leave?”
“Do we want our High Street to welcome people to stay, linger, enjoy or ‘please pass through’?”
She pointed out: “More and more Marlborough people – Transition Town, town centre planning group, Chamber of Commerce, Vision Marlborough, brand Marlborough – are considering how the town can be more attractive and friendly for local shopping and a tourist trade that lasts longer than a visit to Polly Tea Rooms.
“Part of this is to lift the High Street from under the weight of cars and parking and allow our beautiful town to shine through, how to shift importance away from cars and towards pedestrians. After all, unless traffic is simply passing through, even those people in cars need to get out and walk.”
“At the moment there are just two public places to sit. Even a bench bought and paid for by the Community Area Transport Group and sitting in a Devizes depot has found no home.”
“Despite the record breaking width of the High Street, the pavements are too narrow in places to stand and chat. And, apart from the library, there are no public notice boards.”
She added: “So ‘We Love Marlborough’ are conducting an experiment. To create something new and exciting that will contribute to the history and heritage of the town and show what can be achieved with a little imagination and co-operation.”
“It would do the following:
Create a focal point in the middle of the High Street;
Provide a place to display community information.
Be a place where teenagers to tourists, men in flat caps to shoppers can meet up, watch the world go by, or find out what they can do at the weekend.
“This beautiful and functional piece of public art would be created by an artist chosen by a panel of local people. It would have seating and possibly a bike rack.
“We see it as sitting right in the central strip of parking, taking up two or tree spaces. It would have a special road texture from each pavement to function both as a courtesy crossing and to help it claim its space in the road.”
All we need now is the support of the town council, local people and to raise the money…”
Marlborough’s mayor, Councillor Edwina Fogg, generously thanked Louisa for the concept but declared that the ideas needed far more detail and costings before the town council could contemplate such a leap into the future.
But Louisa insisted that while she had discussed the project with Wiltshire Council, she was in a “chicken and egg” situation whereby Wiltshire needed her to gain the support first of the town council before putting the project through its paces.
The town council agreed that talks should take place between We Love Marlborough and Councillor Richard Pitts, who chairs the council’s Amenities and Open Spaces Committee. “We are all looking forward to working with Rich Pitts,” Louisa told Marlborough News Online.
Rail threat protests grow as three MPs prepare to meet transport minister next week
