Latest news with #Chippenham
BBC News
10 hours ago
- General
- BBC News
Chippenham's 'everlasting' wall made by 4,000 kids
A quarter of a century, 4,000 children in one town had a part in the creation of a 50m-long wall, all to commemorate the Millennium Wall in Chippenham, Wiltshire, is also 2m high and covered with individual tiles, each decorated by a child between five and 12 years old in 2000.A ceremony by the town council to mark 25 years since it's construction reflected on the history."At the time of the opening, a little boy said 'this is like Stonehenge. It will always be there,'" said Jack Konynenburg, one of the main organisers who was then the Principal Architect at North Wiltshire District Council. "It'll still be there in 125 years time, unless they develop the riverside or something like that. In all essence, it'll be there in thousands of years time," he explained that to make sure it was "everlasting", they cast it in concrete, including putting all the tiles on that way too, which involved "numerous contractors", some of whom were specialists. The headteachers at Chippenham's schools - there were nine then - wanted a project to involve all of children were given themes to decorate the tiles around like culture, transport, environment and the the future: "They're all really good. There are none that are not interesting." Potter Christopher White co-ordinated the artists and potters who worked with the schools and children to get the tiles made letter stamps so each child could imprint their initials: "One of the nice aspects is that it would then be possible so that anybody who'd been involved would be able to show the tile they made to their kids sometime down the line." The shape was designed by sixth form students at Hardenhuish School, so with the wall next to the river, there is a blue line that meanders like it, dividing the Konynenburg said it took over his life for about four months: "It's one of those projects that I was immensely proud to be involved in."
Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Times
‘First-time buyers want cheaper homes — not bigger mortgages'
After years of nursing training, Emma Restall decided to carry on her studies to become a doctor, so that her dream of becoming a homeowner might actually become a reality. 'I will be buying by myself and I wouldn't have been able to get a big enough mortgage on a nurse's salary,' said Restall, 28, from Chippenham in Wiltshire. She finished her nursing degree last year and began studying medicine at Newcastle University, working 12 hours a week as a nurse to fund her studies. She is among the first-time buyers who have been locked out of the housing market by high prices and tough mortgage requirements — exactly the sort of people who the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and regulators are hoping to help by relaxing lending rules. Last week the Bank of England gave banks and building societies dispensation to lend more to borrowers with lower salaries — which the chancellor says will mean 36,000 more mortgages a year for first-time buyers. Banks started offering bigger loans from this week, but critics fear that relaxing the limits could see a return to the high-risk lending that triggered the 2008 financial crisis, while some first-time buyers say they would prefer more affordable housing, rather than government tinkering with the lending rules. Some 42 per cent of first-time buyers asked by the financial services firm Moneybox what the government could do to help said it should build more affordable homes. About 18 per cent said they would like to see looser mortgage affordability rules. Restall said: 'What always seems to be avoided in all these discussions is the gap between the average salary and the average house price. Borrowing more than 4.5 times your salary is nice, but the average house is about eight times salary. And no bank is going to give you that much.' She hopes to have enough saved to finally buy when she finishes medical school in 2029. She will be priced out of buying in Chippenham, so expects to buy in Newcastle instead. Restall has saved about £15,000 into a Lifetime Isa (which pays a 25 per cent government bonus on savings for a first home worth up to £450,000) and hopes to transfer another £4,000 from savings at the start of the next tax year in April. 'It feels like the government and regulators are just patching gaps by tinkering with mortgage rules rather than fixing the real problem — that the housing market is just getting more expensive compared with people's salaries,' she said. Restrictions from 2016 meant that no more than 15 per cent of each bank or building society's new lending could be at more than 4.5 times a borrower's income. This has now been made an industry-wide limit, meaning that lenders have more wiggle room, and can apply to the Bank of England to go beyond the 15 per cent limit — it will keep an eye on the big picture. Nationwide Building Society will now allow a single applicant to borrow up to six times their income if they earn £30,000 (it was £35,000 last week), while joint applicants can borrow up to six times income if they earn a total of £50,000, down from £55,000. Yorkshire Building Society this week cut the minimum salary needed to borrow up to five times your income from £75,000 to £50,000. Last week someone earning £50,000 could have borrowed a maximum of £224,500 whereas now they could get a loan of £250,000. Pressure from Reeves and the Treasury this year have also led almost all high street banks to reduce the interest rate at which they 'stress test' whether borrowers could afford higher payments. Mortgages at 100 per cent loan-to-value, where no deposit is required, have also made a comeback, having largely disappeared under a crackdown on risky lending after the financial crisis. • Thousands of lower earners to be eligible for mortgages in shake-up The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) — the City regulator — and lenders are also discussing ways to make it easier for first-time buyers to get interest-only loans and for tenants to be able to use their rent track record as proof that they can afford a mortgage. Nikhil Rathi, the FCA chief executive, has called for the government to set out how much risk it is happy for regulators and lenders to take. James Daley from the consumer group Fairer Finance said: 'We have spent the past 17 years tightening up the rules after people borrowed too much, or too many people borrowed interest-only mortgages with no way to repay them. What exactly are we going to achieve by unwinding them now?' The average property sale price in England was 7.7 times the average salary last year, up from 6.6 times in 2004, and it has risen from 5.4 to 5.9 times in Wales over the same period. In March the average first-time buyer borrowed 3.58 times their income, at 77.5 per cent of the average sale price, with an average loan term of 31 years, according to UK Finance, the industry body. Average repayments on first-time buyer mortgages were 22.6 per cent of the average first-time buyer's income in March, the highest share since November 2008, raising concerns that borrowers are already stretching themselves to be able to afford a home. Martin Stewart from the broker London Money said: 'Because of the cost of living and the higher levels of tax households are paying, we are more at risk of borrowers getting into difficulty rather than a 2008-style banking crisis. You're seeing lenders chasing market share, the rules being thrown out of the window and more debt than you can shake a stick at.' Making it easier to borrow does nothing to make house prices more affordable, something lenders have acknowledged by calling for the government to build more homes. The government's planning reforms are expected to help, and the Office for Budget Responsibility expects more housebuilding to reduce the average house price by about 0.8 per cent by 2029. But a big loosening in mortgage lending could undo that. Daley said: 'I'm just disappointed that the conversation on the housing market has come back to affordability and the availability of mortgages, while dancing around the massive elephant in the room, which is the issue of supply. 'Everybody knows that there aren't enough houses and wages haven't kept up with rising prices.' • House prices in expensive areas fall as buyers drive hard bargain Before the financial crisis it was easy to borrow without your income being verified or any checks that you could afford repayments if mortgage rates went up. The banking industry insists it is not on a slippery slope back to those bad old days — stress test rates have been lowered, but not ditched altogether. Bank of England data shows that about 8 per cent of mortgages in the year to March were lent at 4.5 times income or higher, far below the 15 per cent limit. Buyers will be able to borrow larger loans if they can afford them, but will still have to pass affordability checks. Ben Merritt from Yorkshire Building Society said: 'There are customers, including first-time buyers, who can afford to borrow more than 4.5 times their income, who have been shut out of the market. We can now offer them a lifeline to borrow what they need for their dream home in line with our commitment to responsible lending. 'This is crucial in an economic environment where house prices in many parts of the UK continue to rise at a faster rate than incomes.'
BBC News
15-07-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Dairy farmers face crisis as drought causes grass fails
Dairy farmers are facing a crisis, spending thousands of pounds feeding their cattle grain that should be saved for the year's long, dry spring - the warmest and sunniest on record - has forced many farmers to take unprecedented action. Sarah Godwin, a dairy farmer in north Wiltshire, has had to take feed out to her cows for the first time in her life. She said she had "never known a season like this, never known the heat, the lack of rain, and for so long".Professor Nicola Cannon from the Royal Agricultural University blamed the record dry spring, which is "warming the fastest of all seasons". When I arrived at Mrs Godwin's family dairy farm near Chippenham, they were taking breakfast out to their like a lot of West Country dairy farms, the cows are out in the fields all summer, just grazing on rich natural not this year."The grass is completely dried up," Mrs Godwin explained. "There's no goodness in it, it's just completely stalky with no nutritional value at all." When the tractor comes through the gate, pulling a rack of rich cattle feed, the cows run alongside. They know what is coming, and they can't rack is soon invisible, lost in a crowd of happy cows, all feasting on the perfect nutritional ration of they shouldn't be eating this till October at least, when the grass is gone and they come inside.I asked Mrs Godwin if she had ever had to do this before."Never," she said quickly.I have heard this is happening on dairy farms across the West Country, as the long dry spring turned into a hot summer, and the grass faded. To find out exactly what is going on, I went to an experimental test field in Gloucestershire. A classic grazing meadow, fringed by beech trees. It is tended by experts from the Royal Agricultural University, and scrutinised by Prof Cannon."Look at these stems," she showed me, grasping a handful of brown grass."If this was cut for hay, you see how there is no leaf on it?"It's the leaf which contains the sugar, which is the tasty bit, the nutritious bit." They say you should make hay while the sun shines, and farmers have been doing just that. But many have found hay that is crisp and dry, even powdery. There just are not enough leaves on the Wiltshire, yields are down 50%.The summer is now here in earnest, the Met Office has officially declared heat it is not summer that has done the damage, it was Office figures show spring 2025 was the warmest and sunniest on record, and the driest since 1893."And spring is the most important season for plant growth," explained Prof Cannon."So even when the sun came, the grass can't use that energy, because it never grew properly in the first place."Back on Mrs Godwin's farm, the cows are settling down for a nap after their healthy breakfast, unaware how the climate is changing around them.I asked her how they will cope, how they will change in the long smiled ruefully, "I don't know Dave, maybe we should grow wine instead?" What is climate change? Climate change is the long-term shift in the Earth's average temperatures and weather world has been warming up quickly over the past 100 years or so. As a result, weather patterns are 2015 and 2024, global temperatures were on average around 1.28C above those of the late 19th Century, according to the European Copernicus climate the 1980s, each decade has been warmer than the previous one, the UK Met Office year 2024 was the world's hottest on record, with climate change mainly responsible for the high was also the first calendar year to surpass 1.5C of warming compared to pre-industrial levels, according to Copernicus.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Yahoo
Pictures of former PE teacher charged with sexual offences against boy and two girls
A former PE teacher has appeared in court charged with 13 sexual offences against three children. Bronwen James, 29, of Chippenham, Wiltshire, appeared at Salisbury Magistrates' Court yesterday, Wednesday, accused of sexual activity with two girls and a boy over a three-year period. She is charged with six offences of sexual activity with a child, relating to girls under the age of 16, contrary to the Sexual Offences Act. James is also accused of two counts of sexual communication with a child and one count of making an indecent photograph of a child, namely a Category C – the least serious category – first generation image. The former teacher is also charged with four counts of sexual activity with a boy, contrary to the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Wiltshire Police previously confirmed that James taught PE at Hardenhuish School in Chippenham and Bitterne Park School in Southampton. Stephen Harrison, chair of the bench, told James that her case would be heard next at Salisbury Crown Court on August 7. He said: 'By virtue of three of these offences being indictable only, which means they can only be heard in the crown court, we will be sending them to the crown court. 'The other 10 offences are associated offences and therefore will be included in the hearing to be heard in front of the crown court. 'The next phase is to attend for a plea and trial preparation hearing which is going to take place at Salisbury Crown Court on August 7. 'In between now and August 7, you are granted bail with conditions. 'If you don't turn up to court at that appointed date and time, you may be committing an offence. 'You are not to have direct or indirect contact with the three complainants in this matter. 'You are not to have any unsupervised contact with any child or young person under the age of 16.' Mr Harrison asked James to confirm that she understood what he had said and to repeat the bail conditions to the court, which she did. The judge also stressed: 'The identities of all complainants for these matters is protected under law. Failure to comply is a criminal offence.' During the short hearing, James, wearing a cream two-piece outfit, also spoke to confirm her name, date of birth and address. She was not asked to enter any pleas to the charges against her. Siobhan Oxley appeared for the prosecution during the hearing, while Joshua Clements represented James. James will next appear before Salisbury Crown Court for a plea and trial preparation hearing on August 7.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Yahoo
Former physical education teacher charged with multiple sexual offenses against 3 children
A former physical education teacher in the United Kingdom appeared in court this week as she faces 13 charges for allegedly committing sexual offenses against three children over a three-year period, according to reports. The BBC reported that 29-year-old Bonwen James, of Chippenham, Wiltshire, appeared in the Salisbury Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, after being accused of having sexual activity with a boy and two girls. James is charged with four counts of sexual activity with a boy and six counts of sexual activity with girls under the age of 16. She also faces two counts of sexual communication with a child and a single count of producing an indecent photograph of a minor. Nj Elementary Teacher Accused Of Sexually Abusing Student, Having His Child When He Was 13 Chippenham Police said in a Facebook post Monday that James taught PE at Hardenhuish School in Shippenham, and Bitterne Park School in Southampton. Read On The Fox News App The Independent reported that during the court hearing on Wednesday, the chairman of the bench, Stephen Harrison, told James her case would be heard before the Salisbury Crown Court on Aug. 7. "By virtue of three of these offenses being indictable only, which means they can only be heard in the crown court, we will be sending them to the crown court," Harrison reportedly said. "The other 10 offenses are associated offenses and therefore will be included in the hearing to be heard in front of the crown court." Illinois Teacher Indicted On 52 Additional Charges In Student Sexual Abuse Case James was granted bail on the condition that she does not have contact with any of the children in the complaint. She is also prohibited from having any unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 16. When asked if she understood the bail conditions, James reportedly confirmed that she did. The publication reported that the hearing was short, and the only time James spoke was to confirm things like her name, date of birth, address, and her confirmation that she understood the proceedings. High School Teacher Charged With Sexually Assaulting Former Teen Student At Her Home James is just one of a growing list of young female teachers accused of having sexual activity with children. Last month, a U.S. high school teacher, 35-year-old Alyssa Perry, was accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old former student of hers at her residence in Rockaway Township, New Jersey. Also, last month, an Illinois grand jury indicted high school teacher Christina Formella, 30, on 20 counts of sexual assault, 20 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, six counts of indecent solicitation of a child and six counts of grooming. Formella had been accused of sexually assaulting the boy in a classroom during a tutoring session before class began at Downers Grove South High School in December 2023. The victim's mother discovered the alleged assault when looking through her son's text message thread on his cellphone and then contacted police, prosecutors said. Fox News Digital's Michael Dorgan contributed to this article source: Former physical education teacher charged with multiple sexual offenses against 3 children
