SUNDAY afternoon, and I feel revitalised.

Why? Well, it has to be something to do with the fact that I spent 90 per cent of Saturday singing with Salisbury Community Choir.

Considering that my voice is pitched somewhere between alto and tenor, and that I stand at the back near the men so I can drop down and sing along with them when I can’t reach the higher notes, I wouldn’t fit into any auditioned choir.

Luckily, having had music lessons as I child, I understand enough to manage this particular piece of nifty vocal footwork.

And it means I am able to enjoy the life-enhancing experience that performing live music can be, and the camaraderie it creates.

As far as I know, we only went flat, at least to any important extent, once during our evening performance at Wilton’s glorious Italianate church. And it put the wind up us to such an extent that (I think) we stayed in tune thereafter!

As for our earlier appearance at the St Thomas’s Christmas tree festival, this is such a happy, non-judgemental occasion, that we were all relaxed and it seemed to me to go extraordinarily well.

I know I’ve said it before, but this hugely popular event, full of homespun charm, is not just the start, but one of the highlights of the festive season for me.

Filled with the spirit of goodwill to all mankind, I would like to congratulate Salisbury City Council on finally embarking upon a neighbourhood plan.

This will, in theory, give the people of our city a considerable say on where development should go, and what form it should take.

Once we have one of these in place, planners are legally required to take our wishes into account.

Leader of the majority Conservative group Matthew Dean hopes it can be pushed through within a year.

So do I, as long as it has all-party input and support, and other interested bodies and individuals in the city are invited to take part. Not that I’m expecting an invitation!

Whether this plan will be completed in time to affect the outcome of the Maltings/Central Car Park redevelopment proposals, I don’t know. Although I strongly suspect that Wiltshire Council won’t allow anything to do so.

Once that’s all settled, there are, as Cllr Dean acknowledges, not many gaps in our built environment left to be filled.

For most of the developments that Wiltshire is encouraging all around the edges of our city are not actually IN the city, legally speaking.

So although they affect everyone who lives here, works here, and uses our roads and public services, they’re not strictly any of our business.

Hooray for unitary authorities! You know they make sense!

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