TO let, possibly the safest office location in Salisbury.

At least, I suppose it will be, once the current decontamination exercise is completed.

With Wiltshire Police very visibly present downstairs, any future tenants can be pretty sure they won’t be bothered by unwelcome visitors.

The top floor suite at Bourne Hill – up above Wiltshire Council and the city’s ‘police station’ – is on the market.

You may recall it from the Journal’s picture coverage when the extended, refurbished building was officially reopened by the Countess of Wessex back in 2011.

It’s the open-plan glass-walled bit with what’s being advertised as a “private decked terrace area”. And very attractive it is, too, as I remember from my guided tour back then, with views through the treetops over the council grounds.

Myddelton & Major are advertising the 4,031 sq. ft. suite at £54,450 a year, plus VAT and service charge, on a full repairing lease.

You’ll notice that this is a factual column this week and I’m sparing you my opinions. A columnist’s equivalent of public service broadcasting.

That’s because I simply thought this was a situation that all of us taxpayers who contributed to the £21million bill for the building project needed to be aware of.

We know that Wiltshire’s keen to become more ‘commercial’, given its rapidly diminishing income from the government.

That’s why it’s adopting an advertising strategy that’s likely to see businesses sponsoring its lorries, roundabouts and even lamp posts, along with digital billboards springing up in our car parks, household recycling centres and community campuses.

And why not? It’s got to survive somehow.

But back to Bourne Hill.

The original intention was to provide “a modern, flexible office environment” for 500 council staff, according to the official publicity.

How times change.

I’ve asked Wiltshire whether it remains committed to this building, or wants to make any other comment, but unfortunately, the Journal’s production schedule means I can’t wait any longer for an answer. I will let you know, though.

Going back to last week’s column on Salisbury’s litter problem, I thought I’d report on a brief trip my mother and I have taken since then. Amsterdam and the bulb fields, you know the kind of thing.

On our coach journey through the Dutch countryside, we both commented in amazement on the absence of roadside rubbish.

I kid you not. Not a single plastic bag, bottle or tin can, not even any waste paper blowing in the wind on the trees alongside the motorway.

It felt kind of weird. Just acre upon acre of pristine greenery.

How do they do it? Wikipedia tells me that people can be fined 90 euros for littering the streets.

The police as well as local officials actually enforce this.

What’s more, the government and industry have signed up to far-reaching targets to cut packaging waste.

It can be done.

anneriddle36@gmail.com