It is a great shame that Salisbury Vision has had its funding cut in cloak and dagger style by Wiltshire Council. I must declare an interest here. I was interviewed for the post of Chairman which has been ably and effectively carried out by Alex Tregellas.

As reported in last week’s Journal he has built a stronger local partnership focussed on transforming the city’s economy, with a new leadership structure and a newly negotiated relationship with Wiltshire Council. He was given a job to do and he has pursued it with the Vision Board in ways which led to ruffling the feathers of Wiltshire Council. Mr Tregellas may or may not be right in wanting to reset some of the major projects planned for the city but I do understand why he wants to exclude Wiltshire Council from a planned Vision sub group.

The trouble is a council asks a bright business leader to do a job and then puts in formidable barriers that make it difficult and frustrating for someone who is eager for change. I have seen this in previous jobs where I have related to the local authority. Councillors have their own way of doing things because their longevity in power makes them institutionalised. They can’t see out of the box! Councillor Ricky Rogers reported comments on Salisbury Vision Board make my case.

Alex Tregellas’ fault was that he had a vision which it did not fit into the Council’s rule book. No wonder great swathes of the British public are disillusioned with politics and the political class. There is far too much talk at the moment about coalitions that will be formed in the event of a hung parliament. These will partly be caused by low turnouts at the polling stations because people simply do not trust politicians who they think are in it for themselves and are incapable of keeping to their manifesto pledges.

As I wrote in my last Footnotes column, the Church of England House of Bishops recently published “Who is my neighbour?” which asked for critical thinking on the way we do politics in this country as well as a compelling vision for the future which would embrace all and be for the common good. Like Alex Tregellas they were fiercely criticised on the political right for daring to challenge the status quo.

Perhaps Churches Together in Salisbury will continue the debate.