Western Daily Press (Saturday)
MP’s praise for city’s ‘resilience’ as unfounded fears kept the visitors away
THERE was nothing hugely remarkable about the career of Salisbury and South Wiltshire MP John Glen before the fateful Sunday afternoon last year.
Having been elected to parliament nine years ago, the 44-year-old MP had served in various junior ministerial roles since winning his Torystrong seat.
But on March 4 last year, this MP’s career was redefined when he received a call from his constituency aide to say two people had been taken ill on a park bench.
In the days, weeks and months which followed, Mr Glen found himself leading the task to find answers for the people of Salisbury and to assist the city in its recovery.
Nowhere did the extent of the challenge appear so clear than when he suggested to a group of national journalists in July that they visit the city to assess the community’s response to the poisoning.
“I asked if they wanted to come to Salisbury to visit for a potential feature and many were reluctant,” Mr Glen said.
“The perception was the city was still not safe. That made it clear to me of the importance to get extra resources in and get a bounce-back for the local economy. I hope those journalists may take a different point of view now.”
The Government has pledged more than £7.5 million to support the city. It has been shared between Wiltshire Police, Wiltshire Council and local businesses.
Some of the money has gone on events to encourage visitors, such as the upcoming OVO cycling event in
the city on May 31 as well as past events including the royal wedding party in The Close and Salisbury Literary Festival.
Free parking is being offered at the city’s council-run car parks after 3pm until April 23 this year.
More than £1m has also been spent on ensuring the city and surrounding villages are safe with potentially contaminated sites cleaned and barriers and security staff paid for.
It has been an almighty task, but one Mr Glen said the city’s people have been up for. He said: “There has been frustration – people were reluctant to accept that something like this could happen in their area at the public meetings I attended. Then there was the prank in Prezzo.
“But people are resilient and keen to get on and get business back to normal.
“What keeps me awake at night is the businesses which have seen depressed customer numbers and drive to get the economy of Salisbury back to normal. I applaud the resilience of the people of Salisbury.”