Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and to Lacock Village Hall.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Jennie Hartless (Box Parish Council) and Kevin Gaskin (CCAN).

It was noted that the extraordinary meeting held on 13 December had not been quorate so the two members present could only make recommendations rather than decisions.

Decision

(1)  To agree the recommendations set out in the minutes of the extraordinary meeting held on 13 December 2013.

(2)  To approve the minutes as a correct record.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chairman made the following announcements:

(a)  Victim Support

Victim Support was looking to raise its profile in the local communities and would like to come along to community groups and events to talk about their work.  If anyone is interested they should contact Julie Locks on 01380 738878.

(b)  Integrated Youth Service

The Chairmen briefly outlined the work of the youth service and the link between the youth advisory groups and the area boards.

(c)  Wiltshire Online Team

The Wiltshire Online Programme aims to bring availability of standard and superfast broadband to homes and businesses across the county.  The main aim of the programme was to enable a minimum of 85%, hopefully up to 95%, of premises to access superfast broadband by 2015.  All premises to have access to a minimum broadband service of 2Mpbs by March 2016.

(d)  Legacy for Wiltshire

Events would be taking place to discuss a lasting legacy for Wiltshire to keep the momentum of 2012 going into 2013 and beyond.  Events would take place as follows:

Thursday 31 January, at County Hall, Trowbridge

Thursday 7 February at the Town Hall, Chippenham

Thursday 21 February at the Guild Hall, Salisbury

Wednesday 27 February at the Corn Exchange, Devizes

All the evenings will start with tea and cakes at 6pm. The meeting will start at 6.30pm, finishing by 8pm

The Area Board considered two applications seeking 2012/13 Community Area Grant funding and one councillor led initiative put forward by Cllr Alan MacRae.  Members also discussed the possible transfer of any underspend on the community area grants budget towards projects identified by the Community Area Transport Group.

Decision

(1)  To approve the following grant applications:

(a)  Corsham One Mile Running Club – To award £350 towards providing medals and trophies to young people achieving targets set by the club.

Reason for Decision

The proposal links to the community plan by offering young people a safe place to meet and offering a healthy lifestyle.

(b)  Corsham Churches Food Bank – To award £500 towards food storage space to store food in a safe and dry environment.

Reason for Decision

The proposal is for a not for profit organisation running a valued community facility for which demand has increased dramatically.

(2)  To approve the councillor led initiative for £500 to support Corsham Town Council in awarding swimmer Stephanie Millward the Freedom of the Town.  This is in recognition of her success and achievements at the 2012 Paralympics and her work coaching and encouraging local children with their swimming, as well as her support of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Reason for Decision

To encourage a sporting legacy from the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics  The event will bring together the community and highlight sport in Corsham and may inspire others to take part in sporting activities.

(3)  To agree that the underspend of £16,323.91 from the 2012/13 community area grants budget be used to fund local projects identified by the Community Area Transport Group (CATG).

Reason for Decision

To resolve some of the priority issues in the Corsham community area.

ACTION: Dave Roberts, Community Area Manager

The Area Board considered recommendations from the Community Area Transport Group (CATG) from the meeting that took place on 13 December 2012.

Decision

To agree to allocate the underspend from the 2012/13 community area grants budget to the following projects:

·         Installation of HGV signage in Colerne - £2,500

·         Installation of two bus stops at the Corsham Campus - £6,000

·         Repair of grass verge at Meriton Avenue - £3,000

·         Provision of permissive footpath through Corsham Estate subject to agreement with Corsham Estate - £13,323.91

Reason for Decision

The proposals have the support of the CATG, Corsham Town Council and Colerne Parish Council and will resolve some of the priority issues for the Corsham community area.

NB It was confirmed that Corsham Town Council had agreed to accept responsibility for cleaning the two new bus stops at the Corsham Campus but not other maintenance or repairs and to support the repair of the grass verge at Meriton Avenue.

ACTION: Dave Roberts, Community Area Manager

The Area Board received an update on the KOBRA (Knowledge of Box Roman Archaeology) project to construct a portable scale model and publish an illustrated book explaining the Roman structure that received community area grant funding in 2011.

The Trust had completed the scale model and produced 400 books.  The project had been used as an educational tool for local children and the model was currently on display at Box Library.  Some books were still available if anyone was interested in buying one.  The grant recipients thanked the Corsham Area Board for its support.

The Area Board received a presentation from Angus MacPherson, Police and Crime Commissioner, regarding the Police and Crime Plan.

·         The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) was a new role, the PCC had a budget of £100m and a staff of five.

·         The PCC hoped to work closely with the area boards across Wiltshire and planned to attend the area board meetings as often as possible.

·         The role was to commission services to cut crime and deliver an effective and efficient police service.

·         A five year Police and Crime Plan would be set.  The Plan will set the strategic direction of policing in Wiltshire and Swindon.  It would be wider than the current Policing Plan and there would be public engagement and consultation regarding the plan.

·         The PCC outlined the proposed areas he felt were important such as protecting the most vulnerable in society and reducing offending and reoffending.

·         The draft plan will be published on the PCC website www.wiltshire-pcc.gov.uk on 18 February 2013.  There will be formal public consultation via a website feedback facility between 18 February and 10 March 2013.  The final plan will be published on 28 March 2013.

The Area Board received a presentation from Nicole Smith, Head of Strategic Housing regarding housing need in Wiltshire and the review of housing allocations.

·         It was noted that the total population in the Corsham area was      19,840 made up as follows:

o   Children 0 – 15         3,890 19.6%

o   Working Age             11,780 59.4%

o   Retirement over 65   4,170  21%

·         The median house price in Corsham was £227,000

·         The total number of people on the Housing Register was 17,088 and 533 households had a first preference for Corsham.

·         The breakdown of housing in the community area was:

o   65% Owner Occupied

o   13.6% Social Housing

o   19.4% Private

o    2.1% Other

·         The proposed number of homes to be built in 2006 – 2026 was 1,200.

·         43 new affordable homes had been delivered during 2010 to 2012.

·         A breakdown of the housing register was outlined setting out the numbers according to priority need.

·         The total social housing lettings across Wiltshire since April 2012 was  611 households.

·         Of the social housing lettings in Corsham  46 out of the 51 allocations had a local connection.

·         Details of the new rules relating to under occupation for social housing were outlined.  This would mean that some tenants would lose a proportion of housing benefit.  Wiltshire Council had written to all those who would be affected by this change.  People would therefore be encouraged to move to smaller accommodation.

·         The Localism Act 2011 introduced amendments which provide new freedoms to set the rules determining which categories of applicants qualify for social housing.

·         It provides new freedoms to set the rules determining which categories of applicants qualify for social housing.  Voting handsets were then used by those present at the meeting to indicate which categories they felt should be given priority.  A public consultation would be taking place in the next three weeks regarding the allocations policy.

With the successful bid to Heritage Lottery Fund to buy the Lacock Archive and associated activities, the project moves into the next phase.  Terry Bracher, Local Studies and Archives Manager at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre will present an update on the Lacock Archive project.  This will include the timetable for the project and opportunities for community volunteers.

The Area Board received a presentation from Terry Bracher, Local Studies and Archives Manager, regarding the successful bid to buy the Lacock Archive and associated activities.

·         The cost of purchasing the Lacock archive was £420,000.

·         Access, participation and learning activities would cost £181,605.

•         Wiltshire’s contribution was made up of, cash - £10,000, National Trust in kind contributions £12,630 and volunteer time valued at £86,000.

•         Funding from the Heritage Lottery fund was £492,200.

•         The total value of the project was £601,605.

•         Activities would involve:

•         Opening up the archive – Cataloguing, indexing and conservation

•         Digital interpretation – interactive web presence

•         Education Resources and activities

•         Inspired by Lacock – family learning and other activities.

•         The work would take place between 2013 and 2015.

•         Volunteers could become involved in the following work:

•         Creating an online catalogue - supporting the work of a professional archivist

•         Indexing manorial documents - supported by professional archivists

•         E-volunteering

•         Conservation

•         Volunteers supporting work of  a professional conservator

•         Promoting the archive for formal and informal learning

•         There would also be web based interactive activities.

•         There would be family learning activities, hands on history events, a mobile exhibition and a Lacock Local History Festival.  There would also be online educational activities working with local schools.

•         Terry thanked the local community for its support with this project and for their help with fundraising to ensure that the archive remained in the local area.

•         There would be an open evening on Wednesday 24 April 2013 from 6pm to 8pm at the History Centre in Chippenham where people could view the collection.

The visiting Cabinet member was Councillor Jane Scott, Leader of the Council.  Jane talked about the following issues:

·         When the Council became a unitary authority as well as saving money the aim was to ensure that decisions were made locally by the 18 Area Boards.

·         £100 million had been saved by merging five councils into one.  Services such as youth centres, children’s centres, libraries and adult care had continued despite a cut in government grant funding.  In order to become more efficient about 350 posts (mostly managers) had been deleted.

·         The number of young people being looked after by the Local Authority was growing and was now about 450.

·         Over £4million had been spent on economic development and unemployment was currently 2.2% in Wiltshire.  It was important to encourage businesses to stay in the area to provide jobs for local people.

·         The contact to provide superfast broadband had now been signed and it was hoped that 91% of the county would be covered by March 2016.

·         New campuses were being built and the number of council office buildings would soon be reduced from 98 to 3 hubs.

·         The future was bright for Wiltshire and good quality services would be maintained.

The Leader of the Council paid tribute to Councillor Peter Davis who had been a councillor for 30 years and had decided not to stand for re-election in May .  Peter had served on North Wiltshire District Council and Wiltshire County Council.  He was currently a member of Corsham Town Council as well as the unitary authority.  Members of the area board thanked Peter for all his hard work during this time and wished him well for the future.