Agenda and minutes

The Chairman will receive a petition regarding traffic in Devizes and provide information about:

a.     Youth pilot schemes (attached)

b.     Review of mini recycling sites and household recycling centre summer opening hours (attached)

c.     Polling station review (attached).

Apologies were received from Richard Harris (Locality Team Leader, Youth Service), Jo Partt (Bromham Parish Council) and Ian Thomas (Wiltshire Police).

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 23 January 2012.

Carolyn Gibson, Principal Planning Officer, will provide information about neighbourhood plans.

Carolyn Gibson, Principal Planning Officer, provided information about neighbourhood plans and the Wiltshire Core Strategy. This included the main points below:

·         What was a neighbourhood plan – a new way for communities to plan for the places where they lived and worked

·         When a neighbourhood plan was needed – Wiltshire Council was putting together guidance notes on this, Carolyn emphasised a neighbourhood plan was optional and not compulsory and intended as a permissive tool to enable development

·         Where the Wiltshire Core Strategy fitted in – a neighbourhood plan must be in general conformity with the Wiltshire Core Strategy

·         The document would become a  statutory plan and used to make decisions

·         Alternatives to neighbourhood plans – for example Village Design Statements.

This was followed by a short question and answer session, which covered the following:

·         Wiltshire Council would pick up the significant cost of producing a neighbourhood plan where it was deemed appropriate

·         As a statutory plan, a neighbourhood plan would be of different weight to alternative measures, however if agreed these alternative measures would still be taken into account when decisions were made

·         An officer had been requested to attend an annual parish council meeting to discuss planning issues – this request had been referred to senior management. An issue was the number of interested parish councils across the county

·         Where a number of parishes were involved in the production of a plan, a multiple approach would be appropriate, with one agreed point of contact.  

Tony Sedgwick, Chairman of Devizes Community Area Partnership, will summarise the output from the community planning event held on 6 February.

A short discussion on tables will follow to discuss how to take forward both neighbourhood plans and output from the community planning event.

Tony Sedgwick, Chairman of Devizes Community Area Partnership, provided information abut the community plan. He thanked those who had taken part in the survey and in the community planning event held on 6 February 2012.

The community plan had been two years in the making and was now issued and available to view and download on the Devizes Community Area Partnership website. A shorter version of the document was being worked on at present.

Tony went through findings on the main themes of the plan; countryside and land based, culture and leisure, community area safety, the economy and business, health and social care, housing and built environment and transport. He then explained that the next steps regarding taking forward the plan had already been made. Projects had been identified and cross theme and cross Partnership project teams were being formed.     

Decision

Councillor Mayes would meet with the heads of the Devizes Community Area Partnership theme groups twice a year to discuss key aims and priorities.

Karen Jones, Senior Project Manager at Wiltshire Council, will present proposals for older people’s accommodation in the Devizes area.  

Karen Jones, Senior Project Manager, presented proposals for older people’s accommodation in the Devizes area.

The main points covered by the presentation were:

·       Demographic characteristics – the number of older people within Devizes was to increase by 49.6% by 2026

·       Current provision within Devizes

·       Sheltered housing and extra care housing – these were the same type of accommodation, however extra care housing involved a larger range of communal facilities, was fully telecare enabled and had support provided twenty four hours a day

·       The Older People’s Accommodation Development Strategy – this was a ten year flexible plan

·       In Devizes need had been identified for a 60 unit extra care housing scheme on Browfort and an 80 bedroom care home on Horton Road providing nursing and specialist dementia care and replacing Southfields and Anzac House facilities

·       This represented a substantial improvement to older people’s accommodation in Wiltshire. 

The presentation was followed by a short question and answer session. The main points raised were that:

·       The future use of Southfields and Anzac House were under discussion

·       Conversations held across the county had found that sheltered housing was not an attractive option – in particular older people wanted larger properties where they could have visitors to stay

·       With regards to pricing, a balance had to be reached between the developer’s need to make a profit and provision required in the local area

·       A range of options would be available, with units to rent or to buy

·       Wiltshire Council would not own these units, but work with the housing association concerned through the working group to respond to the individual needs of customers

·       A key feature would be reserving the housing for elderly people      

The Chairman explained that a working group would be set up under the area board and to please contact Alexa Smith, Democratic Services Officer, if you would like to become involved.

Decision

Devizes Area Board would establish a working group to formulate and implement the Devizes development proposals regarding older people’s accommodation and report back to the area board.

Peter Hanson, Divisional Highways Manager, will present information about highways maintenance issues, including parish stewards. 

Peter Hanson, Divisional Highways Manager, presented information about highways maintenance issues, including parish stewards.

The local team at Melksham and Devizes delivered services to the parishes. Simon Green and Richard Green were the local parish stewards. Monthly, three and six monthly driven safety inspections of the highway network were held. Local resources available to the stewards included a gully tanker, road mender machine, masonry gang, cyclic maintenance gang and unimogs. There were also visiting resources, such as a JCB.

A new scheme of provision was being trialled in the north. This was a multi-functional team who would work across a larger area.

Peter explained that if you would like any work done in your parish, please contact CLARENCE on 0800 232323 (a number which was available 24 hours a day).

Peter then answered several questions, with the information covered as below:

·       Utility companies incurred a charge if their work overran – this was to encourage the companies to complete on time

·       Wiltshire Council hedge cutting had not yet started for this year

·       In the short term (before the introduction of the new multi-functional team) existing parish stewards would continue to follow the dates publicised on the calendars that had been issued for when they were working in each parish

·       Cars for sale on the roadside represented an obstruction to the highway. Where possible they would be followed up, however a problem was that card often did not remain in the same place for very long  

·       The clearance of ditches was in general the responsibility of the adjacent land owner.

To receive updates from the following partners:

a.     Wiltshire Police (attached)

b.     Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service – to include a short presentation about the Integrated Risk Management Plan (attached)

c.     Devizes Community Area Partnership (attached)

d.     The Community Area Transport Group

e.     Parish Forum (attached).

a.     A written update from Wiltshire Police was circulated at the meeting, please find attached to the minutes. The officer who attended the meeting was prepared to read out the report, but due to a shortage of time was unable to do so.

b.     The written update from Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service was noted. Scott Taylor then provided information about the Integrated Risk Management Plan. The risks that Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service faced were changing, from a reduction in the budget, through the increased housing within Wiltshire to the type of incidents that were responded to. A service review was underway and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service welcomed public opinion.

For this, you could register as a stakeholder and receive a survey to complete, please call: 01380 731114, you could view the consultation document and comment using the following email address: consultation@wiltsfire.gov.uk or surveys were available to complete at the meeting.

c.     The written update from Devizes Community Area Partnership was noted. The Partnership and the Association of Kennett Passengers were commended for their display stand regarding the local bus service.

d.     Councillor Mayes reported on behalf of the Community Area Transport Group. A pedestrian crossing at Windsor Drive was now open. A new bus stop had been installed at Estcourt Street. There would be new road markings in and out of the town at London Road. Gates had been put in place at Roundway village. The Partnership were commended for their work on the cycle route network. Reduced speed limits would come into force in Bromham and Rowde in April. A review of unclassified and C class roads was now underway and two roads had been put forward by the area board on the basis of collision rates.

Councillor Gamble then spoke about high vehicle diversions.

Decision

The area board resolved that vehicles that were too high to get under the railway bridge at Littleton Pannell should be directed away from the route by appropriate signage including that which was currently in place in Devizes owing to the unsuitability of the present diversion route. The area board did not propose to divert other HGVs from the A360, so the impact on the other routes should be small.

e.     The written update from the parish forum was noted.          

Councillors will be asked to consider three applications made to the Community Area Grants Scheme, as follows: :

a.    Devizes and District Association for the Disabled – seeking £597 to purchase new chairs in their centre.

Officer recommendation – This application should be  considered for approval.

b.    First Stages – seeking £985 towards the purchase of technical equipment for performances.

Officer recommendation – This application should be considered for approval.

c.    All Saints Church, All Cannings – seeking £5,000 towards the repair of All Cannings Church clock.

Officer recommendation – Whilst this application meets the grant criteria, the area board is advised to take into account the issues of funding and wider community benefit as described in the grants report, when deciding what, if any, award should be made.

Councillors were asked to consider the Community Area Grants report and make recommendations on the applications received.

Decision

Devizes and District Association for the Disabled were awarded £597 to purchase new chairs in their centre.

Reason

The application met the 2011/12 grant criteria and the chairs currently being used had deteriorated over time and become dangerous with several accidents.

Decision

First Stages were awarded £985 towards the purchase of technical equipment for performances.

Reason

The application met the 2011/12 grant criteria and the group currently hired technical equipment when performing, however this was expensive.

Decision

All Saints Church, All Cannings, were awarded £1,338.50 (ten per cent of the total cost of the project) towards the repair of their church clock, on condition that the remainder of the funding for the project was secured.

Reason

While the grant application met the 2011/12 grant criteria, concerns had been raised regarding securing the full amount of funding required for the project and its wider community benefit.

Consideration will be given to two member initiatives, which have been brought to the area board by Councillor Mayes, as below:

a.     To ring fence up to £3,500 to pay for costs of having a jousting tent at the Queen’s Jubilee event on 1 May in Salisbury.

b.     To carry over any remaining budget to 2012/13 for youth provision including a potential skate park and BMX facility.

Councillors were asked to consider two member initiatives, which had been brought to the area board by Councillor Mayes.

Decision

Devizes Area Board would ring fence up to £5,000 to pay for costs of having a jousting tent at the Queen’s Jubilee event on 1 May in Salisbury.

Decision

Devizes Area Board would carry over any remaining budget to 2012/13 for youth provision, including a potential skate park and BMX facility, and to fund further Jubilee celebrations.  

The Chairman thanked those who were able to attend the meeting. The next area board meeting would take place on Monday 28 May 2012 at 6.30 pm, with refreshments available from 6.00 pm, at Devizes Sports Club.