Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chairman for the forthcoming year.

Cllr Chris Humphries was re-elected as Chairman.

To elect a Vice Chairman for the forthcoming year.

Cllr Nick Fogg was re-elected as Vice-Chairman.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to St Michael’s School.

The Chairman then invited all the Wiltshire Council members and the Parish council representatives in attendance to introduce themselves to the meeting.

The Chairman thanked Kevin Fielding, (Democratic Services Officer) for his hard work as this was his last Marlborough Area Board meeting.

It was agreed that the Chairman would take the area grant funding application straight after his announcements as the speaker had another engagement which she needed to attend.

Apologies for absence were received from Julia Densham – Community Area Manager, Bob Gutherson – Berwick Bassett & Winterbourne Monkton Parish Council, Tony Barron – Wiltshire PCT, Rich Pitts – Marlborough Community Area Partnership and Mike Franklin - Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service.

a. To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 12 April 2011.

b. Matters arising from the last meeting.

a. The minutes of the meeting held on 12 April 2011 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

b. Matters arising

    There were none.

Councillors are requested to declare any personal or prejudicial interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive the following Chairman’s announcements:

• Consultation on Waste Sites
• Street Trading (revised) Consultation
• Core Strategy Consultation Event

·        Marlborough Energy Day

Core Strategy Consultation Event

Wiltshire Council is consulting on the Core Strategy for Wiltshire.  The consultation would take place between 13th June and 8th August.

This would set out how Wiltshire will change over the next 15 years or so and would importantly give a certain framework within which investors can make decisions and communities can consider their neighbourhood plans (subject to what emerges through the Localism Bill).

As an ongoing part of that dialogue we are committed to further consultation within each Community Area.

An event has been organised in Marlborough Town Hall on Wednesday 29 June. It will run from 2.30 – 8.00pm and will take the form of an exhibition with officers on hand to answer any questions and take note of comments made.

Marlborough Energy Awareness Event

Wiltshire Council’s Energy Awareness Event would be held at Marlborough library on Wednesday 29th June 10.30am - 2.30pm.

Attendees would have access to a wealth of knowledge and information and the opportunity to chat with specially trained Home Energy Efficiency Officers to find out how you can reduce costs by running their home more energy efficiently. 

Invitation to comment on the final draft proposed new council-wide Street trading scheme

At a meeting on the 5 April 2011 Wiltshire Council’s Licensing Committee considered the issues raised by public consultation on the proposed council-wide street trading scheme.

The street trading scheme would now be revised in the light of these decisions. Council officers would undertake a second, two week, public consultation commencing mid June 2011 with all interested parties including area boards.

The consultation document is available on the Council’s website: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council/consultations.htm

The Licensing Committee would consider the revised street trading scheme and the results of the second public consultation at a meeting in September 2011, with a view to the council adopting the council-wide street trading scheme by the end of 2011.

Consultation on Wiltshire and Swindon Proposed Submission Draft Waste Site Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD)

Wiltshire Council is updating its policy framework to ensure that future proposals for waste development in Wiltshire are for the right types of facilities in the right locations. Consultation will commence in June 2011 for 8 weeks on a draft Waste Site Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD) (starting 13 June 2011 and closing at 5pm 5 August 2011).

The consultation document allocates a range of sites for a variety of potential waste uses to provide a flexible and responsive framework that will enable waste to be driven up the waste hierarchy - i.e. reducing our dependence on landfill, with a greater focus on recycling and composting of waste. The majority of sites identified are on land currently in use by existing waste management facilities or current/proposed industrial areas (list of sites and map attached).

Once the consultation period had closed, the draft Sites DPD, the supporting evidence base and all comments received during the consultation will be submitted to the Secretary of State (following Full Council approval) for independent examination.

This DPD forms  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Wiltshire Councillors will consider the following application to the Community Area Grants Scheme 2011/12:

• Aldbourne Scout Group - £798

Copies of the completed application forms and grant application packs for the Community Area Grants Scheme are available from the Community Area Manager or electronically at:

http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/areaboardscommunitygrantsscheme.htm

The Community Area Manager outlined the grant application that the Wiltshire Councillors were about to consider.

The Wiltshire Councillors then considered the application to the Community Area Grants Scheme 2011/12, as follows:

Representation was made by Jude Edmondson on behalf of the Aldbourne Scout Group

Decision

Aldbourne Scout Group was awarded £798 towards provision of new tents.

Reason

The above application met the Community Area Grant criteria for 2011/12 and the application demonstrates links to Wiltshire Council’s priorities in the Local Agreement for Wiltshire that aim to get more young people to take part in a wide range of activities and play, increase children and young people’s access to facilities and activities and to help local communities build a strong and vibrant voluntary sector.

Further to the findings of the Community Area Manager’s report in February and consideration by the Parish Forum, Cllr Chris Humphries to lead a discussion about how to improve the area board meeting format and content.

Cllr Chris Humphries lead a discussion about how to improve the area board meeting format and content, a report from the Community Area Manager had set out various suggestions including agenda and minutes, staging, content and presentation.

Points made from the included:

·         Seating plan is important if good debate is to be encouraged.

·         More local/topical issues which would then attract better attendances.

·         More time spent actually debating issues.

·         Wifi access available at meetings, saving on paper agendas.

·         More bottom up discussions with less corporate items.

·         Parishes should be able to bring their ideas and issues to the Area Board.

·         More clarity on how the Area Board process works with less bureaucracy.

·         That the Area Board is an evolving process.

The Chairman thanked everyone for their input.

Members of Marlborough Area Parish Forum will lead a discussion to tease out the key issues around speeding through the villages and how to go about reclaiming them from traffic.

Cllr Dick Tonge, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, will outline the main processes for addressing speeding issues.

Mary Spender (Fyfield & West Overton Parish Council) introduced a discussion to tease out the key issues around speeding through the villages and how to go about reclaiming them from traffic, the work of Ben Hamilton-Bailey, (traffic management expert) was discussed.

Cllr Dick Tonge (Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport) was in attendance to outline the main processes for addressing speeding issues.

Points made included:

• Most villages appear to have speeding issues.

• Villages should take responsibility for tackling speeding in their community.

• Villages highlighting the fact that drivers are travelling through a village.

• Village traffic working groups were a good way of bringing speeding issues to the attention of Wiltshire Council.

• That perhaps a forum could be set up with Ben Hamilton-Bailey invited to speak at it.

• Villages should try and make changes in an holistic way.

Points made by Cllr Dick Tonge included:

That a complete review of all Wiltshire’s A & B roads had been carried out.

• A large number of changes to speed limits had been carried out.

• The review process had now been carried out, only changes to speed limits on these roads would be carried out if material changes were to occur.

• Wiltshire Council were to carry out twelve 20mph pilot schemes, these pilot schemes would be self enforced. Villages would be invited to apply to be a pilot area.

• Community Speed Watch had been a great success throughout Wiltshire.

Decision:

That the Parish Forum leads on the issue of village speeding and is supported by the Marlborough Area Board.

The Chairman thanked Mary Spender and Cllr Dick Tonge.

Martin Cook, Chairman of the Marlborough Area Development Trust, will give an update on the consultation and lead a discussion on the following:

·        What has been achieved so far and what has been heard at the workshops

·        How the parish councils will feed into the consultation and include their village design statements and parish plans

·        Consider how local community groups will feed into the consultation

·        Request an extension on the consultation plan if MADT wish to consult further.

The Parish Forum is already working well with MADT in the development of parish consultation on the plan and it greatly appreciates their assistance.

Martin Cook - Chairman of the Marlborough Area Development Trust and Richard Clarke - Marlborough Area Development Trust advised that:

·         The MAP Programme is currently the major focus for MADT.

 MADT has been commissioned by the Marlborough Area Board (initially by MaVCAP) to review and update the Marlborough Area Community Plan, which is currently in phase 2: MAP Consultation Programme which has been underway since 15^th March and will be extended until the end of July 2011.

MADT New Projects

MADT is now working on a number of new projects principally aimed at supporting local business:

·         Building Business Awareness: new Directory Services as part of www.marlborougharea.org

·         Monitoring of Broadband Performance for services in the Area.

·         Study of options for deploying a Community WiFi system.

The Chairman thanked Martin Cook and Richard Clarke for their update.

Cllr James Keith, Broad Hinton and Winterbourne Bassett Parish Council will give an update on the current proposals concerning the route of the foot path.

The proposal by Friends of the Ridgeway to publicise the Great Stones Way walk will have an impact for nine affected parishes within the Marlborough area. These parishes have resolved to come together to ensure that there is effective representation from the community on the Scoping Committee which will, amongst other tasks, scrutinise a proposed Environmental Impact Assessment.

The Parish Forum sub- group wish to appoint either one or two representatives to the Scoping Committee and the group wishes to seek a resolution from the Marlborough Area Board that the board will:

• Support the request and forward a recommendation to the Rights of Way Officer, Wiltshire Council, to appoint parish representative(s) to the Environmental Impact Assessment’s Scoping committee.

Julia Cramp, Service Director for Commissioning and Performance, Department for Children and Education, Wiltshire Council will give a presentation about the 13 to 19 Commissioning Strategy which will set out a coherent vision and offer to 13 to 19 year olds who live in Wiltshire. It has been designed to ensure Wiltshire’s young people receive a sustainable service which meets their needs.

The 13-19 Commissioning Strategy consultation can be viewed at:

http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/commissioning_strategy_for_young_people?tab=files

Julia Cramp - Service Director for Commissioning and Performance, Department for Children and Education, Wiltshire Council gave a presentation about the 13 to 19 Commissioning Strategy which sets out a coherent vision and offer to 13 to 19 year olds who live in Wiltshire. It had been designed to ensure Wiltshire’s young people receive a sustainable service which meets their needs.

The key aim is to improve outcomes for young people aged 13 – 19 in Wiltshire.

This would be done by:

·         Making sure there is a good range of quality services.

·         Providing an early response to the needs of young people when they are at risk or problems arise.

·         Improving the way we work together.

·         The 13 -19 Commissioning Strategy has a broad scope and includes health, education, housing, leisure, teenage pregnancy, youth crime and safeguarding.

Cllr Peggy Dow made the point that:

·         The Marlborough Community Area is a large, rural area with a small, dispersed population. We want to be sure that this consultation:

a)    Acknowledges the specific issues of service provision in our area in terms of its rural nature;

b)    Undertakes a broad consultation that includes the various existing youth services not provided by the council, for example, the Aldbourne Youth Council.

Julia Cramp was presented with a book which had been compiled by members of the Aldbourne Youth Group highlighting activities that the group had taken part in.

The Chairman thanked Julia Cramp for her presentation and invited her back to speak at a future meeting where more time could be given to the topic.

Cllr Dick Tonge will respond to the following written question received by the area board:

‘There have been reports in the press about Wiltshire Council losing track of £16 million of S106 funds (equivalent to the target savings of unitary transfer).  Can we have an update and were any Marlborough area funds affected?’

Cllr Dick Tonge will respond to the following written question received by the area board:

‘There have been reports in the press about Wiltshire Council losing track of £16 million of S106 funds (equivalent to the target savings of unitary transfer). Can we have an update and were any Marlborough area funds affected?’

Answer

In April the press suggested that the council had lost £16 million in section 106 Agreement contributions.    This is incorrect.  Prior to the move to one council, the four former districts had different ways of recording section 106 agreements, the collection of funds and where contributions were held in their finance systems.  Wiltshire Council quickly recognised the problem and began a process of capturing data on all agreements in a single database  so that it has an accurate and accessible record of what has been collected, what is outstanding , where funds are held and what has been spent.   This process is well underway but is taking longer than expected because of the sheer number of agreements and their complexity. 

What the press were presumably referring to was 'uncollected' contributions.     Standard Section 106 Agreements contain payment 'triggers', stages in a development when payments fall due.  Examples range from commencement of work on site,  completion of the 50th, 150th or 200th house,  bringing open space/highways up to an adoptable standard  etc.   At any given time there are always considerable amounts outstanding simply because the 'payment trigger has not been reached.  This is particularly so in respect of the larger residential developments which take years to complete and which also generate the largest contributions.

The new database is enabling Wiltshire Council to quantify for the first time what is outstanding in the county and to ensure the triggers are monitored and contributions collected more effectively.

It is worth mentioning here that Section 106 contributions are tightly ring fenced and have to be spent on exactly what is specified in the relevant agreement.  The funds do not form a 'community chest' and if £350,000 has been paid for highway improvements, or to provide new classrooms for children who will move into new houses, this is precisely what the money has to be spent on.  It cannot be diverted to another worthy cause.

Looking ahead, it looks increasingly likely that this will change with the introduction of the 'Community infrastructure Levy' in 2014.  This will phase out the use of most Section 106 Agreements and will probably contain a requirement that an unspecified percentage of contributions can be held centrally to be spent on priorities identified by local communities/neighbourhoods.

The Chairman thanked Cllr Dick Tonge.

To receive any updates from the following partners:

a)     Wiltshire Police

b)     Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service

c)      NHS Wiltshire

d)     Town and Parish Council Nominated Representatives

e)     Marlborough Area Development Trust (MADT)

f)        Marlborough Area Parish Forum (MAPF)

a.Wiltshire Police

The written update distributed with the agenda was noted.

Points made by Inspector Ron Peach also included:

·         That crime rates were reducing in all areas.

·         Good partnership working being carried in Lockeridge by PC Sarah Watts.

·         That there had been no actual reduction in Neighbourhood Policing.

b.Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

The written update distributed with the agenda was noted.

c.NHS Wiltshire

The written update distributed with the agenda was noted.

d.Town or Parish updates

There were no updates.

e.Marlborough Area Development Trust

Covered under agenda item No.10.

f.Marlborough Area Parish Forum

There were no updates.

To confirm the following Wiltshire Councillor appointments to outside bodies:

a)     Avebury Solstice Operational Planning Meeting – Cllr Jemima Milton

b)     Avebury World Heritage Site Steering Committee – Cllr Jemima Milton

c)      Avebury Traffic & Visitor Management Group – Cllr Jemima Milton

d)     Marlborough Area Young People’s Issues Group (CAYPIG) – Cllr Peggy Dow

The following Wiltshire Councillor appointments to outside bodies were re-confirmed:

a) Avebury Solstice Operational Planning Meeting – Cllr Jemima Milton

b) Avebury World Heritage Site Steering Committee – Cllr Jemima Milton

c) Avebury Traffic & Visitor Management Group – Cllr Jemima Milton

d) Marlborough Area Young People’s Issues Group (CAYPIG) – Cllr Peggy Dow

The Chairman will invite those present to suggest topics to be considered at future meetings.

It was agreed that any suggestions should be sent to the Community Area Manager, and that perhaps a small guide giving information about presentation, drawing from agenda item No.8 could be put together, this would perhaps encourage more concise, better researched presentations with more local relevance in the future.

The Chairman will invite any remaining questions from the floor.

There were no questions.

Cllr Jemima Milton requested that her thanks be noted to all the people who had helped to arrange the recent Health Fair.

The Chairman thanked everybody for attending the meeting.

To note that future meetings of the Marlborough Area Board will take place on:

Tuesday 6 September 2011 - Marlborough Town Hall

Tuesday 1 November 2011 - Broad Hinton Village Hall

Tuesday 7 February 2012 - Kennet Valley Village Hall, Lockeridge

Tuesday 6 September 2011 - Marlborough Town Hall

Tuesday 1 November 2011 - Broad Hinton Village Hall

Tuesday 7 February 2012 - Kennet Valley Village Hall, Lockeridge