Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to Broad Hinton village hall.

The Chairman introduced Andrew Kerr, Chief Executive of Wiltshire Council, and Stuart Wheeler, Wiltshire Council cabinet member for Leisure, Sport & Culture, who were in attendance for this meeting.

The Chairman then invited all the Wiltshire Council members and officers to introduce themselves to the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Inspector Andrew Noble (Wiltshire Police), Mike Franklin (Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service), Sue Rogers ( Fyfield & West Overton Parish Council) and Melvyn Lillywhite (Preshute Parish Council).

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 8 February 2010.

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 February 2010 were agreed as a correct record of the meeting and signed by the Chairman with the following amendment:

Joan Davies (Savernake Parish Council) was in attendance.

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

Councillor Chris Humphries declared a personal interest in agenda items No.11ai & iii Community Area Grants – Aldbourne Scouts and Guide supporters and Aldbourne Festival Committee as he was a member of Aldbourne Parish Council.  He did not vote on these applications.

Gypsy and Traveller Consultation

Wiltshire Council was preparing a plan that was to identify land for gypsy and traveller sites and included a policy for assessing the suitability of other sites the Council was asked to consider through the planning application process.

The Council had a responsibility to plan for the housing needs of everyone in the Wiltshire community.

An 8 week consultation on the issues and general approach to identifying land for new gypsy, traveller and show people sites was to start on Tuesday 6April and continue until 5pm on Friday 4June 2010. This was the first stage in the process of preparing a Gypsy & Traveller Site Allocations Development Plan Document.

The purpose of the consultation was to:

·         Discuss the issues around providing new sites.

·         Develop a method for assessing what is a good location for new sites.

·         Invite land to be put forward to be considered as possible new sites.

All information that related to the consultation was available from the end of March on the planning policy pages of the Council’s web site www.wiltshire.gov.uk, in the main Council offices in Chippenham, Devizes, Salisbury and Trowbridge and available at local libraries.

If you wanted to discuss the issues involved in this consultation in more detail drop in events were being held at the following locations between 4pm and 8pm:

Neald Hall, Chippenham Wednesday 5May 2010

Wessex Room, Corn Exchange, Devizes Tuesday 11May 2010

Meeting Room, City Hall, Salisbury Thursday 13May 2010

Review of Special Educational Needs Provision

Over recent months, Wiltshire Council officers had worked with schools, parent representatives and other people to review Special Educational Needs (SEN) provision in the county.  The review related to the whole of Wiltshire.

Any questions about the proposals or the consultation process can be sent in the first instance to Tracy Gates, SEN Project Officer either by phone, 01225 756170 or email, tracygates@wiltshire.gov.uk.

Flooding - request for information from Parish and Town Councils

Flood Packs – proposed new flooding legislation had placed responsibility on Wiltshire Council for putting in place local strategies for managing flood risk. Two flood working groups had been set up to cover the County, as part of this work Wiltshire Council was collating information on flooding and drainage issues and wanted town and parish councils to gather information using the flood packs provided which could then be used to feed into the process.

Flood Fair – the first ‘Flood Fair’ for town and parish councils were to be held on 14 April at the Olympiad Leisure Centre, Chippenham from 10am – 2pm. The purpose of the flood fair was to raise awareness of flooding and drainage issues.

To note the attached updates, where provided, and receive any further information partners wish to share:

a)        Wiltshire Police

b)        Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

c)         NHS Wiltshire

d)        Marlborough and Villages Community Area Partnership (MaVCAP)

e)        Town and Parish Councils.

Wiltshire Police

Acting Inspector Andy Peach (Wiltshire Police) asked that the written update distributed with the agenda was noted.

Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

The written update distributed with the agenda was noted.

NHS Wiltshire

The written update distributed with the agenda was noted, a press statement regarding the new out-of-hours service for Wiltshire was relayed to the meeting by the Community Area Manager, the actual opening hours of the Savernake Hospital out-of-hours service were questioned.

Decision

The Community Area Manager agreed to follow this up.

It was also agreed that James Cawley (Service Director) would facilitate a meeting with NHS Wiltshire and Marlborough Area Board members to discuss concerns that Marlborough area residents had with the NHS Wiltshire service that they were receiving.  It was agreed that James Cawley would follow up Wiltshire ambulance response times and report back to the board.

Decision

The Service Director was to arrange a meeting with NHS Wiltshire and Marlborough Area Board and investigate the ambulance response times.

Marlborough and Villages Community Area Partnership (MAVCAP)

It was agreed that the MAVCAP update would be given as part of the ‘Dreams & Wishes’ update.

Town or Parish updates

Ramsbury & Axford Parish Councilwere unhappy about dog fouling and the lack of legislation to prosecute irresponsible dog owners.

A representative from Wiltshire Police will give a presentation on the work of its Protective Services Department, including vulnerable person teams, child protection, major and organised crime as well as Specialist Operations such as public order and critical incidents.  This will be followed by a short question and answer session.  A list of the services is attached.

Police Sergeant Max White (Wiltshire Police) gave a presentation on the work of its Protective Services Department, which included vulnerable person teams, child protection, major and organised crime as well as Specialist Operations such as public order and critical incidents. 

The Chairman thanked Police Sergeant White for his presentation.

The Cabinet Representative will talk about his responsibilities for leisure, sport and culture including heritage, museums and arts, and respond to any questions.

Cllr Stuart Wheeler (Cabinet Member for Leisure) gave a brief outline of his portfolio.

Points made included:

• There was a major review of Wiltshire Council’s leisure services currently happening, looking at what the council had, what condition it was in and what residents of Wiltshire wanted from their leisure services.

• Cllr Wheeler was working closely with the ‘workplace transformation’ team to ensure that leisure is fairly represented.

• Vision – Wiltshire Council wanted to make the county the healthiest in the UK by 2014.

• Sport – Wiltshire Council is keen to encourage young people to join organised sports and for older people to get back into sport.

• Culture - Wiltshire Council actively supported Art & Culture across the county.

Points made from the floor included:

• The Wiltshire Council leisure review should take note of the community area plan for the Marlborough area.

• Culture groups hoped that funding from Wiltshire Council was to at least equal that received from the old District & County councils.

• The free swimming initiative should continue.

• The cost of using leisure facilities was prohibitive to many young people.

• Better affordable transport provision for young people to travel to leisure centre on public transport.

The Chairman thanked Cllr Wheeler for attending the meeting.

Rich Pitts, Chairman of MaVCAP, will update the meeting on the current progress of the project.

Councillor Nick Fogg (Marlborough West) will report back from the working group.

[Reports for both items will follow.]

Rich Pitts, Chairman of MaVCAP updated the meeting on the current progress of the project and requested to spend up to £2000 to carry out detailed analysis of the ‘Dreams and Wishes’ consultation results.

In order to interpret this information correctly and respond to identified need, robust analysis of this data was required.

Decision

Rich Pitts and the Community Area Manager to discuss how best to spend the £2000 on the project analysis and that a decision was reached within a two week period of 13 April 2010, Marlborough Area Board meeting.  Board members agreed that this should be a delegated decision.

Councillor Nick Fogg (Marlborough West) and Fiona Lawson (Kennet Valley Arts Trust) reported back from the working group meeting and advised that there was a proposal to show films at St John’s School, Marlborough.

The aim was to seek support and backing of the Marlborough Area Board for the showing of two films at St John’s school.

Various partners had been exploring the key issues, concerns and priorities were for young people in the Marlborough Community Area. (‘Dreams and Wishes’).

On 8 February 2010, Marlborough Area Board committed the under spend of £7,439 from the 2009/10 Area Board budget to be carried over to 2010/11, to be used to deliver projects identified from the February 2010 ‘Dreams & Wishes consultation exercise with local young people.

One such area of work that was identified as being achievable was to pilot the showing of films in St John’s School whilst other possibilities are explored.

It was proposed that Kennet Valley Arts Trust (KVAT) working with St John’s School and other partners provided two movie experiences at St John’s School on Friday 7 May from 6.30 for a 7pm showing and the same time on Friday 4 June.

The two films to be shown will be ‘UP’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland’. The idea is that this will compliment the films shown at the Town Hall which are aimed at an older audience.

It is estimated that, in order to show one film, the costs would be approximately £400 and would include hall hire, publicity and the licence to screen a film.

There was to be no cost for equipment hire owing to the fact that this was already in place at the school.

Tickets were to be priced at £5 for adults and £3 for children under15.

It was also hoped that revenue could be obtained through the selling of drinks, snacks and popcorn.

Decision

Marlborough Area Board supported the proposal to show two films at St John’s School in May & June.

Agreed to underwrite the outlined proposals.

Requested that any lessons learned be brought back to the Board and fed into the ongoing work of providing sustainable, affordable and accessible screening of films.

Agreed that young people were involved in the setting of the film programme including choosing films, times for shows and transport issues.

The Chairman thanked everybody for their updates.

Councillor Charles Howard, will present the findings of the Working Group followed by an opportunity for questions.  The Area Board will be asked to consider a recommendation that Wiltshire Council be asked to submit an application to the Department for Transport that the A338 / A346 corridor be de-primed and for restrictions then to be placed on the A338 and other north/south roads such as the A345.

Cllr Charles Howard presented the findings of the A338/A346 Working Group.

The Area Board was asked to consider a recommendation that Wiltshire Council submit an application to the Department for Transport that the A338 / A346 corridor be de-primed and for restrictions then to be placed on the A338 and other north/south roads such as the A345.

Decision

The Marlborough Area Board noted the report and thanked the Working Group for its hard work.

The Marlborough Area Board supported the conclusion of the report and recommended that the Council apply to the Department for Transport for the de-priming of the A338/A346 corridor.

a)        Community Area Grant Scheme

The Wiltshire Councillors will consider 3 applications to the Community Area Grants Scheme, as follows:

          i.       Aldbourne Scout and Guide Supporters – requesting £1737 towards the refurbishment of the scouting and guide hall.

         ii.       Kennet Valley Village Hall – requesting £1000 towards the production of 2 matching reinforced frames to house a new embroidered wall-hanging and montage of historic photos.

        iii.       Aldbourne Festival Committee – requesting £1250 towards the 17^th century re-enactment taking part at Aldbourne Ten Year Festival.

Copies of the completed grant application forms and grant application packs for the Community Area Grants Scheme areavailable from the Community Area Manager or electronically at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/areaboardscommunitygrantsscheme.htm.

b)        Community Area Partnership

Rich Pitts, Chairman of MaVCAP, will request funding from the Area Board to cover running costs.

c)         Performance Reward Grant Scheme

To consider an application to all of Wiltshire’s 18 Area Boards for a ‘Community Payback’ scheme.

a)     Community Area Grants

The Wiltshire Councillors considered three applications to the Community Area Grants Scheme.

A representative addressed the Area Board on behalf of the Kennet Valley Village Hall.

Mr Sheppard addressed the Area Board on behalf of the Aldbourne Festival Committee.

Note

Cllr Chris Humphries did not take part in the votes for the Aldbourne Scouts and Guides Supporters and the Aldbourne Festival Committee applications.

Decision

Aldbourne Scout and Guide Supporters were awarded £1737 towards the refurbishment of the scouting and guide hall.

Reason

The above applications met the Community Area Grant criteria.

Decision

Kennet Valley Village Hall were awarded £1000 towards the production of two matching reinforced frames to house a new embroidered wall-hanging and montage of historic photos.

Reason

The above applications met the Community Area Grant criteria.

Decision

Aldbourne Festival Committee were awarded £1250 towards the 17^thcentury re-enactment taking part at the Aldbourne Ten Year Festival.

Reason

The above applications met the Community Area Grant criteria.

b)     Community Area Partnership

Rich Pitts, Chairman of MaVCAP, requested funding from the Area Board to cover running costs. This application was deferred until the 22 June 2010 meeting.

c)     Performance Reward Grant Scheme

To consider an application to all of Wiltshire’s 18 Area Boards for a ‘Community Payback’ scheme.  The application would enable offenders to repay their debt to society through the contribution of time and labour to help local communities tackle a wide range of issues from graffiti and chewing gum removal to litter picking, ground clearance and other environmental improvement projects.

Decision

The Marlborough Area Board endorsed the Performance Reward Grant application from Community Payback of £73,000.

The Chairman will invite any remaining questions from the floor.

The following questions were raised:

• Fly posting on vacant shop windows throughout Marlborough – agreed that an issues sheet would be filled out for the Community Area Manager to follow up.

• The upgrading of the George Lane zebra crossing – it was agreed that this issue would be discussed at a future meeting.

• Parents dropping off pupils of St John’s School, Marlborough at the rear of Waitrose – agreed that an issues sheet would be filled out for the Community Area Manager to follow up.

The meeting is reminded that the arrangements for future meetings are set out in the attached Forward Work Plan.

The Chairman thanked all those who had attended and reminded those present to complete the new pink evaluation form.