Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to St John’s Community College.

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

Apologies for absence were received from Joan Davies – Savernake Parish Council, Jenny Baldrey & Gretchen Rawlins – Avebury Parish Council.

a.    To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meetings held on 31 August 2010.

b.   Matters arising from the last meeting.

1. The minutes of the meeting held on 31 August 2010 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

2. Matters arising.

   A question was raised as to how the £709 community area grant awarded to the Marlborough apple day festival was spent.

   It was confirmed that grant was used to set up the festival and publicising the event.  The proceeds of the event would be used to buy more fruit trees, future apple day festivals and the orchard project.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

To include, but not limited to, the following:

a.      VCS Awards Ceremony

b.      Wiltshire Intelligence Network

c.      Wiltshire Council’s new approach to providing face to face customer access to council services

d.      Gypsy and Traveller Site Consultation

e.      Consultation on Wiltshire Local Transport Plan 2011 – 2026

a. VCS Awards Ceremony.

The Dreams and Wishes project had been short listed at Wiltshire VCS Awards scheme Ceremony which was due to take place on 19 October 2010.

b. Wiltshire Intelligence Network

A new website has been created to provide access to a wide variety of information and research for Wiltshire. 

c. Wiltshire Council’s new approach to providing face to face customer

access to council services

New proposals to provide face to face contact with our customers.

d. Gypsy and Traveller Site Consultation

  Consultation planned on possible new Gypsy and Traveller sites following on from the work carried out in April and June this year has now been put on hold.

e. Wiltshire Local Transport Plan 2011 – 2026

The Council has a statutory duty to review and publish a new Local Transport Plan (LTP) by the end of March 2011.

To note the written reports and receive updates from any partners who wish to contribute:

a) Wiltshire Police

b) Wiltshire Fire and Rescue

c) Wiltshire NHS

d) Town and Parish Councils

e) Marlborough and Villages Community Area Partnership (MaVCAP)

Wiltshire Police

Inspector Andy Noble – requested that the written update distributed with the agenda be noted.

That it was unclear at the moment as to how the spending review would impact on policing in Wiltshire, Inspector Noble advised that he would be happy to update the board at a future board meeting as to any Wiltshire Police re-modelling that came out of the review.

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.

Town or Parish updates

Sheila Glass – (Ramsbury & Axford Parish council) raised the issue of the  community area grant application from Ramsbury Allotment Association for £831 to install a water pipe to supply water to the field edge of recently acquired allotments.  The application was granted with the condition that each allotment holder paid £5 towards the scheme.

Sheila Glass then requested that the area board revoke the condition and resolve that in future meetings the feeling of the meeting should guide Councillors’ votes.

The Chairman advised that the area board had looked at this application as it does any other, the method used to come to the board’s decision was the method used on all applications and that area board meetings were a learning curve for everybody.

Julia Densham, the new community area manager advised that she would be visiting all the parishes to get a feel of how the parishes felt about the area board structure and the input that they had at the meetings they attended.

Points made by the area board members and the floor included:

• Each parish should have a voice at the area board meetings.

• Only four out of sixteen parishes were in attendance at this meeting.

• Wiltshire councillors should listen to the feeling of the meeting when making decisions.

• It was incorrect to think that the area board meetings were pro-Marlborough in the decisions made.

• It was a parish representative who had tabled the grant condition.

The Chairman thanked everybody for their input and advised that everybody should now move forward and not look back at past decisions.

Marlborough and Villages Community Area Partnership (MaVCAP)

Michael Edmonds, (MaVCAP Vice-chairman) briefly outlined the written update distributed with the agenda.

The Chairman thanked everybody for their updates.

To receive an overview of the recent meeting of the Youth Transport Task Group and consider the following proposals:

1. Cllr Peggy Dow will present a proposal on behalf of the Youth Transport Task Group for transport funding to a further 7 events.

b. The Chairman will present a request for funding for a project that aims to assess the current provision and availability of community transport for youth activities.

a. Cllr Peggy Dow presented a proposal on behalf of the Youth Transport  Working Group for transport funding to a further seven events.

It was discussed and then proposed that transport is offered to the following events:

·        Salvage Fashion Show (13^th November).

·        Three evening events during the Youth Development Centre events programme. The Youth Service will provide the driver and chaperone for these events. (During Autumn half term).

·        2 x Bluz ‘n’ Zuz (During November/December).

·        Iron Man II film showing at St John’s Community College.

Points made from the floor:

·        That the Ramsbury flyer could be used in principle, (the hiring fee would need to paid and a driver was required) as well as looking into the hiring of mini buses from Marlborough college.

·        There would be better publicity for the proposed events, including using the internet.

·        Elly Vesey-Thompson (UK Youth Parliament representative) would co-ordinate and be the contact point for any requests to travel on the minibus.

·        A future consideration was to look at taking young people from Marlborough to youth activities in Ramsbury.

Decision:

• That the Marlborough Area Board supports the proposal from the Youth Transport Working Group and allocates £630 for the scheme.

• The Marlborough Area Board requests that the evaluation of this project is brought back to the meeting on 8 February 2011 to be considered alongside the ’Mapping and Gapping’ report.

b. Cllr Dow presented a request for funding for a project that aimed to assess the current provision and availability of community transport for youth activities.

Decision:

• That the Marlborough Area Board supports the proposal from the youth transport task group and agrees to fund Community First £1,108 to research this ‘mapping and gapping’ project and requests that they bring a report with their findings to the area board meeting on 8 February 2011.

1. Air Quality Issues in Marlborough

Peter Nobes, Environmental Protection Officer, will give a presentation on the air quality management plan options for Marlborough and respond to any questions.

2. Health and Social Care

To receive the following updates on the current situation in health and social care provision, and consider a proposal to set up a working group to address local health issues:

                       i.       Cllr Jemima Milton will give a presentation on her role as the Wiltshire Councillor portfolio holder for adult care; and

                     ii.       Val Compton will update the meeting on her proposal to create a local health forum.

a. Air Quality Issues in Marlborough

Peter Nobes, (Environmental Protection Officer, Wiltshire Council) gave a presentation on the air quality management plan options for Marlborough in which he outlined the work that Wiltshire Council had been carrying out in monitoring Air Quality in Marlborough for several years.

A recent report (The Detailed Assessment of the Air Quality in Herd Street, Marlborough) had stated that the UK Air Quality Objectives for the average concentration of the exhaust pollutant, nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) is likely to be exceeded in Herd Street / Barn Street. 

As a result of the conclusions made in this report, Wiltshire Council now had a duty to declare an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) which will need to cover at least the area known to be a problem and are seeking to consult on options for the AQMA within the Marlborough area.

While the air quality problems in Herd Street / Barn Street are known and monitoring is established, there is concern regarding levels of pollution in other areas of the town and so Wiltshire Council are suggesting three alternatives for the AQMA within Marlborough and to consult with residents as to the best option for the town.

The final decision of the boundary and the formal designation of the AQMA would be made by the Marlborough Area Board, the decision making body for Wiltshire Council in the Marlborough Area. 

The options for the air quality management areas are:

• Herd Street / Barn Street.

• Marlborough Main roads that fed into Herd and Barn Street.

• Marlborough town centre.

Peter Nobes outlined the proposed consultation that would take place:

• Introduce options to area board.

• Local display / meetings.

• Formally approve detailed assessment including AQMA boundaries at the area board.

• Further assessment (12 months).

• Air Quality Action Plan (12 – 18 months).

Points made from the floor included:

• The cause of the air pollution in Marlborough is the volume of traffic travelling through it, an issue that needed to be addressed as well as the air pollution.

• That Herd and Barn Street are about 20% above the average concentration of the exhaust pollutant, nitrogen dioxide (NO₂).

• Marlborough required a bypass to deal with both issues.

The Chairman thanked Peter Nobes for his presentation.

b. Health and Social Care

To receive the following updates on the current situation in health and social care provision, and consider a proposal to set up a working party to address local health issues:

Maggie Rae, (Director of Public Health & Wellbeing, a joint appointment across NHS Wiltshire and Wiltshire Council), gave a verbal presentation on the changes occurring in the department for public health.

Points made included:

• Changes to the health system with public health going back into local government.

• Looking at health choices – what people want from their health services.

• More power being given to local authorities to look at how their community areas roll out health care.

• Lack of engagement had been an issue with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

Adrian Hampton, Head of Local Highways and Streetscene (North), will give a presentation on the work of the parish stewards.

Adrian Hampton, (Head of Local Highways and Streetscene (North), Wiltshire Council) gave a short presentation on the work of the parish stewards.

Points made included:

• There are twenty parish stewards employed by Wiltshire Council to cover the county.

• Duties include weeding, filling potholes, verge and drain clearing as well as seasonal work such as gritting and snow clearing.

• William Lee was the Marlborough community area steward.
• The Marlborough community area had now joined the North team, with office contactKatie Castle, who was based at the Chippenham Office.

• As part of the Wiltshire Council re-structuring, street cleansing and highways maintenance had merged.

• For general information contact:

           www.wiltshire.gov.uk/parishstewardsscheme.htm

• To report an issue, email: clarence@wiltshire.gov.uk or telephone: 0800 23 23 23 - landlines within Wiltshire, 01225 77 72 34 - mobiles or landlines outside Wiltshire.

The Chairman thanked Adrian Hampton for his presentation.

To consider one expression of interest to the Performance Reward Grant Scheme, as follows:

Wiltshire Voices - Councillors will be asked to approve a Wiltshire Voices initiative aiming to encourage a broader participation in civic life by groups that are seldom heard.  This initiative is looking for endorsement in principle with the specific ‘hard to reach’ group to be agreed through consultation at a future meeting. This is a county-wide bid going to all 18 area boards.

The Wiltshire Councillors considered one bid to the Performance Reward Grant Scheme, as follows:

An application had been received by all area boards from Councillor Chris Williams, entitled Wiltshire Voices. This project was a two year initiative which would challenge our Area Boards to develop new and innovative approaches to community engagement and empowerment, particularly focused on engaging with hard to reach and traditionally excluded groups.

The Marlborough area board members discussed whether to endorse the principle of the bid, with the specific ‘hard to reach’ group to be agreed through consultation.

Points made included:

• Parish councils should be involved when looking at identifying hard to reach/excluded groups in the local area.

• Did the area board really need to be involved in this initiative?.

• It would be a mistake not to try and engage with hard to reach/excluded groups in the local area.

• That his initiative could link into the local health forum.

The Chairman advised that the Marlborough Area Board could work with MaVCAP and local charity groups in order to identify the hard to reach/excluded group to support through the initiative.

Decision

• The Marlborough Area Board agrees to support the principle of the Wiltshire Voices bid.

The Chairman will invite any remaining questions from the floor.

The Chairman invited questions from the floor.

Would the Pewsey Road bridge be open over the Chistmas period?

The bridge should be open from the first or second week in December with a one way system in operation.

Cllr Tony Prior of Bayden Parish Council stated that he had not received a reply to his question regarding last year’s budget consultation.

The community area manager agreed to look into this issue.

Note

Cllr Fleur de Rhe-Philipe – (Cabinet member for Finance, Performance and Risk, Wiltshire Council) would be attending 7 December 2010 board meeting.

What is happening about the extra grit bins that the Marlborough community area may be getting?

Seven extra grit bins have been allocated to the Marlborough community area, officers of Wiltshire Council would be looking into the siting of these bins.

Mark Boden, (Corporate Director of Department of Neighbourhood Planning, Wiltshire Council) also advised that:

• Small amounts of grit needed to be used when gritting paths and roads, Wiltshire Council could issue parishes with grit dispensers to help with this.

• Staff tended to get pushed to the limit during periods of bad weather, usually gritting roads rather than re-filling grit bins.

• Wiltshire Council was happy to let parishes hold stocks of grit providing that the grit is stored in a covered environment.

• Farmers could plough roads in their local areas, Wiltshire Council could provide plough attachments for this purpose and a payment would be  made for any ploughing carried out.

The Chairman advised the meeting that he had been made aware that “Dreams and Wishes” had not won the VCS award.

The Chairman thanked everybody for attending the area board meeting.