Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the Melksham Assembly hall and explained that the meeting would focus purely on the Melksham community campus proposals.

 

The Chairman introduced the Wiltshire councillors who made up the Melksham Area Board and explained that the members of the Board would be voting on a recommendation which would then be passed to the Cabinet of Wiltshire Council who would then make the final decision on the campus.

 

The Chairman paid tribute to the members of the Melksham Community Area Partnership who had organised the community area consultation on the campus proposals and stressed that the Area Board would try to give as many people as possible the opportunity to speak on the proposals.

 

There were no apologies for absence.

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

Cllr Rod Eaton – Personal interest, Town Mayor and member of Melksham Town Council.

 

Cllr Mark Griffiths – Personal interest, member of Melksham Town Council.

 

Cllr John Hubbard – Personal interest, member of Melksham Town Council.

 

Cllr Steve Petty – Personal interest, member of Melksham Without Parish Council.

 

 

Lucy Murray Brown - Campus & Operational Estate Management Lead, Wiltshire Council

Lucy Murray Brown - Campus & Operational Estate Management

Lead, Wiltshire Council outlined the campus proposal and then gave some background to the proposal.

 

Points made by Lucy Murray Brown included:

 

 

Context:

 

•         Area Board 2 February 2011.

 

•         A campus is a building, or buildings, in a community area that would provide the services the local community needed in an accessible location.

 

•         Local community involvement was critical to the success.

 

•         Reduced the long term financial, environmental and operational pressures on operating aging, low quality buildings.

 

•         Potential to co-locate with partner and voluntary organisations.

 

•         Encouraged the council to explore wide ranging innovative arrangements to allow local communities to have more influence in service delivery.

 

•         Three tiers of service provision:  core, community and partner.

 

·        Cabinet 15 February 2011 – approval of the outline timetable.

 

 

 

 

Benefits of a new facility:

 

•         Extended opening hours.

 

•         Multi-purpose visits.

 

•         Modern, up to date facilities

 

•         Accessible community IT provision.

 

•         Sustainable and efficient facilities

 

•         Additional community facilities

 

•         Exploration of innovative community focused management arrangements

 

 

Progress to date:

 

 

•         Starting point is to consider all services currently provided.

 

•         Audit & Research project.

 

•         initial consultation

•         sustainability appraisal

•         conditions survey

•         build and environment

•         service reviews

•         equalities

•         perceived savings

 

 

•         Options Appraisal.

 

•         Preferred option.

 

•         Second round of consultation.

 

 

 

The Proposal for Consultation:

 

That the following facilities and services would be provided within a new community campus for Melksham, located on land at Woolmore Farm, adjacent to the Melksham Oak School:

 

•         Leisure centre – 25m swimming pool plus learner pool; 4-court sports hall; multi-activity rooms; 60 station fitness suite; wet and dry changing, squash courts and  associated ancillary facilities.

 

•         6 lane indoor bowls rink and group room.

 

•         Library including improved IT suite for community internet access.

 

•         Registrar service.

 

•         Reception for all campus services and offering advice on other council services.

 

•         Cafe facilities.

 

•         Crèche.

 

•         Youth centre facilities.

 

•         Personal care room(s) (e.g. for disabled people and their carers).

 

•         Desk space for community based council and partner staff.

 

•         Multi-purpose training suite for both professional and community use.

 

•         Multi-purpose meeting/resource rooms.

 

•         Health care facilities e.g. GP surgeries, specialist clinics (TBC by partner organisations).

 

•         100 space car park (indicative).

 

•         Provision of land for outdoor recreational use adjacent to campus facilities.

 

•         Outdoor sports changing facilities.

 

 

The Chairman thanked Lucy Murray Brown for her presentation.

Colin Goodhind - Community Area Partnership Steering Group

 

Chris Holden – Chairman, Community Area Partnership outlined the results of the Campus consultation that the Melksham Area Board had requested the Partnership carry out.

 

Points made by Chris Holden included.

 

That the Melksham Community Area Partnership had:

 

• Put together a questionnaire that had been circulated to 12,500 households throughout the Melksham community area and there had been 803 returns.

 

• Put together a young people questionnaire to gauge the feeling of the youth of the Melksham community area.

 

• Organised three Open Days to present the Campus proposals

 

• Organised ten meetings with various local groups to gauge what they wanted from the Campus.

 

• That the answers to the questionnaire contained useful bullet points of public opinion.

 

 

The responses to the questionnaire are attached to these minutes.

 

 

Chris Holden thanked the public for taking the time to partake in the questionnaire.

 

The Chairman thanked Chris Holden and the Community Area Partnership for their hard work in ensuring that the questionnaire formed part of the Campus data.

Lucy Murray Brown - Campus & Operational Estate Management Lead, Wiltshire Council

 

It had been intended that Lucy Murray Brown - Campus & Operational Estate Management Lead, Wiltshire Council would deal with responses to any questions that had been submitted in advance and answer any supplementary question submitted from the floor.

 

It was noted that the questions and answers were not available for the Councillors to digest in written form, these questions and answers were also not on the Wiltshire Council website, Cllr Jon Hubbard requested that it was noted that he was unhappy that Area Board members would have to make decisions without this information to hand and that members of the public were unable to view this information.

 

The Chairman advised as the submitted questions and answers were not available in hard copy, instead of asking Lucy Murray Brown to read them out as originally intended, he was happy that attendees could ask questions to which Lucy Murray Brown or other officers present would endeavour to answer.

 

The Chairman was advised by Lucy Murray Brown that the questions which had already been submitted would be published on the Wiltshire Council website the following day,( 30 March 2011, in the event they were available by the end of the meeting). It was also agreed that any attendees present who left their address would have the submitted questions and answers posted to them by the Campus & Operational Estate Management team.

 

The Chairman advised as the submitted questions and answers were not available he was happy that attendees could ask questions to which Lucy Murray Brown would endeavour to answer.

 

Note: It was also agreed that any attendees present would have the submitted questions and answers posted to them by the Campus & Operational Estate Management team.

 

Note: of the 113 people present at the meeting only 8 had given a postal address, these 8 addresses were passed on to Campus & Operational Estate Management team.

 

Points raised on the night:

 

That the questions and answers should have been made available for all to read and digest, prior and at the meeting.

 

Officers had more than enough time to get the Q’s & A’s ready and available for this meeting. The Chairman expressed a view, shared by some other members, that this was not the case.

 

Melksham town centre will die if we lose the Library.

 

 

Questions raised on the night:

 

Public access to the Melksham Oak site, what about the school childrens’ safety?

 

The exact location of and access to the campus would be determined during the design and planning stage of the project and as such is not known at this stage.

 

Community use of school sites or facilities on or adjacent to school sites is a national strategic recommendation by Sport England and there are several examples in the county and across the country where this arrangement is already in place and working well. Furthermore, the wider integration and mixed use of school facilities by the community was a fundamental part of the development and funding package for the school.

 

The Council does  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

a.      Wiltshire Police

b.      Melksham CAYPIG

c.      Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

d.      NHS Wiltshire

e.      Melksham Town Council

f.        Parish Council Nominated Representatives

g.      Melksham Oak School

 

(Partners and Stakeholders should declare in advance if they wish to speak on the night. Three minutes will be allocated to each Partner and Stakeholder)

All partners and stakeholders present at the meeting were given the opportunity to share their views on the Campus proposals.

 

Wiltshire Police – Insp Christian Lance advised that Wiltshire Police would be interested in basing Neighbourhood teams out of the Campus, this would free up deck space at the Divisional HQ at Hampton Park. It was felt that officers would be more accessible and be able liaise more with local residents.

The opportunity to be based with other partners would be very beneficial from a Police point of view.

 

Questions to Insp Lance:

 

Would you not be replacing out of town with out of town, moving from Hampton Park to the proposed Campus?

As the Campus is proposed as a one stop shop, there would be more foot fall than at Hampton Park.

 

 

Melksham CAYPIG – not represented at the meeting.

 

 

Melksham Old Peoples Forum – Brian Warwick advised that older people were concerned about the viability of retailers in the town centre if the library was to move out of town, they wanted the library to remain in the town centre.

 

They were concerned that if the Campus came to fruition that there would be free public transport for the residents of Melksham to use it to its full potential.

 

They wanted a commonsense decision, not a political one.

 

Pleased that there would be better swimming facilities if the Campus went ahead.

 

Would like an enhanced town centre library with tourist information included on site.

 

If Wiltshire Council could provide youth centres for young people, why couldn’t they provide drop in centres for the elderly.

 

 

Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service - not represented at the meeting.

 

 

NHS Wiltshire - not represented at the meeting.

 

 

Melksham Oak School - Stephen Clark, Head Teacher advised that he welcomed community use of Melksham Oak school facilities, but stressed that this should be controlled by Melksham Oak school.

 

He felt that the site proposed could be better utilised and that the school had no views on the relocation of the Library.

 

 

Melksham Town Council – Cllr Chris Petty advised that the Town Council supported the Campus but regretted the possible loss of the library from the town centre and had some traffic concerns about the proposed site.

 

 

Parish Council Nominated Representatives

 

Melksham Without Parish Council – Cllr Mike Mills advised that Melksham Without supported the split site option, which would keep the library and youth centre in the town and that it had concerns about the increased traffic around the Melksham Oak school.

 

 

Atworth Parish Council – advised that they had concerns about the lack of a financial case put forward by Wiltshire Council for the project, and had concerns about the possible relocation of the library and youth centre.

 

 

Broughton Gifford Parish Council advised that they supported the views of Melksham Without and Atworth Parishes.

 

 

Semington Parish Council – advised that they supported the Campus proposal.

 

 

The Chairman then advised that a five minute comfort break would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Lucy Murray Brown - Campus & Operational Estate Management Lead, Wiltshire Council.

 

         (Audience participation welcomed, up to 15 minutes per aspect)

 

 

·        Co-location

·        Transport

·        Library

·        Sports and Recreation

·        Other services including Youth Centre

·        Economic Impact

 

 

Lucy Murray Brown - Campus & Operational Estate Management Lead, Wiltshire Council took questions from the meeting on topics that included:

 

Co-location

 

Sarah Cardy – Could the Campus be of a modular design with the library and youth centre being added at a later date?

 

Although this is possible in theory there would be a significant impact on project costs and there is no guarantee that with further budget cuts that this would be a viable option.

 

 

Has an equality impact assessment been carried out yet?

 

An Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) has been carried out and will continue to be updated throughout the project. The EIA has always been a publically accessible document but if it would be helpful we would be happy to make it available on the Melksham campus pages of Wiltshire Council website.

 

Assuming relevant member approvals, as the project progresses through the design and planning stage, the EIA document and action plan will be updated to ensure that equalities and inclusion issues are identified and addressed. We would also support any Shadow Community Operations Board in monitoring and updating the EIA document and action plan to ensure the new campus addresses local need in terms of equalities and inclusion issues.

 

 

Note: It was agreed that Lucy Murray Brown would sent this document to all Area Board members.

 

 

Transport

 

Where would the funding come from to run a free bus service to the Campus?

 

If approved by the Area Board, a Shadow Community Operations Board would have a role in representing the community’s views on options for transport arrangements to the campus, based on local need, which will subsequently be considered through the development and implementation of a travel plan.

 

 

Library

 

Chris Holden – There has been no indication from Central Government of any further cuts to library services.

 

Response from Niki Lewis, Service Director with responsibility for Libraries:

Although at this point the Libraries Service in Wiltshire has not been asked to make any further savings, we cannot be sure that in future years this will not be the case.

 

 

What is the current footfall of the library?

 

Response from Melksham community librarian: Around 78,000 visits per year.

 

 

There must be a compelling case/reason to move the library, would Wiltshire Council gain financially from selling the site?

 

A single site campus would be significantly cheaper to operate in the long term. Wiltshire Council will look at the disposal of sites to fund its capital programme, but receipts would not be specifically linked to the campus project.

 

To clarify, sites could theorectically be sold for less than their market value if there is a community benefit.

 

 

Can we vote to take the library out of the Campus proposals?

 

Response from Cllr Jonathon Seed – the Area Board members could make that decision if minded.

 

 

Sports and Recreation

 

What would happen if the Area Board voted against the Campus, would the leisure facilities go on hold?

 

A report would be prepared for the Wiltshire Council cabinet detailing this if  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Each councillor will be allowed a five minute statement followed by voting on the Melksham Community Area Campus proposal

 

Draft Recommendation – subject to amendments to be approved by the Area Board

 

That based on an assessment of the overall service improvement possibilities and to ensure long term security of service delivery for the wider Melksham Community Area, the Melksham Area Board ask cabinet to:-

 

A. Support a single site solution for the Campus that will service the Melksham Community Area and ensure that this includes, as a minimum, all services outlined to the meeting.

 

B. Develop this proposal so it is delivered as near as possible to Melksham Oak School, with the proviso that if officers, after conducting a final appraisals of all sites in the locality, are able to identify an alternative site closer to Melksham town centre that can deliver a single site solution in the same timescale and at the same cost, this is given equal consideration by Cabinet

 

(Any amendments must be submitted through a member of the Area Board)

The Chairman advised that each councillor would be given the opportunity to sum up and give their views, the councillors would then vote on the Melksham Community Area Campus proposal.

 

Cllr Jonathon Seed felt that councillors had to listen to the views of the residents of Melksham, it was important however to realise just what an opportunity Melksham was being given, being the first town to have a state of the art Campus facility.

 

 

Cllr Rod Eaton felt that the lack of a library in the town centre would not stop shoppers from using the town centre.

That Melksham at present had outdated and poor leisure facilities.

 

 

Cllr Mark Griffiths felt that single site proposal was the way forward for Melksham.

 

Cllr Steve Petty felt that the library should stay in the town centre where it was an accessible meeting place. He agreed that the swimming facilities were not good.

 

 

Cllr Jon Hubbard felt that the Campus should enhance current facilities rather than replacing them.

 

That he welcomed the prospect of the town getting better leisure facilities but not at the cost of the library and youth centre moving out of the town.

 

He felt that councillors should be doing what the people of Melksham wanted them to do.

 

 

Cllr Roy While felt that this was a great opportunity for Melksham to be first to have modern facilities, but that transport, parking and regeneration were important topics if the Campus was to prosper.

 

That he hoped to keep a library presence in the town centre as well as in the Campus.

 

 

Councillors then discussed the draft recommendation which was:

 

 

That based on an assessment of the overall service

improvement possibilities and to ensure long term security of

service delivery for the wider Melksham Community Area, the

Melksham Area Board ask cabinet to:-

 

A. Support a single site solution for the Campus that will

service the Melksham Community Area and ensure that this

includes, as a minimum, all services outlined to the meeting.

 

B. Develop this proposal so it is delivered as near as possible

to Melksham Oak School, with the proviso that if officers,

after conducting a final appraisals of all sites in the locality,

are able to identify an alternative site closer to Melksham

town centre that can deliver a single site solution in the same

timescale and at the same cost, this is given equal

consideration by Cabinet.

 

 

Cllr Roy While tabled a motion which was seconded by Cllr Rod Eaton that if agreed would appear as Para B. The existing Para B would then be renumbered Para C.

 

This amendment  was as follows:

 

Notwithstanding the establishment of a new purpose built library in the proposed Campus in accordance with Para A, the offer negotiated with the Wiltshire Council Cabinet Member with responsibility for Library Services is recommended to the Cabinet by the Area Board.    

This would provide for a limited, additional and residual volunteer based library service in Melksham Town Centre until at least  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

·        Overview of the testing of community led management proposals and the draft Terms of Reference

 

 

Recommendation of the Board

Melksham Area Board confirm themselves as the governance route for the development of the Melksham Community Campus and delivery of the preliminary management project in the Melksham Community Area and asks officers from the CAOD Programme team to support the creation of a Shadow Community Operational Board (SCOB) under the terms of reference circulated to Area Board members and circulated on the Melksham Community Area website.

 

The Area Board to be represented on the SCOB by a Member to be agreed by the Board.  Other groups to be invited to attend as agreed by the Area Board.

 

Lucy Murray Brown then outlined the proposal for the forming of a Shadow Community Operational Board (SCOB) to overview the testing of community led management proposals and the draft Terms of Reference.

 

 

Cllr Jon Hubbard then tabled a motion which was seconded by Cllr S.Petty requesting a deferral

 

Cllr Seed – Against

 

Cllr Eaton – Against

 

Cllr Griffiths – Against

 

Cllr Hubbard – For

 

Cllr S.Petty – For

 

Cllr Roy While – Against

 

This vote was lost 4 votes to 2.

 

 

Councillors then voted on the motion, which was tabled by Cllr Roy While and seconded by Cllr Rod Eaton, this was as follows:

 

 

Cllr Seed – For

 

Cllr Eaton – For

 

Cllr Griffiths – For

 

Cllr Hubbard – Abstain

 

Cllr S.Petty – Abstain

 

Cllr Roy While – For

 

This vote was carried by 4 votes.

Note: Cllrs Hubbard and S.Petty abstained from this vote.

 

 

Decision

 

• Melksham Area Board confirm themselves as the governance

route for the development of the Melksham Community

Campus and delivery of the preliminary management project

in the Melksham Community Area and asks officers from the

CAOD Programme team to support the creation of a Shadow

Community Operational Board (SCOB) under the draft terms of

reference circulated to Area Board members and circulated

on the Melksham Community Area website.

 

• The Area Board to be represented on the SCOB by a Member

to be agreed by the Board. Other groups to be invited to attend as agreed by the Area Board.

 

• The draft terms of reference, amended to reflect the wishes of the Melksham Area Board to confirm themselves as the governance route for the development and delivery of the preliminary management project in the Melksham Community Area, be confirmed at the next Area Board meeting together with the nomination of a member to the Shadow Community Operational Board.

 

The Chairman emphasised the draft nature of the terms of reference and that the Area Board would revisit them at future meetings if required.

Tues 12 Apr- Seend Community Centre (Localism and Core Strategy)

 

Thurs 12 May 2011 – Melksham Oak school

 

Weds 14 July 2011 – venue to be confirmed

 

Tues 12 Apr- Seend Community Centre (Localism and Core Strategy).

 

Thurs 12 May 2011 – Melksham Oak school.

 

Weds 14 July 2011 – The Riverside Club, Melksham. (NB. 2pm Start)

The Chairman thanked everybody for attending the meeting.