Agenda and minutes

The Chairman, Councillor Bridget Wayman welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced Councillor Stuart Wheeler, Cabinet Member for Leisure, Sport and Culture.

The Chairman also thanked Mere Social Club for the use of the hall at short notice.

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

There were none.

Apologies for absence were received from:

• Carrie Baker – Tenants Panel and Credit Union
• Nigel Lefroy – Burcombe Parish Council

To confirm as a correct record and sign the minutes of the previous meeting held on Wednesday 8 December 2010.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on Wednesday 8 December 2010 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Board will discuss any matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting.

Dinton Parish Councillor, Charles Smith asked if the names of the Parish Councillors who spoke during the meeting could be included in the minutes.

Parking Charges

The Chairman had put forward the resolution of the Board on Parking Charges to Cabinet, to no avail.

Rural Housing

The Chairman asked those interested in forming a Rural Housing Working Group to contact Richard Munro, as the Board was keen to start work in this area.

Local Transport Policy (LTP) Highways Funding Proposals

The four main projects which had previously been identified for funding would be going ahead.

It was noted that the traffic island in Dinton did not appear to have been working properly.

Two additional projects for consideration by the Board were:

• A30 pedestrian crossing at Ludwell
• Redesign pedestrian crossing and/or speed limit at Fovant

The Board members voted on whether to fund the above projects.

Decision

The South West Wiltshire Area Board supported the following projects for further consideration:

·       A30 pedestrian crossing at Ludwell

·       Redesign pedestrian crossing and/or speed limit at Fovant

The Chairman urged people to submit details of any further schemes for consideration of the working group.

·         Outcome of the Leisure Facility Review

·         Outcome of Waste Services Consultation

·         Harmonisation of Street Trading Orders

·         Fair Trade Fortnight

The Chairman introduced Gladys Pope who commented the recently distributed Housing Questionnaire, which she felt contained unnecessary questions, such as sexual orientation; which some people may have found intrusive.

Graham Hogg, Service Director for Housing explained that the form had been sent out by the Housing department as there was an expectation for every council to have an understanding of its housing needs. Housing prices were quite high in Wiltshire, above the national average, although the average income was below the national average.

The Housing and Planning teams were working to address this issue. It had been established that more affordable housing was required in the South West, as some families could not afford to have other members of their family live in the same area as them.

The Chairman informed the Board that aRural Forum had been scheduled for 8^th March 2011, 7.00 – 8.30pm in Salisbury City Hall.

Connect Bus Service

Dr Rachel Hyde had submitted a written statement which was read by Richard Munro, Community Area Manager. The doctors surgery in Mere supported the currently available connect bus service, which was at risk. They felt it was invaluable for the surrounding villages in assisting the residents gain access to local services.

The Chairman agreed to make some enquiries to establish the situation of the Connect bus service.

Action: Cllr Wayman

Outcome of Leisure Facility Review

Councillor Stuart Wheeler gave an update, some of the points covered were:

• A report would be going to Cabinet for approval the following week, detailing the timetable for works to be carried out on the campuses. 
• Approval of the report would authorise construction works to commence.
• Tisbury would be one of the five areas for development.

Waste Service Update

The implementation of the harmonised waste service would start in summer 2011. The council did not plan to increase the size of the current household waste bin which most households currently had.

Households which currently paid for an annual green waste collection would be billed on a pro rata basis up until December 2011. The free green waste collection service would then be implemented in 2012.

Harmonisation of Street Trading Orders

Councillor Jeans stated that he did not agree with non profit making charities having to apply for street trading orders and asked the Board to support him.

Decision

The South West Wiltshire Area Board support the motion that Street Licences should not be required for activities conducted by registered charities or not-for-profit organisations.

The Board will receive a presentation from a member of Wiltshire Police Authority regarding the plans to deal with the Government spending cuts and to answer questions.

Joy Hillyer, Independent Member – Wiltshire Police Authority

Joy Hillyer, Independent Member of the Wiltshire Police Authority gave a presentation to the Board.

Some of the points covered were:

•        WPA would need to make £15 million in savings over the next four years.

•        In four years time the Force would be likely to have 150 fewer officers and 200 fewer staff.

•        It was WPA’s responsibility to ensure that Wiltshire continued to have an effective and efficient police service. 

The top priorities:

·       No plans to reduce frontline local policing – that means the numbers of officers on patrol and responding to emergency calls would stay the same.

·       Neighbourhood Policing Teams would also remain untouched

·       So, in finding the savings WPA were committed to:

1.     Keeping local officers on patrol and keeping the public safe.

2.     Responding promptly to emergency 999 calls.

3.     Ensuring that general enquiries and non urgent calls were dealt with to an acceptable standard.

Other commitments included:

·       WPA would seek out extra Special Constables with the powers of regular officers, and more Volunteers to provide support.

·       To make best use of new technology so officers stay on the beat. Examples include officers using hand held mobile devices when on the streets to access Force IT systems and control room staff being able to see where officers are via our Automatic Resource Location System (ARLS).

·       WPA currently had an arrangement which include a helicopter police air ambulance, this would remain until 2014.

Joy asked people to take part in shaping the future of the Wiltshire Police Service by completing and returning one of the survey questionnaires, which had been handed out.

The questionnaire could be completed on line at:

http://www.wiltshire-pa.gov.uk/

or a hard copy could be obtained by calling 01380 734022.

The Board received a presentation from Nicholas Bate, Emergency Planning officer; about the development of Community Resilience and Emergency Planning in villages, which is a government initiative directed at Town and Parish Councils.

The intention was for all parishes to have an up-to-date Community Resilience Plan to replace where necessary the Initial Response Plan that some parishes had written some years ago. These plans once written would be kept up to date by a person nominated by the Town/Parish Council.

Bradford on Avon Community Area Board who were part of a pilot scheme had fully endorsed the initiative. Subsequently the Emergency Planning Team will be communicating with all Parish Councils to offer them the Government template and guidance notes to assist them. 

In order to ensure that Wiltshire’s communities are resilient it is vital that they were aware of the risks which affect them and the assets which they have within their communities, such as doctors or other people with some medical training, 4x4 vehicles etc. This would help the Town and Parish Councils to decide which threats they were comfortable with, without having to take any preventative action and those where a more proactive approach may be required.

This information would also be made available to each member of the community to ensure that they were able to take necessary measures such as preparing an ‘Emergency Box’, purchasing sandbags to protect their property or carrying out a business impact analysis for a Business Continuity Plan for example.

Community Resilience was not just about the Community Safety agenda, it was much wider than that. It was about how the community, the individual within that community and businesses could best prepare to meet the challenges they may face if confronted with a major incident. It was also about how the community could continue to operate for as long as possible and how it could adapt to its new circumstances once the incident had passed.

Decision:

The South West Wiltshire Area Board endorsed the need for parishes to consider the most significant risks their village was subject to and for them to plan for a local emergency.

If anyone wishes to discuss this matter further they should contact Nicholas Bate, Emergency Planning Officer on 07747 804604 or email Nicholas.bate@wiltshire.gov.uk

The Board will be informed of the results of the proposals for the Library Service, which have now been agreed by Cabinet, following the Comprehensive Spending Review announcement in October 2010.

Officer: Joan Davis, Head of Libraries

Niki Lewis (Service Director) and Joan Davis (Head of Libraries) gave an update on the results of the proposals for the Library Service, which had been agreed by Cabinet following the Comprehensive Spending Review announcement in October 2010.

Cabinet had approved the proposed strategic vision for

Libraries, to:

•        Promote the library service as the ‘face of the council’.

•        Provide a wide range of up-to-date stock of books, and other material, to promote literacy learning and enjoyment.

•        Develop a strong on-line service offer, including access to on-line information services, interactive website features and e-books.

•        Offer space and opportunity for people to develop new skills, including I.T.

•        Help to deliver greater community involvement, through the use of local community volunteers.

•        Invest in Self Service machines for all libraries (RFID)

Changes to the core hours for the three libraries in the South West Wiltshire community areas would be:

Mere – 31 core hours (down from 45), but with help from volunteers the number of core hours could be increased.

Tisbury – Aim would be to work closely the community to work completely with volunteers and 5 hours of professional help a week.

Wilton – 14 core hours (down from 29), but with self service, the aim would be to raise this back up.

There had already been a show of interest from ninety people across Wiltshire who would be interested in supporting the libraries by volunteering a couple hours a week.

To receive a presentation on revised options for residents to access Council services.

Officer: John Rogers, Head of Customer Access

John Rogers, Head of Customer Access gave a short presentation detailing the new proposals to provide face to face contact with the public.

The Council is redesigning the way services are delivered, with high emphasis on meeting the needs of the customer, by looking at ways in which people could get the service delivery they needed.

One option which was available to Community Areas was to have a video link installed in a kiosk. This could be used by the community as an alternative to travelling into Salisbury to attend an appointment in person. Meetings could be arranged to take place with relevant officers via the video link without having to leave the Community Area, providing local community access to a wide range of services.

The Board will receive an update on achievements this year.

Officer: Jaki Farrell, Youth Development Coordinator

Jaki Farrell, Youth Development Coordinator showed a DVD which had been produced by the young people, detailing the leisure credit schemes undertaken and other achievements over the past year.

Forthcoming Leisure Credit activities included:

·       The Community Gardens at Bowerchalke

·       Re-chalking the Badges at Sutton Mandeville

·       Footpath strimming in Tisbury

Jaki urged other parishes to consider using the Leisure Credit scheme for future projects within their communities.

The Board will receive updates from Partners present, including Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service regarding retained fire fighters. Some written updates are attached.

Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service (WFRS)

Ian Rennie - Group Manager running WFRS resources for the south of Wiltshire explained that there was a problem recruiting enough retained fire fighters spoke on the need for more retained fire fighters to cover the rural fire stations.

Out of the 24 stations across Wiltshire, 23 had retained fire fighters. Currently at Mere, Tisbury and Wilton there were insufficient officers, which meant that those local stations were ‘off the run’, and not able to assist in responding to fires or other incidents.

The fire stations in the South West Wiltshire community areas needed the following additional officers to bring crewing levels up past the minimum which they were currently at:

Mere = 2 to 3 officers

Tisbury = 2 to 3 officers

Wilton = 2 officers

Wilton Town Councillor, Phil Matthews explained that the problem often lay with the employers, who were reluctant to release employees from work to attend as a retained fire fighter. He thought that local employers needed to be encouraged to permit their employees take part in the retained service.

A copy of the list of criteria for retained fire fighters is attached to these minutes.

Wiltshire Police

Inspector David Minty gave an overview of the crime figures which had been circulated at the meeting. Copies of the figures for Mere, Tisbury and Wilton are attached to the end of these minutes.

The Board members will consider eight applications for funding from the Community Area Grants Scheme:

·         Swallowcliffe Village Hall

·         Bishopstone Village Hall

·         Sukosta

·         Berwick St John Parish Council

·         Bowerchalke Village Hall

·         Life Education

·         Mere Swimming Club

·         Woodlands Alive

Officer: Richard Munro, Community Area Manager

The Board considered eight applications for funding under the Community Grant Scheme. After discussion the Board members voted on each application in turn.

Decision

Swallowcliffe Village Hall Committee were awarded £7,000 towards their project to re-clad and insulate the building.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2010/11 and would allow the project to move forward. Normally, the Board would only grant a maximum of £5,000. However, it was felt that the higher figure was justified in this case.

Decision

Bishopstone Village Hall Committee were awarded £4,500 towards their project to fit out the kitchen and install a servery.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2010/11 and would improve the facilities at the Hall for use by the community.

Decision

The application by Sukosta was deferred until the next meeting.

Reason

The Board requested further detailed information regarding the number of people that would benefit from the project.

Decision

Berwick St John parish Council were awarded £938 towards their project of installation of football pitch equipment on recently acquired Parish Community Field.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2010/11 and would provide improved facilities for use by the community.

Decision

Bowerchalke Village Hall were awarded £3,600 towards their project to install a sound and multimedia system in the Village Hall.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2010/11 and would provide improved facilities for use by the community.

Decision

Life Education were awarded £3,500 towards their project to deliver an educational programme to primary school children on forming healthy lifestyle choices.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2010/11 and would provide a valuable learning opportunity for young people across the community areas that they would otherwise not have had.

Decision

Mere Swimming Club were awarded £3,645 towards their project to install fencing around the swimming pool to make it secure and to keep the facility open for public use.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2010/11 and would provide improved facilities for use by the community.

Decision

The application from Woodlands Alive was deferred until the next meeting.

Reason

No one was available to speak and to answer questions on behalf of the application.

Action: Richard Munro, Community Area Manager

The Board will receive an update from the Wilton Community Area Partnership (WilCAP).

There were no updates.

To receive an update on the progress of issues to date.

Officer: Richard Munro, Community Area Manager

Richard Munro, Community Area Manager urged people to continue using the on line Issues Tracking System. Ongoing issues included:

·       Steps down to A30 in Ludwell – to be added to Issue System.

·       Community Orchard at Ludwell – site would be licensed, so trees could now be planted.

To view Issues on the system click on the link below:

http://portal.wiltshire.gov.uk/area_board/areaboard_issues_search.php?issue_location_in=South%20West%20Wiltshire

A copy of the Forward Plan is attached for information.

An Extraordinary meeting had been scheduled to consider applications for funding from the Community Area Grant Scheme prior to the end of the financial year. This would take place on Wednesday 16^th March 2011, 7.00pm at Wilton Community Centre.

The next meeting of the South West Wiltshire Area Board will be held on Wednesday 13^th April 2011, 7.00pm at Nadder Hall, Tisbury.