Agenda and minutes

The Chairman, Councillor Bridget Wayman welcomed everyone to the meeting of the South West Wiltshire Area Board and introduced Councillor John Brady, Cabinet member for Finance, Risk and Performance.

Councillor Brady noted that there would be a Special Cabinet meeting on Thursday 6 October 2011 to consider the senior management structure of the Council.

Apologies for absence were received from:

·       Councillor Tony Deane

·       Peter Edge – WilCAP

·       Mary White – Mere

·       Bishopstone Parish Council

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

There were none.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 24 August 2011 were agreed a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

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

Councillor Green asked for an update on Finger Posts, this update was provided under item 9 – Community Area Transport Group update.

To receive Chairman’s Announcements including:

·       Home Insulation Scheme

Home Insulation Scheme

The Board noted the information on this scheme which had been attached to the agenda.

National Draft Planning Strategy Document Consultation

An email had been sent out to Town and Parish Councils asking for their comments on the National Draft Planning Strategy Document Consultation. The Chairman would be submitting a response to the consultation by the deadline of 17 October 2011. The Chairman read a statement out, which is attached to these minutes.

Village Design Statement (VDS)

Many villages had produced a VDS and were waiting to hear when these would be ratified by the Council. The Chairman had been in contact with the Team Leader for Spatial Planning (South Office)who had agreed to take the matter to the Head of Spatial Planning and would later provide clarity on the matter to the Chairman. The Chairman would give an update on this at a future Board meeting. 

Action: Councillor Bridget Wayman

The Chairman gave an update on the Tisbury Campus Project.

·       A second questionnaire was due to be delivered to households within the parishes of Tisbury and to some residents on the outskirts of Tisbury.

·       Between 15 – 22 October there would be a ‘pop up shop’ on Tisbury High Street, which would be there to provide information on the campus project, assistance with completing the questionnaire and to answer any questions people have.

·       Banners advertising the ‘pop up shop’ would be displayed on cars and in the High Street.

·       Results of the second questionnaire would be brought back to the next Area Board meeting in December with an update by Councillor Tony Deane.

Action: Councillor Tony Deane

The Board will receive verbal updates from partners present, some written updates are attached.

Wiltshire Fire and Rescue – Mike Franklin

Since the last meeting there had been a total of 7 accidental fires reported and 1 deliberate fire within the community areas of the Area Board.

It was likely that there would be a rise in the level of reported fires over the coming months. This could be due to chimney fires and an increased use of candles at this time of year.

Advice on preventing chimney fires can be found on the website:

http://www.wiltsfire.gov.uk/

Questions and comments

·       Councillor Jose Green asked what kind of fires are classed as deliberate. Answer: Mike explained that a deliberate fire could be where someone has lit a bonfire in their garden which then gets out of control and catches the shed on fire; this is then classed as a deliberate fire.

·       How frequently does the defibrillator at the fire station go out to incidents? Answer: Fire crews do attend incidents as co-responders; a defibrillator is part of the kit on the vehicle which goes out to these incidents. The amount of occasions it was actually used was not known.

Wiltshire Police – Sergeant Lindsey Winters

Updates had been circulated for Mere, Tisbury and Wilton.

·       Mere had shown a slight decrease of 5% reduction in crime.

• Tisbury – There had been a slight increase in crime compared to the same period last year, with 22 more crimes being reported.
• There had been reductions in violence towards people and in dwelling burglaries across all three community areas.
• The number of reported burglaries to non dwellings continues to rise. Cross Border working was underway, with the aim to carry out joint patrols to tackle the issue.
• Wiltshire continued to achieve the highest performance rate in the table to the other eight forces which it was compared against.
• A new phone number 101 has now been launched for non emergencies; the old 0845 number will be phased out.

Community Area Young People’s Issues Group (CAYPIG) – Jaki Farrell

A written update report had been circulated at the meeting and is attached to these minutes. Jaki also informed the Board that four young people from the community areas had secured places on the next run of the Wiltshire Fire Service’s Salamander course, which the Board had part funded at a previous meeting.

The ‘One stop shop’ which will be in Tisbury High Street from 15^th – 22^nd Oct, would be holding an early evening slot in an aim to target the young people who get off of the bus at that time, to gain their comments and input on the Tisbury Campus questionnaire.

The Board will be briefed on the latest meeting and will receive recommendations for further action.

The Board will vote whether to fund the purchase of a Speed Indicator Device (SID) as recommended at the last meeting on 24 August 2011.

Councillor Dean

The minutes from the last meeting of the CATG had been circulated at the meeting and uploaded to the agenda webpage.

Charles Smith – Dinton Parish Councillor commented on minute 4b, the preliminary modification to remove the refuge island in Dinton which was due to be actioned shortly. Charles had been in contact with the Senior Engineer, as he was unsure why the removal of the pedestrian island had been considered, he felt it may not be the best thing to do.

Fingerposts

The Community Area Manager had received some enquiries from two parish councils who were interested in the scheme to receive funding towards the replacement of fingerposts in their community. He urged clerks in the room to spread the word to parish councils that the Board had allocated funds to this project and if interested then the parish should apply to the Community Area Manager.

Councillor Beattie had met with Officers and the Cabinet representative to look at the speed limit at a site in Ugford. The Cabinet member had agreed to take another look at the issue and get back to him with a decision.

Speed Indicator Devices (SIDs)

At the last meeting the Board had proposed to fund the purchase of a SID, to be managed by the Tisbury Community Area Safety Partnership (TCSP). They would trial the deployment and use of the SID in their community area initially, with plans to eventually make the device available across all three community areas of the Board.

The Community Area Manager asked people to use the voting handsets to show the level of support in the room towards this funding proposal. 69% of those who voted were in favour of funding the purchase of a SID.

The Board members then voted.

Decision

The Board agreed to allocate £7,349.00 of funding to the purchase of a SID to be managed by TCSP and deployed by Wiltshire Council Highways Department.

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

·       Semley Village Stores

·       Wessex Community Action

·       Mere Bowls Club

Officer: Richard Munro, Community Area Manager

The Board considered three applications for funding from the Community Area Grant Scheme. The Chairman invited applicants present to speak in support of their application and to answer any questions from the room. After discussion the Board members voted on each application in turn.

Decision

Semely Village Stores was awarded £5,000 towards the start-up costs.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2011/12. The Board were impressed with the business plan and felt that the project supported the core strategy in providing sustainable communities.

Decision

The application from Wessex Community Action was awarded £250, which was 25% of the amount requested and were invited to come back to the Board for a further bid for £750, once they had secured the funding for a coordinator or a volunteer to act as coordinator for the project.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2011/12, however the Board felt that without the project having secured funding to recruit a coordinator or a voluntary coordinator in place, the project may not go ahead. An award of 25% of funds would assist the project in getting started and running for 3 months, which would give the applicant time to reapply for the remaining 75% of funds once a coordinator had been found.

Decision

Mere Bowls Club was awarded £900 towards their project to provide a secure storage container for their equipment.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2011/12 and would provide safe storage for the equipment, which was previously at risk from theft.

Action: Community Area Manager

WilCAP had had their AGM in September, where they had met with Laura Pictor of Wiltshire Forum of Community Area Partnerships (WFCAP) who had provided information and guidance.

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

Officer: Richard Munro, Community Area Manager

Richard Munro, Community Area Manager gave an update and circulated a table of the issues currently live on the online Issues system.

There were currently 6 Issues in progress on the system, over the past two years there had been over 80 issues logged on the online system:

https://forms.wiltshire.gov.uk/area_board/report_issue.php?area_board=South%20West%20Wiltshire

Stoford had requested that the Vehicle Activated Sign (VAS) be moved back up the A36 Warminster Road. As this road is not managed by Wiltshire Council, the issue had been passed to the Highways Agency who had agreed to investigate the situation.

Comments and Questions:

·       Phil Matthews – Wilton Town Councillor had noted that the National Cycle Race which had taken place earlier in the year had required the A30 in the Chalk Valley to be closed. There would be a ‘wash up’ meeting on 4 November 2011 to look at how the event had been run and to establish if any changes to the planning would be required should the event take place again next year. Mr Matthews felt that there needed to be a better consultation prior to the planning for a future event.

·       Steve Wilson, Divisional Highways Manager added that it was his understanding that the British Cycle Association did wish to come back next year to hold an event, so he urged people to feed their comments in to the ‘wash up’ meeting on the 4 November.

·       Charles Smith – Dinton Parish Councillor informed the Board that a second administrator had been recruited to the Community Area Speedwatch team to assist Elizabeth Ngaro.

A copy of the Forward Plan is attached for information.

The Chairman asked if anyone had any issues or items for the agenda of the next meeting on 7 December 2011, to contact her or the Democratic Service Officer, by Monday 21November 2011.

Phil Matthews, Wilton Town Councillor suggested a Waste Collection Services Item in light of the recent statement from Rt. Hon. Eric Pickles who had announced that funding would be available to Local Councils to encourage them to return to a weekly collection service.

The Chairman agreed that it would be an interesting debate, as those areas that have a fortnightly collection service of household waste have greater levels of recycling, and agreed to look into it.

Action: Councillor Bridget Wayman

The next meeting of the South West Wiltshire Area Board will be held on Wednesday 7^th December 2011 at 7.00pm.