Agenda and minutes

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

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 6 October 2011.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 6 October 2011 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Take part in our first ever Christmas Area Board Quiz.

The Chairman invited people to take part in a fun quiz based on the Area Board. Tom Bray, Community Area Manager read out questions and the audience voted using the handsets.

The results of the quiz are attached to these minutes.

To receive Chairman’s Announcements including:

·       Household Survey ‘What matters to you’

·       Jubilee Event - 2^nd May 2012

Household Survey ‘What matters to you’

The Council and its partners, Wiltshire Police, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, Probation Service, Wiltshire Fire and Rescue and NHS Wiltshire are undertaking a large random survey of Wiltshire residents in order to understand local people’s priorities and needs.

The survey called “What matters to you” will be going out to 20,000 Wiltshire households at random, some 3,000 from the Council’s People’s Voice panel, as well as a large list of email addresses made up of council contacts and commercial lists.  Many of the residents in the Southern Wiltshire community area can expect to receive or have received these through their doors or via email.

There is also an on line version available as shown in the survey pack -www.wiltshire.gov.uk/whatmatterstoyou and this is the preferred method of completion as it costs the council nothing and saves postage, however paper copies of the survey were available at the meeting for people without internet access.

Jubilee Event – 2^nd May 2012

An event in Salisbury is planned for 2^nd May 2012, to celebrate the Queens Diamond Jubilee. Each Area Board has been invited to host a community area themed tent at the event. The Board would be working on a theme for the Southern Wiltshire Area over the coming months.

The Chairman reminded everyone that people could participate by commenting at any stage during the meeting, he asked that anyone wishing to speak should raise their hand.

To note the attached information on the following current consultations:

The Chairman drew particular attention to the Local HealthWatch consultation and urged people interested to take part. The Board noted the details of current consultations listed on the agenda, along with the link to the consultation portal web page where more information could be found.

http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal

Councillor Toby Sturgis, Cabinet Member for Waste, Property Environment and Development Control Services, will give a brief overview of that area of responsibility, followed by a chance to ask questions.

Councillor Toby Sturgis, Cabinet member for Waste, Property, Environment and Development Control Services; gave an overview of some areas of his responsibility.

Development Control

The Planning application process was going through several changes, more than had been seen over the past 15 years. The second draft of the Core Strategy would be available in 2012, with the sustainable development element having an effect on development control.

Localism Bill

This was released last month; however the timetable for actions was not yet available and would possibly be announced in February 2012 which would see changes starting to be implemented by August 2012.

Neighbourhood Planning

This enables people to have more say on development in their area. However it does not mean that development can be stopped.

Core Strategy

The South Wiltshire Core Strategy was given approval by the Inspector in October 2011. The Draft Core Strategy for the rest of Wiltshire was hoped to be approved by Cabinet in January 2012 and would then go out for consultation towards the end of 2012 or early 2013.

Environment

There is great importance in saving energy; the Council would be looking at renewable energy and secure energy supplies over the next few decades. The Council was looking at a renewable heat initiative where boilers could be converted to produce renewable heat. There was a possibility that these boilers could be installed in 32 schools across the summer holidays, resulting in a reduced carbon output and increased investment.

Property

The smaller office properties around Wiltshire would gradually be sold as staff move into the hubs. Although the first full year’s energy ratings for Bourne Hill had not yet been produced, Councillor Sturgis had been informed that the property was performing as had been planned and there would be an energy saving of 40%.

Area Boards had been handling applications for community asset transfers, but this procedure had frequently been held up due to the legal process. To tackle this, the Council had brought in a way to speed things up by transferring the assets under license.

Questions and comments were then taken, these included:

·       Is it right that the Council has brought in a development tax and that money from this will go towards building new housing projects, which developers can bid for? Answer: Yes this is correct; however it is called an Affordable Housing Levy. In the South there is a lower price per plot than in the North of the county, as from next week this will be put on hold until the Wiltshire Core Strategy is adopted. The Draft Core Strategy for Wiltshire proposes one figure in between the highest and lowest, which would then be applied across the whole of Wiltshire.

·       An update on the Thorney Down waste site was requested by a Firsdown resident. Answer: Tracy Carter, Service Director for Waste Services had provided an update on the Thorney Down waste site at  the Board meeting in August 2011, following that meeting Tracy had acquired additional information  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To receive any verbal updates including an update from the Community Area Transport Group (CATG).

To note the attached written updates from:

·       Fire and Rescue Service

·       Police

·       NHS

·       CATG

The Board noted the attached updates in addition to the verbal updates received.

Wiltshire Fire Authority

Councillor Devine gave a brief update, the Fire Authority had been looking at the budget for the coming year. There would be no cuts to the frontline services.

Wiltshire Police

The community Neighbourhood Policing Team report was attached to the agenda and Inspector Noble gave a further update during his presentation in item 11.

Community Area Transport Group (CATG)

Tom Bray, Community Area Manager, drew attention to the update included in the agenda pack. Parish Councils were invited to identify new schemes which could be considered in 2012. It had not yet been confirmed whether funding would be available the following year for transport projects, however the Board felt that it was important to identify any schemes which needed looking at in the community area.

Tom requested that Parish Councils review any new requests for schemes in their area and report them to him by 24 February 2012. 

Youth Update

Tony Nye, Youth Development Coordinator, gave an update to the Board relating to forthcoming changes, he added that one of the ways his team was able to continue to provide all of the services was with continued support from  the Area Board and others. The Leisure Credit scheme was not funded by the Youth Service, so providing there were other avenues for funding or access to grants the leisure credit scheme would continue in 2012/13.

Questions and comments were then taken from the room:

·       Could Trading Standards be asked to provide the information collected from the Lorry Watch groups? Answer: Tom Bray would liaise with Trading Standards who run the scheme.

·       Downton Parish Councillor Chris Hall raised a query relating to the Community Asset Transfer (CAT) which had been agreed at the previous Board meeting, involving the Chalk Pit, Muddyford Lane, Redlynch.

He felt that as the land lay just inside the boundary of Downton, the Council should have offered the land to Downton Parish Council, rather than the applicants; Redlynch Parish Council. He asked for the Board to suspend the transfer of land until both parishes had had an opportunity to meet and discuss the transfer in more detail. Answer: The Chairman agreed to suspend the transfer until Redlynch and Downton Parish Councils could meet in January 2012. Councillors Randall and Johnson agreed to attend the meeting and feed back to the Board at its next meeting on 2 February 2012.

·       West Dean Parish Council asked if the Board would audit their VDS, which they had completed in 2009. The parish of West Dean straddled the border between Wiltshire and the Test Valley, so a copy of the VDS had also been sent to Test Valley Council who had already adopted it. Answer: The Chairman agreed to conduct an audit of the VDS on behalf of the Area Board, but noted that the Board did not have the powers to formally adopt the document.

Action: Cllr Britton to conduct  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

An introduction to the work of the Children’s Centre across our community area.

Speaker: Martie Stanwell, Spurgeons

Martie Stanwell from Spurgeons, gave an introduction to the work of the Children’s Centre across the community area.

Spurgeons had been awarded the contract to run 9 of the 30 children’s centres across Wiltshire. The Centres provide services and guidance for families with children under 5.

Southern Wiltshire’s centre was the Clearbury Children’s Centre in Downton, where they have 5 part time members of staff, who from this base were able to go out to other locations within the community area to provide services, other locations included Old Sarum, Winterslow and Morgans Vale.

At Old Sarum, the team were able to make use of the Community Rooms to provide their services and a similar service is available at Mini Morgans Nursery, some of their services include:

·       Family support and parenting programmes

·       Contact services for children separated from their parents

·       Counselling and support for children following bereavement and loss

·       Support for young carers

·       Youth and community work, including mentoring children at risk of offending and befriending and supporting those looked after by local authorities

Martie would circulate information about the children’s centre Advisory Board as they wanted local people to get involved and attend meetings.

Action: Tom Bray to include this information on the next news letter.

The Chairman thanked Martie for attending the meeting.

An update on the new Operational Policing Model.

Speaker: Inspector Andy Nobel

Inspector Andy Noble gave a community area update to the Board, this included information relating to burglaries which had taken place recently in Whiteparish and some other locations. There had been a total of 12 in Wiltshire and 30 in Hampshire. Suspects from the Shirley area in Southampton had been arrested that day and were currently in custody. The Police were putting evidence together to charge the suspects with a total of between 50 – 60 offences. An update would be provided on this at the next Area Board meeting in February.

Rachel Gunn, a new PCSO had been assigned to Alderbury and would be in place by January 2012.

Inspector Noble then went on to give information on the new Operational Policing Model and the police’s vision for Wiltshire, which aims to save around £15 million over the next 3 – 4 years. This would involve changing the shape of how services were delivered, but at the same time not reducing front line services.

• Specialist Operations will be located at Devizes Headquarters and operate across Wiltshire.
• Police officers will be centrally managed and organised.
• Opportunities to co-locate with partners will be explored.
• Four main response hubs at Swindon, Chippenham, Trowbridge and Salisbury.
• A new response shift pattern matched to demand, offering the best possible level of resources at key times of activity.
• Introducing new ways of working by maximising the use of technology to deliver a more efficient and effective service.

Questions and comments were then taken, these included:

·       A Laverstock resident asked if there were any beat officers in their area as they had not seen any. Answer: Inspector Noble would pass this comment on to the Community Beat Manager for Laverstock.

·       Is the appointment of a new PCSO in Alderbury in addition to existing officers or a replacement officer. Answer: This PCSO post was a vacant post that had remained unfilled for the last 12 months. Alderbury would keep Kim, who would be joined by Rachel in January.

·       One resident pointed out that on some occasions when local people had called for assistance, the operators were not familiar with the area and did not know where they were. He asked if improvements to the operators knowledge of the rural community locations be improved. Answer: The way in which we answer the calls is being investigated.

The Chairman thanked Inspector Noble for the presentation. He added that on 15^th November 2012 there would be an election for a Police and Crime Commissioner. The Police Authority would then be abolished. Councillor Britton expressed concern about the political basis on which this Commissioner would be elected.

To consider the recommendation to release funding to the Job Club as detailed in the attached report.

Officer: Tom Bray, Community Area Manager

To note the attached report detailing the progress of Local Issues in the Community Area.

Officer: Tom Bray, Community Area Manager

The Board will consider applications for funding from the Community Area Grant Scheme.

Officer: Tom Bray, Community Area Manager

The Board considered four applications for funding from the Community Area Grant Scheme. Applicants present were invited to speak in support of their application. After discussion the Board members voted on each application in turn.

Decision

The application from the Pitton Diamond Jubilee Committee to hold an event for 100 people was refused.

Reason

The Board felt that limiting the event to 100 tickets would exclude some members of the community who may wish to take part. The Board invited the applicant to come back with a revised application for a more inclusive project.

Decision

CoombeBissett Parish Council (on behalf of the Chalke Valley Historical Photographic Archive Group) was awarded £250 towards their project to professionally scan 1000 historical images for future use and historical research.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2011/12 and demonstrates a link to the Community Plan 2010 – 15, as detailed in the officer’s report.

Decision

The Radnor Hall was awarded £1,265 towards their project to improved access points and car parking facilities at the hall.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2011/12 and demonstrates a link to the Community Plan 2010 – 15 as detailed in the officer’s report.

Decision

The Whiteparish First Responders were awarded £1,051 towards their Public Access Defibrillator Project.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2011/12 and demonstrates a link to the Community Plan 2010 – 15 as detailed in the officer’s report.

A copy of the Forward Plan is attached for information.

The Chairman thanked everyone for coming and closed the meeting.

The next meeting of the Area Board will be at 7.00pm on Thursday 2 February 2012 at Winterslow Village Hall.