Agenda and minutes

The Chairman Councillor Richard Britton; welcomed everyone to the last meeting of the Southern Wiltshire Area Board. This would be the last meeting before the elections in May. The first scheduled meeting of the new Area Board would be held on Thursday 6 June 2013.

The Chairman welcomed and introduced Councillor Keith Humphries, Cabinet representative for Public Health and Protection Services.

There were none.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 29 November 2012, were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

Southern Wiltshire Community Blog site

To note the attached information on the following current consultations:

Councillor Keith Humphries, Cabinet member for Public Health and Protection Service, will answer questions about his area of responsibility.

His portfolio includes:

o   Public health

o   Community safety

o   Environmental health

o   Trading standards

o   Licensing

o   Emergency planning

Councillor Keith Humphries, Cabinet member for Public Health and Protection Service, gave an overview of some of the areas of his responsibility.

·       Over the last year and a half the council had been working to integrate public health as much as possible into all services provided by local government.

·       Childhood obesity was a national problem, with rates rising over recent years. Wiltshire however is one of two councils across the country, to have achieved a drop in childhood obesity figures last year.

·       In and around Salisbury, there are alcohol related issues, with 1 in 65 people being admitted to hospital with alcohol related illnesses and injuries.

Comments and questions included:

·       Recent proposals to devolve the work of the Lorry Watch from Trading Standards to Parish and Town Councils was not supported. Answer: There are issues over the length of time it takes to track down the owner of a vehicle. It is not as simple as just entering the number plate details, as other criteria are also required, to form a valid search. The council used to support this work but as numbers have increased, there are too many now. The council holds a license to operate the search system and are currently looking to see if the parish councils can operate under the same license, so that they would not have to pay for their own. This issue will be discussed in more detail and proposals will be drawn up. Parish Councils will be given the chance to feed into the debate.

To note the attached items for information:

·       Update - Wiltshire Online: Connectivity and Provision

Fire & Rescue Service

Mike Franklin showed the Board an example of a flashing armband which had been funded by Public Protection, for distribution to local school children in years 5 to 6.  Some of the armbands had also been set aside for distribution from the local fire station to those who would be made safer by being more visible at night. The December update was attached to the agenda.

Wiltshire Fire Authority 

Councillor Devine had attended a meeting of the Fire Authority where they had been working to set the budget. The budget had been cut by 4/5 million, one consideration was the possibility of raising the precept to cover cuts. Talks were underway with the Fire Fighters Union on the resource transformation in order to reshape the fire service to best serve Wiltshire.

Police

A written update was attached to the agenda.

Youth Service Update

Mal Munday (Head of Service: Integrated Youth & Family Support) delivered a presentation to the Board which included:

·       Integrated Youth Service ‘Offer’

The Integrated Youth Service spans the open access offer (youth clubs and settings) in addition to ‘targeted/specialist’ youth work involving young people who have had issues with substance abuse, may be unemployed or not on a training course or who have been involved with the youth offending team. This includes working with those who have committed serious offences.

Open Access (Youth Club work) is needs led, where we are able to offer developmental opportunities for young people to help them meet some of their aspirations.

Wiltshire council is one of the few councils across the country which has retained an in-house open access youth offer. The Leader of the Council Councillor Jane Scott has made a commitment to provide open access youth services. However we do not have infinite resources and must allocate our budget accordingly to enable us to provide all of the services we offer.

·       Funding and resources for Southern Wiltshire

In the Southern Wiltshire community area, there is an allocation of £33,000 (direct youth work hours costs with other on-costs stripped out) which could be used for open access youth services, out of that £17,500 is spent on the services of a Youth Development Team Leader. The remainder pays for youth work hours up to 26 hours a week.

It is important that the community is involved when deciding on how best to distribute the 26 hours of youth work around the community area. If that had not happened in the past then it should start from now on. Mr Munday apologised if the perception was that the communication has recently not been as good as it could have been. A meeting with the Youth Development Team Leader will be  arranged after her return from annual leave in order to feedback on the key issues.

·       11 to 19 Strategy

The 11 to 19 Strategy was signed off by Cabinet in September 2011. The strategy involves working closely with third sector voluntary organisations in providing opportunities for young people to come  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To receive a presentation from Scott Carruthers, Group Director for the Sarum Locality.

To receive information on the Police and Crime Plan Consultation.

Presented by: Kieran Kilgallen, Chief Executive to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner. 

Kieran Kilgallen, Chief Executive to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) delivered a presentation on the Police and Crime Plan Consultation.

The PCC’s role is to commission services to cut crime and deliver an effective and efficient police service. The PCC will set a five year Police and Crime Plan, which will set the strategic direction of policing in Wiltshire and Swindon.

Engagement and consultation about the plan will take place as follows:

Questions and comments included:

·       The Chairman noted that the Police and Crime Plan must also go to the Police and Crime Panel for approval. The panel will hold the PCC to account for the Plan’s delivery and will fulfil an important role in scrutinising the work of commissioner.

·       Swindon Borough and Wiltshire Council’s Community Safety Partnerships will both lose a chunk of their budgets to the Commissioner as will Public Health, will there be any consultation with those two organisations? Answer: Yes, at present we are working closely with the PCO’s and the Neighbourhood Policing Teams, when we are certain of what is deliverable, then we will go for consultation.

·       In cases where you are looking to share premises with Councils, are you also including shared sites for the Fire Service? Answer: We certainly are considering these options. The local authorities have depots which may be viable options.

The elected Police and Crime Commissioner; Angus Macpherson would be visiting all 18 Area Boards during 2013.

The Chairman thanked Kieran for his presentation.

The Chairman will announce the winners of the Southern Wiltshire Volunteering awards for 2012/13, for the following categories:

·       Working together with young people in our community

·       Working to support older people in our community

·       Working to help keep our community safe

·       Working to improve our footpaths

The Board considered two applications for funding from the Community Area Grant Scheme for 2012/13. The Chairman invited applicants present to speak in support of their applications, following discussion the Board members voted on each application in turn.

Decision

Winterslow Youth Zone was awarded £300 to purchase a new table tennis table.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2012/13 and demonstrates a direct link to the Community Plan for 2010 - 15 as detailed in the Officer’s report.

Decision

5 x 5 x 5 = Creativity was awarded £2,400 towards a community art project at Old Sarum.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2012/13 and demonstrates a direct link to the Community Plan for 2010 - 15 as detailed in the Officer’s report.

Other Funding - Young People’s Music Festival Project

There is a Youth Music Festival being organised for July 2013 that will involve school workshops leading up to the event. The event will comprise of an area for young people to perform the music they have created in the workshops and also a play day style market place.

The festival will take place in Salisbury but would be involving all Southern Wiltshire schools and young people in the event and workshops leading up to it. The funding bid is yet to be drawn up as the project is still in planning stages but the Community Area Manager recommend that the Area Board sets aside any remaining youth funding to this project. A further application for funding towards this project could also be submitted at the June 6^th meeting.

Decision

That the Southern Wiltshire Area Board allocates the remaining £827.60 in the Youth Funding budget for 20012/13, to the Youth Music Project, due to take place in July 2013.

Due to the elections in May, there will be a longer gap between area board meetings than usual, with the next meeting of the Southern Wiltshire Area Board being scheduled for Thursday 6 June 2013.

Therefore to facilitate the smooth and efficient running of Area Board business and to reduce the need for unnecessary extraordinary meetings, the board will consider whether to grant a delegation authority to the Community Area Manager, in consultation with the relevant unitary councillors on the Area Board, to make any necessary decisions (such as agreement of CATG funding allocations and Community Area Grant Funding). 

Report attached

As this was the last Southern Wiltshire Area Board meeting of a four year  cycle, the Chairman highlighted some of the achievements of the board during that time.

The Area Board had helped to fund around 80 individual community projects over the last four years, by awarding £207,329 of Area Board funding, which had been instrumental in levering around three times that amount in additional other funding, towards these projects.

Due to the elections in May, there would be a four month gap until the next scheduled Southern Wiltshire Area Board meeting on Thursday 6 June 2013. Work would not stop during this time, Board Members remain in post until the elections, and would be working with Officers to progress Area Board projects within the community area.

Community Plan – Action Points

A copy of the Southern Wiltshire Community Plan Action Report was attached to the agenda, detailing tangible action points for the Area Board, on what had already been carried out and work that still needed completion. The report also includes a list of suggested actions for parish councils. The Chairman invited parish councils areas of the document specific to them.

As this was the last meeting, the Chairman thanked the Officer’s and Members for their contribution to the board over the last four years.

The Chairman also received congratulations from Board Members and Parish Councillors for his efforts as Chairman over the past four years.