Agenda and minutes

The Chairman, Councillor Ernie Clark, welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Trowbridge Area Board and announced a slight amendment to the agenda, with Item 12 being moved to become Item 9.

A public petition was handed to the Chairman on behalf of local residents calling for traffic calming on Holbrook Lane. The Chairman advised that the petition would be formally logged with Democratic Services and a response would be received within 10 working days.

The Vice Chairman, Councillor Stephen Oldrieve, announced that Fairtrade Fortnight would take place from 28 February to 13 March. Trowbridge had been a Fairtrade Town for the past two years and it was hoped that Wiltshire would soon become a Fairtrade County, particularly as it was a Wiltshire Council priority to support Fairtrade products and services.

Apologies for absence were received from Michael Hudson, Service Director, Jo Howes of NHS Wiltshire, Joy Hillier of the Wiltshire Police Authority and Aga Klien-Buchalska of the Polish Social Club.

Decision

The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 18 November 2010 were agreed a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Councillor Jeff Osborn commented on the youth items that had been on the previous meeting’s agenda and requested that an update on the youth activities funded by the Area Board be put on the Forward Plan.

Councillor Helen Osborn announced that the Studley Green Youth Centre was due to re-open at the beginning of February and wished the Centre good luck.

Councillors Jeff Osborn, Peter Fuller, John Knight and Helen Osborn all declared general personal interests in Trowbridge Town Council issues due to being members of Trowbridge Town Council. All councillors had dispensations allowing them to speak and vote on such matters.

Councillor Graham Payne declared a general personal interest in Trowbridge Town Council issues due to being members of Trowbridge Town Council. No dispensation was in place.

Councillor Peter Fuller declared a personal interest in the Community Area Grant application from Trowbridge Town Football Club as he was a member of the club. He intended to speak and vote on the application.

Councillor Stephen Oldrieve declared a prejudicial interest in the Community Area Grant application from the Phoenix Badminton Club and would leave the room for this item.

The Chairman declared a prejudicial interest in the Community Area Grant application from Hilperton Village Hall as he was a member of the Village Hall Committee. He would leave the room for this item.

The Chairman announced the following issues:

      i.        Cars sold on the roadsides – Councillors Peter Fuller and Helen Osborn reported that a scheme similar to the one trialled in Salisbury was due to commence in Trowbridge, which would result in action being taken on this issue in the future. It was suggested that an update on this item should be placed on the Forward Plan.

    ii.        Dog Control Orders – Details of this consultation were included in the agenda pack at page 19. The consultation would run until 7 February 2011 and people could comment online at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council/consultations

To note the written reports and receive any updates from the following:

      i.        Community Area Young People’s Issues Group (CAYPIG)

    ii.        Wiltshire Police

   iii.        Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

   iv.        NHS Wiltshire

    v.        Trowbridge Community Area Future (TCAF)

   vi.        Trowbridge Town Council

  vii.        Parish Council Nominated Representatives.

Updates were received as follows:

      i.        Community Area Young Peoples’ Issues Group (CAYPIG)

Members of the CAYPIG provided a brief update on their main aims for the year ahead, and announced that they hoped to present their ideas at the next meeting of the Area Board.

    ii.        Wiltshire Police

An update report from Wiltshire Police had been circulated prior to the meeting and was contained within the agenda at page 21.

   iii.        Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service

An update report from Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service was circulated at the meeting.

   iv.        NHS Wiltshire

An update report from NHS Wiltshire had been circulated prior to the meeting and was contained within the agenda at page 25.

Councillor Jeff Osborn expressed his disappointment with the lack of progress with the new Primary Care Centre and also with regards to Charter House. He requested that both organisations were contacted in order to progress matters.

    v.        Trowbridge Community Area Future(TCAF)

An update report from TCAF was circulated at the meeting. The BA14 Culture Group was selling tickets to a music and dancing event that would take place on Saturday 5 March 2011 at Southwick.

   vi.        Trowbridge Town Council

An update report from Trowbridge Town Council had been circulated prior to the meeting and was contained within the agenda at page 29. Councillor Francis Morland expressed concern at the Town Council’s proposals with regards to the governance review of town boundaries, and reported that some parishes were concerned at the proposals.

 vii.        Parish Councils

Gaynor Polglase reported on behalf of the Parish Liaison Group that the main issue was the governance review, as outlined above.

Councillor Jeff Osborn reported that there was a Transforming Trowbridge meeting the following Thursday. One of the main issues at present was the provision of recreational land in the area, and Councillor Osborn reported that this was progressing well and various options were being looked into.

Mayur Bhatt, Equality and Diversity Manager, Wiltshire Council, provided an update on work with Polish Migrant Workers in Wiltshire and the Trowbridge Community Area.

Between 2004 and 2007 there was a large increase in the level of migrant workers in the county, particularly in Trowbridge and Melksham. Lots of the jobs that migrant workers undertook involved unsociable shift patterns which could affect access to services and support. The migrant workers community felt that it would be very helpful to have some sort of self-help e-facility that would enable them to independently access services and support in their own time.

As part of Wiltshire Council’s corporate commitment to equality, a small grant was provided to help develop an e-facilities initiative for migrant workers.

The Chairman thanked Mayur for his presentation, and a couple of questions and issues arose

In response to a question regarding the demographics of migrant workers, and the focus on the Polish community, Mayur explained that Polish workers made up a large proportion of migrant workers, but that there were also other nationalities such as Ukrainian and Portuguese.

Some concern arose regarding the lack of firm data on the number of migrant workers within the county and the Community Area, which made it particularly difficult to plan and provide appropriately. Mayur acknowledged this and explained that the 2011 Census would hopefully resolve the current gaps in data.

Councillor Fleur de Rhé-Philipe, Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Risk, will talk about the Council’s budget, and respond to any questions.

Councillor Fleur de Rhé-Philipe, Cabinet Member for Finance, Procurement and Risk, provided an overview of the Council’s current pressures and challenges. The national financial constraints along with the increase in young and elderly people in Wiltshire were shaping the way that Council services would be commissioned and delivered in the future.

Councillor de Rhé-Philipe outlined the main challenges that the Council currently faced:

·         Reductions in Government grant funding

·         Protecting the vulnerable

·         Investing in key services

·         Keeping council tax low

·         Resolving other cost pressures.

In the discussion that ensued, the following points and issues arose:

·         The use of volunteers, as proposed for libraries, could be used in other areas where appropriate.

·         Larger libraries with proposed cuts in opening hours could utilise volunteers to keep opening hours at the same level.

·         The budget for 2011/12 had not been set yet so it was not known whether there would be any changes to the Area Board budgets.

·         In terms of privatisation of services, this may be considered in the future, but not until the Council was satisfied that service provision was at the right level first.

·         All related Powerpoint slides that had been used at the Budget Forums would be on the Wiltshire Council website soon. Figures used were the revenue costs of borrowing capital.

The Chairman thanked Councillor de Rhé-Philipe for her presentation.

Kate Golledge, Licensing Manager (North and West) and Linda Holland, Senior Licensing Officer (North and West), provided an overview of new proposals for street trading. Full details were contained in pages 33 to 40 of the agenda.

Currently, Wiltshire Council was operating three different street trading schemes, as inherited from the former district councils. These schemes were in operation in the north, west and east of the county. The south currently had no street trading scheme so the Council had no powers against illegal traders

 In that area of the county.

The current situation was not suitable and so a formal consultation was being undertaken on a new county-wide street trading scheme. The consultation was live now, and would end on 17 March 2011. Views were also being sought on any lay-bys that were considered unsuitable for street trading.

The following points and issues arose:

·         Concern was expressed that some existing consented street trading schemes were unsuitable and ideally needed to be reviewed. It was confirmed that the proposed new street trading scheme would require all existing traders to reapply and be reassessed.

·         A query arose regarding proposals for ‘block street trading’ and whether town and parish councils would need consent under the new scheme and whether fees would be payable. The consultation paper included a question as to whether town and parish councils should be exempt from this, so people were advised to respond to the consultation with their views.

·         With regards to proximity to schools, and the proposed condition that no licences would be granted for traders within a 500m radius of schools, it was confirmed that all applications would be looked at and would depend on the nature of the activity.

·         The Street Trading scheme did not cover street beggars, as this was criminal activity and dealt with by the Police. Street traders for charitable purposes were required to go through an application process.

·         Town and parish councils could apply for Section 101 agreements under the Local Government Act, to enable them the power to grant street trading consent.

·         A comment was made regarding the ease at which some street trading consent was sometimes obtained, and the detrimental effect that this could have on retail units within the town centre, many of which were struggling in the current climate.

·         With regards to hackney carriages, it was envisaged that the licensing process would be aligned in the next 12 to 18 months.

The Chairman thanked Kate Golledge and Linda Holland for their presentation.

Kieran Kilgallen, Chief Executive of Wiltshire Police Authority, gave a presentation on proposed plans to make savings in light of budget reductions from central government.

The Authority was required to make savings of £15million over the next four years, and the main responsibility was to achieve this without compromising the effectiveness or efficiency of the police service. To ensure this, there were no planned changes to the number of frontline police officers in the communities.

The Authority was currently consulting on its proposals and people could respond online at www.wiltshire-pa.gov.uk, or by telephoning 01380 734022 to receive a paper copy.

The Chairman thanked Kieran Kilgallen for the presentation and recommended that people responded to the consultation with their views.

To consider requests for dropped kerbs from the Local Transport Plan funding.

Consideration was given to seven requests for dropped kerbs under the Area Board’s allocated budget for Local Transport Plan funding.

At a previous meeting, the Area Board had agreed to allocate the sum of £5,000 for the provision of dropped kerbs, which was enough to fund a total of seven dropped kerbs. Two requests had been agreed at the last Area Board meeting, leaving funds available to allocate a further five dropped kerbs.

The Chairman proposed that the Area Board approved all seven requests for dropped kerbs, by drawing funds from the Community Area Grant Scheme to make up the shortfall. This was seconded and agreed by the Area Board.

Decision

The Area Board approved seven requests for dropped kerbs, as detailed below, by using remaining funds from the Local Transport Plan budget and drawing on the Community Area Grant budget to make up the shortfall.

Dropped kerbs approved:

1.    Bellefield Crescent (West) x 2 at junction with St Thomas Rd.

2.    Bellefield Crescent (East) x 2 at junction with St Thomas Rd.

3.    Delamere Road x 1 close to junction with St Thomas Rd opposite existing driveway.

4.    Stancomb Avenue x 1 at junction with St Thomas Rd.

5.    Marston Road x 1 from the last lay-by on Marston Road heading to Kingdown Road across Boundary Walk.

The Chairman will take any items of urgent business.

The meeting is asked to note the future meeting dates below and is reminded to complete the evaluation forms in the packs.

The Forward Plan is attached for information.

The Chairman called a short recess prior to allocating the Community Area Grant funding.

The Chairman reminded people to complete their evaluation forms before they left and announced that the Forward Plan of provisional future agenda items was contained within the agenda at page 43.

a.    Community Area Grants

Consideration was given to five applications for funding from the Community Area Grant Scheme 2010/11, as follows:

              i.        Trowbridge Phoenix Badminton Club

The sum of £851 was requested to buy new nets and posts to increase participation of juniors.

Councillor Oldrieve left the meeting for consideration of this application due to having a prejudicial interest.

Decision

The Area Board awarded the sum of £851 to Trowbridge Phoenix Badminton Club

Reason: The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria 2010/11 and demonstrated links to the Local Agreement for Wiltshire.

Councillor Oldrieve returned to the meeting.

            ii.        North Bradley Peace Memorial Hall

The sum of £765 was requested to carry out a project development study for renewable energy.

Decision

The Area Board awarded the sum of £765 to North Bradley Peace Memorial Hall.

Reason: The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria 2010/11 and demonstrated links to the Trowbridge Community Area Plan.

           iii.        Hilperton Village Hall

The sum of £2,775 was requested for improvements to men’s toilet facilities.

The Chairman left the meeting at this point due to having a prejudicial interest in this item. Councillor Oldrieve took the Chair.

Decision

The Area Board awarded the sum of £2,775 to Hilperton Village Hall with the condition that the applicant did not apply to the Area Board for further funds towards the refurbishment of the village hall’s toilet facilities.

Reason: The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria 2010/11 and demonstrated a link to the Local Agreement for Wiltshire.

           iv.        Lavender Fields Residents Association

The sum of £212 was requested to set up an interactive website to improve two-way communication with local residents.

Decision

The Area Board awarded the sum of £212 to Lavender Fields Residents Association with the condition that the applicant contacted internet service providers first to investigate whether they could offer any services free of charge.

Reason: The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria 2010/11 and demonstrated a link to the Trowbridge Community Area Plan.

            v.        Trowbridge Town Football Club

The sum of £1,687 was requested to fund 29 managers and coaches to attend required FA courses.

Decision

The Area Board awarded the sum of £1,687 to Trowbridge Town Football Club.

Reason: The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria 2010/11 and demonstrated a link to the Trowbridge Community Area Plan.

b.    Performance Reward Grants

Consideration was given to two applications to the Performance Reward Grant Scheme, as follows:

              i.        Wiltshire Alternative Youth Sports Partnership (WAYS)

The sum of £5,900 was requested for sports hub development.

Decision

The Area Board supported the application from the Wiltshire Alternative Youth Sports Partnership and recommended it for approval by the Performance Reward Grant Panel.

            ii.        Trowbridge Community Area Extended Services

The sum of £8,428 was requested for the Trowbridge Parenting Network.

Councillor Helen Osborn left the meeting due to having a prejudicial interest in this application, as she was a member of the Extended Services Steering Group.

Decision

The Area Board supported the application from Trowbridge Community Area  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.