Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr David Jenkins.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 8 December 2016.

Resolved:

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting held on 8 December 2016 as a correct record.

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

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

There were no Chairman’s announcements.

To consider applications for funding from the Youth Grants Scheme.

Consideration was given to a report by Jan Bowra, Locality Youth Facilitator, in which councillors were asked to consider funding for two applications.

Resolved:

(1)      To approve a grant of £5,000.00 towards the cost of providing a personal development programme for young people at risk of, or currently engaged in, anti-social behaviour (Salamander Project) for Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service.

(2)      To defer consideration of an application from Fairfield Farm College for £2,808.24 towards the cost of providing sports equipment, because there was no representative of the applicant present to explain the reason for the application and to answer any questions.    

An update report by the Community Engagement Manager is attached.

The Community Engagement Manager presented a short update report on progress made in delivering a youth awards scheme in Westbury.

He reminded those present that at the last Area Board meeting he had been requested to progressing an awards scheme in Westbury.  Nominations were being received for the first Westbury Youth Awards which would be held at the Leigh Park Community Centre on Friday 10 March 2017.  He explained that the deadline for nominations was Friday 24 February 2017 and nomination forms could be completed online at www.youngwestbury.org.uk  Nominations could be received for any young person aged 18 and under living in the Westbury Community Area.

To receive any updates from partners. Some reports have been received and are included in the pack.

·         Wiltshire Police

·         Dorset and Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service

·         BA13+ Community Area Partnership

·         Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group

·         Healthwatch Wiltshire

·         Health & Wellbeing Group

·         Westbury Town Council

The Area Board received and noted the following updates from key partners:-

(a)      Wiltshire Police Deputy Sector Head, Sgt. Louis McCoy presented a report from which it was noted that during the last few months Wiltshire Police had rolled out its Community Policing Team model across Wiltshire and Swindon and so far the response had been positive.  He pointed out that work was taking place to improve the 101 system for non-emergency calls. Efforts were being made to ensure that the service was high quality and that the time taken to respond to these calls was being reduced.

Sgt McCoy explained that the crime statistics for December 2016 were encouraging in that the number of vehicle crime, public order, theft, violence and burglaries had all seen a slight decrease compared to the previous year. However, during the first half of January 2017 there had been an increase in the amount of reports received regarding damage and some breaking into disused commercial premises within the Westbury area.  Across the wider community area there was a slight increase in sheds and outbuildings being broken into and the public was being reminded to do all they could to their property safe and to report such incidents to the Police. 

Sgt McCoy then introduced PC Amy Hardman, who had recently taken over the role of Community Coordinator, who then explained her role in overseeing the Community Messaging initiative in which ways were being developed in keeping the public up to date with the latest policing information.

(b)      Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service  District Commander Andy Green presented his report from which it was noted that seasonal safety advice was available on the Service’s website at www.dwfire.org.uk and following the ‘your safety’ link to access this and other guidance.

Mr Green drew attention to the need to recruit further On Call Firefighters and informed the meeting that further information was available to view on the webpage www.dwfire.org.uk/working-for-us/

Attention was also drawn to the severe weather warnings and Mr Green stressed the need for motorists to be vigilant and not attempt to drive their vehicles in flooded roads. The Fire and Rescue Service did not recover vehicles in these circumstances.

(c)       BA13+ Community Area Partnership  The written report was received and noted.

(d)          Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group The written report was received and noted.  Dr Peter Biggs suggested that future reports should provide more detailed information about the work of the CCG, the problems being experienced and how they were being solved.

(e)          Healthwatch Wiltshire The written report was received and noted.

(f)           Health & Wellbeing Group    Consideration was given to two applications for funding as presented by the Community Engagement Manager.

Resolved:

(a)  To approve a grant of £1,000.00 to finance 2 x 2 hour workshops on Cooking with Confidence for adults with mental health needs.  

(b)  To approve a grant of £2,500.00 to develop a ‘wheel chair friendly’ workshop on land already allocated to the Westbury Shed.

(g)          Westbury Town Council  Cllr Stephen Andrews,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Sgt Paul Harvey from the Crime Prevention Team will give a presentation on cyber crime.

The Chairman welcomed and introduced Sgt Paul Harvey from the Crime Prevention Team who was attending the meeting to give a presentation on cyber crime.

Sgt Harvey explained that ‘Cyber Crime’meant ‘Digital Crime’, i.e. any crime that involved a computer and a network.

The computer may have been used to;

•      * commit the crime,

•      * be the target of the crime, or

•      * facilitate the crime.

•      This is further broken down into three categories;

•      ‘Cyber Dependent’- (‘Pure Cyber Crime’) - The creation & spread of

malware, hacking, and denial of service attacks (DoS attacks)

•      ‘Cyber Enabled’- (Existing Crime) - Traditional ‘existing’ crimes organised or committed on an industrial scale.(fraud, scams, phishing, buying illegal drugs/firearms, child sexual exploitation)

•      ‘Internet Facilitated’- (‘Cyber Assisted’) - The internet or devices used to facilitate in planning or committing traditional criminal activity ranging from online abuse on social media, grooming, drug dealing, terrorists attack planning

It was explained that Cyber Crime was one of four control strategies of the Police Force, the other three being High Risk Offenders, Domestic Abuse and High Risk Victims.

Sgt Harvey reported that in Wiltshire 2,291 cyber crimes had been reported at a loss of £4.3M to the victims.  He further stated that 40% of these crimes in Wiltshire were being detected. All these crimes were being reported to Action Fraud at www.actionfraud.police.uk where there was an advice helpline available. Work was being carried out to educate young people in particular of the inherent dangers of cyber crime.     

In order to help protect against cyber crime, the public was recommended to carry out the following safeguards:-

·         Do not respond to junk mail or spam emails that claim you have won a lottery, prize, inherited a secret fortune or offer an unsolicited award.

·         Do not pay money up front, on the promise of a larger cash reward.  You will receive nothing!

·         Check the identity & credentials of the company you are dealing with.

·         Install anti-spam software on your computer and set up a spam filter in your email system

·         Remove yourself from mailing lists after buying a product or service

·         Consider changing your email address

Sgt Harvey stated that further information could be found from the website www.wiltshire.police.uk/information/cyber-crime

On behalf of the meeting, the Chairman thanked Sgt Harvey for his informative and very useful presentation.

The Chairman will present an update at the meeting.

The Chairman reported that following the Area Board meeting on 8 December 2016 and the discussion that followed a presentation on possible options for developing a community hub for Westbury, the Area Board Members met with Cllr John Thomson, Lead Member for Community Campuses and Hubs and Laurie Bell, Associate Director, Communities on 19 January to progress the possible options and agree the next steps.

It was agreed that the focus should be on a feasibility study that looked at improvements to the existing library building and its future usage, taking into account all the floors and the space available. The feasibility would take into consideration community needs and how the library could become an improved and vibrant hub in the town centre. Liam Cripps, Community Engagement Manager, would be key to this work in assessing the community need and demand, as well as the opportunities that the hub could offer.

Work on the feasibility was underway and the Area Board would be updated on the options as this was progressed. The feasibility would consider making best use of all the floors and the possible extension to the rear of the building.

The Chairman further reported that at the Area Board meeting in December, the future use and opportunities for the former youth centre had also been raised. Since then he had attended a meeting on 26 January with Richard Head, Headteacher of Westbury Junior School, Ian Cunningham, school governor, Cllr John Thomson, Laurie Bell and Nick Darbyshire, representing the Council’s properties department, to update on the progress to bring the centre back into use for a wide range of community and school activities. Everyone at the meeting had been in agreement that the proposals were extremely useful. The Chairman stated that in principal the Council would be willing to support the transfer of the building for community use, subject to meeting the terms of transfer.  Furthermore, the Council had agreed to provide appropriate support to assist with progressing the plans.

At the last meeting the Area Board agreed that further consideration be given to this at the next meeting and that the report, slides and updated scoring figures be made available.  

The Community Engagement Manager will report further at the meeting.

The report, as circulated at the last meeting, and updated scoring figures are attached.  Slides will be shown at the meeting. 

The Community Engagement Manager presented a report which updated the meeting in the outcome of the ‘Our Community Matters’ Joint Strategic Assessment event held on Tuesday 8 November 2016 at Leigh Park Community Centre.

The purpose of the event was to:

·         Gain a consensus around priorities for the area

·         Provide the basis for community-led action and projects over the next two years

·         Develop a community plan for the area

·         Provide the Council and partners with a clear focus for local actions

It was reported that the event was productive and the following issues were highlighted as deserving further consideration:

Children and Young People

vChild Poverty

vMental and emotional health

Community Safety

v  Anti-social behaviour

v  Protecting the vulnerable

Culture

v  Library use – Area Board fully support Wiltshire Council and their objective to revamp the library.

Economy

v  New business creation and start-ups

Environment

v  Fly tipping and litter

Health Wellbeing and Leisure

v  Mental Health

v  Support for carers

Older People

v  Social isolation and loneliness

v  Dementia

Transport

v  Road improvements

Community and Housing

v  Deprivation and poverty

During discussion, the Locality Youth Facilitator requested that young people should be given the opportunity and encouraged to feed into the ongoing consultation process. The Chairman fully supported this suggestion and stated that the Area Board at its June meeting would be asked to give further consideration to this and allocate actions and responsibilities to the four Councillors.

A progress report on the transfer of land from Persimmon Homes (Wessex) to Wiltshire Council will be made at the meeting.  

The Chairman reported that Persimmon Homes had instructed their solicitors to proceed with the transfer of land at Leigh Park Community Centre, Westbury to Wiltshire Council prior to the Council transferring the land to the Community Centre.  The original target for completion was the end of February 2017 but there were certain changes required to the Section 106 Agreement which was likely to delay the completion of the transfer to the end of March 2017.

The Chairman will provide an update at the meeting. An application for a community grant for this project is attached for consideration.

The Chairman reported that following on from the last meeting, the needs of the Westbury Community Area had been examined and he was pleased to announce that it was planned to place defibrillators in key strategic sites in areas of Westbury to provide the most suitable and accessible service as recommended by a specialist. These defibrillators would be available to the public at all times and would enable critical response time to reduce risk of death. Currently Westbury did not have defibrillators outside office surgery hours.

It was noted that each unit had a ten year guarantee which would provide the Council with a number of options to enable the continuation of this project in the future, for example funding through a new grant application precept.  Westbury Town Council would be working in partnership with Westbury Area Board to jointly fund, promote and support the project.

Consideration was then given to an application to grant fund this project.

Resolved:

Application 2263 – Westbury Town Council

To approve a grant of £5,000.00 towards the cost of providing defibrillators in Westbury.    

The Community Area Manager will explain how communities can be involved in the ‘Great British Spring Clean’ litter picking events.

The Community Engagement Manager reported that following on from the success of the Clean for the Queen litter pick events in 2016, the Keep Britain Tidy Group had launched its biggest ever litter campaign – the first Great Britain Spring Clean.  Communities were being encouraged to make their neighbourhood one they could be proud of and accordingly arrangements were being made for a Spring Clean to take place from Friday 3 to Sunday 5 March 2017.

Members of the public were asked to get involved and register their event with the Community Engagement Manager who would provide support with:

·         Promoting the event

·         Providing litter picking equipment

·         Event planning and preparation

·         Litter collections

The Community Engagement Manager also drew attention to the following community events and activities in 2017, details of which would be available shortly:

·         The Big Pledge – London Calling

·         Healthy Schools initiative

·         World War One commemorations

To receive the notes of the Westbury Community Area Transport Group meeting held on 13 January 2017 and to consider the recommendations set out in the notes.

The Area Board received notes of the Westbury Community Area Transport Group (CATG) meeting held on 13 January 2017.

Resolved:

(1)      To allocate £1,000.00 for the provision of road markings from Stormore into Red Pit, Dilton Marsh, subject to approval by Dilton Marsh Parish Council.

(2)      To allocate £100.00 for signing in Church Lane, Westbury, to be match-funded by Westbury Town Council.  

The next meeting of the Westbury Area Board will take place on:

Thursday 13 April 2017 at The Laverton, Westbury, BA13 3EN.

Future Meeting Dates

Thursday 15 June 2017 at The Laverton, Westbury BA13 3EN

Thursday 10 August 2017 at The Laverton, Westbury BA13 3EN

The next meeting of the Westbury Area Board will be held on Thursday 13 April 2017 at The Laverton, Westbury.