Agenda and minutes

Chairman’s Announcements:

      i.        Introduction of Julia Cramp, Service Director Commissioning and Performance, Department of Children and Education

    ii.        Election of Chairman and Vice Chairman and Overview of 2009/10

   iii.        Outside Body Appointments 2010/11

   iv.        Reducing Unnecessary Street Lighting

    v.        Highways Programme for 2010/11

The newly elected Chairman for 2010/11, Councillor David Jenkins, welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Westbury Area Board and thanked everyone for attending. He explained that he would allow as much time as possible for questions throughout the evening, but anyone with outstanding questions could submit them after the meeting and responses would be arranged.

The Chairman then introduced Councillor Julie Swabey, who was the newly elected Vice Chairman for 2010/11, along with Councillors Russell Hawker and Michael Cuthbert-Murray who were the other Westbury Area Board Councillors.

The Chairman also introduced Sally Hendry, Westbury Community Area Manager and Penny Bell, Democratic Services Officer, and announced that Councillor Jane Scott, Leader of the Council, was also present for the evening and would explain her role a little later on.

The Chairman made the following announcements:

      i.        Introduction of new Service Director, Julia Cramp: The Chairman welcomed Julia Cramp to the meeting. Julia was the Service Director for Commissioning and Performance in the Department of Children and Education. Julia was the new Service Director for Westbury Area Board and would be attending the Area Board meetings.

    ii.        Election of Chairman and Vice Chairman and Overview of 2009/10:  The Chairman announced that, at the annual Council meeting on 18 May 2010, he was elected Chairman for the next municipal year and Councillor Swabey was elected Vice Chair for the same period. There was also a report in the agenda packs at page 3, which provided an overview of the Area Board’s activities during 2009/10.

   iii.        Outside Body Appointments: The councillors noted that the appointments to outside bodies made during 2009/10 would continue throughout 2010/11.

   iv.        Reducing Unnecessary Street Lighting: The Chairman referred to the briefing paper in the agenda at page 9 which provided details of a new initiative to dim or switch off unnecessary street lighting. He suggested that anyone interested in the scheme should contact Sally Hendry, Community Area Manager.

    v.        Highways Programme: The Chairman referred to the briefing paper in the agenda at page 11 which provided details of the annual programme of highway maintenance and improvement schemes for 2010/11.

   vi.        Local Transport Plan – Funding Allocation: The Chairman announced that a late item had been added to the agenda packs concerning the future allocation of transport funding for local smaller-scale transport schemes. Further details could be obtained from Sally Hendry.

  vii.            Waste: The Chairman announced that today was the launch of the consultation on the new waste and recycling collection proposals. As this was an important issue, a short presentation would be made under item 12 on the agenda.

Apologies for absence were received from Inspector Dave Minty of Wiltshire Police, Mike Franklin of Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, Carole King of the Community Area Partnership and Sue Morgan, Planning Compliance Officer.

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

Councillor Michael Cuthbert-Murray declared a personal interest in item 5 as he was a member of the ‘Save Westbury Pool’ campaign committee.

To confirm the minutes of the meetings held on Thursday 22 April 2010 and Tuesday 18 May 2010.

The minutes of the meetings held on Thursday 22 April 2010 and Tuesday 18 May 2010 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

a)    Councillor Jane Scott to outline her Cabinet role and to answer written questions (submitted one week in advance).

b)    Presentation of a petition to Councillor Jane Scott from the Save Westbury Pool Action Group.

5a) Councillor Jane Scott to outline her Cabinet role and to answer questions

Councillor Jane Scott, Leader of the Council, thanked the Area Board for inviting her to the meeting and expressed her pleasure at seeing so many people in attendance.

Councillor Scott explained that she had previously been the Leader of the former Wiltshire County Council since 2003 and had led the bid towards One Council. She was subsequently elected as Leader of Wiltshire Council in 2009 and was responsible for setting the membership of the Cabinet. The Cabinet was responsible for the Council’s policy and budget framework, and made recommendations to full Council for final decisions.

Councillor Scott outlined the difficulties the Council faced in the present financial situation, with £4 million already being lost from this year’s budget. The move to a unitary authority, however, was already exceeding its cost saving predictions which left the Council with a better capacity for coping with the imminent financial cuts.

Councillor Scott answered the following questions from members of the public:

Bitham Mill, Westbury

Concern was raised from residents at Bitham Mill that one of the buildings was still undeveloped and presented both environmental and health and safety concerns.

Councillor Scott announced that the developers of the site had gone bust resulting in the redundant building being taken over by the receivers. Building Control officers were visiting the site on a six-monthly basis to survey the building and ensure it was safe. There was also a problem with pigeons in the building and, although the Council had no control over this or statutory duty to deal with it, Environmental Health officers had been to the site to assess the situation.

The latest information regarding the site was that the receivers had put it up for sale and had found a buyer. The sale is nearing completion which should then result in progress with the site’s development. If there was no progress on this, Councillor Scott undertook to liaise with the Chairman regarding the next steps to be taken.

Primary Care Centre

In response to concern that the proposals for a Primary Care Centre would encourage inappropriate development on greenbelt land, Councillor Scott explained that the Council had no involvement in this until the planning process begun. This was a Primary Care Trust issue and would be addressed in more detail later in the agenda.

Carbon Footprint Reductions

In response to a question from a member of the public, Councillor Scott announced that a paper was available on the Council’s website that set out plans for reducing the Council’s carbon footprint. This paper was due to be considered by the Cabinet at its meeting on Tuesday 22 May 2010.

Councillor Toby Sturgis, Cabinet member for Waste, Property and Environment, added that an important data capture had been completed and that ambitious targets had been set. The Council had been working closely with public sector partners, including the Police, Fire Service, NHS and the Ministry of Defence, to work together to reach  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To consider the allocation of funding for youth transport.

Sally Willox, Youth Development Coordinator and Matt Johnston, who was on placement with Sally through the Future Jobs Fund, outlined proposals for a Young Peoples ‘Youth Shuttle’ Transport Initiative.

It was proposed that the ‘Youth Shuttle’ would transport young people in the Westbury Community Area to and from the youth centre to allow them to participate in youth activities. The issue had originally been raised by the Community Area Young Peoples’ Issues Group (CAYPIG), as it was acknowledged that many young people had difficulty accessing youth facilities.

Sally outlined the funding proposal, which was to seek £2,500 from the youth budget that had been allocated to the Area Board for youth transport initiatives. Match funding would also be sought and they were currently working with the Community Area Partnership and Community First.

The Chairman thanked Sally and Matt for their presentation and announced that there were discussions taking place with the Community Area Partnership regarding potential funding, and more information would be reported at a future meeting.

To receive a presentation on plans for a Primary Care Centre at Leigh Park, Westbury.

Andrew Strange, Planning Consultant, provided a brief background to the planning issues surrounding the proposed site of the Primary Care Centre.

The Development Plan and countryside protection issues had been considered, and the proposed site had been identified in the Core Strategy as a good location for the Matravers school relocation. The existing site of the hospital had been ruled out as its access was poor.

Matt Grist, Transport Advisor working on the project, provided information on the transport issues with the proposed site.

The site was in an ‘edge of town’ location and presented many transport issues for consideration. Current options being looked at included:

·         Scheduled bus services, including the potential diversion of existing services such as 58A and 58B

·         A proposed bus stop facility on Mane Way

·         Community transport, such as Link Services

·         Free taxi phone line within the surgery

·         Charging point for mobility scooters

·         Taxi pick-up point in the car park

·         Covered secure cycle parking

·         Dropped kerbs and tactile paving for pedestrians.

A Travel Plan was also being considered that would encourage sustainable travel, primarily amongst staff, as well as a full Transport Assessment, which would look at issues such as accessibility, trip generation, local junction capacity, car parking and rights of way.

Dr Debbie Beale, Senior Partner, explained that there was a lot of work yet to do regarding the transport options but good progress was being made. In light of the uncertain financial times, planning permission was needed as soon as possible to ensure that funding sources were not lost.

A number of comments and issues were raised from the public, as follows:

·         Concern was raised that elderly people in particular would find accessing the new site difficult and it was felt that the existing site was ideal. Dr Beale commented that this was not possible due to restraints with the size of the site.

·         Thought needed to be given to complex electric chairs used by disabled people.

·         There was concern that, if the development went ahead, the countryside would be unprotected and could become open to development.

·         In response to the above, Councillor Scott recognised the ‘planning void’ that the abolition of the Regional Spatial Strategy had left, but hoped that further guidance would be available towards the autumn. A system of ‘bottom-up’ planning was expected to emerge and local community aspirations would be at the forefront of this.

·         A comment was made regarding the frequency of bus services to the new site and it was felt that 30 minute services were required as a minimum.

·         It was important that bus services operated in accordance with the surgery’s opening hours.

·         Concern was raised that the 58 bus service from Frome to Westbury had not been looked at for possible diversion. The reason for this was because any diversions to services should avoid impacting unnecessarily on existing services for residents.

The Chairman thanked Andrew, Matt and Dr Beale for attending and encouraged members of the public to submit any unanswered questions they may have had.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

a)    To receive a report on the Westbury Community Area Health Fair from Jo Howes, Head of Community Engagement, NHS Wiltshire.

b)    To receive feedback from the Local Development Framework consultation from Luke Francis, Planning Policy Officer.

8a) Feedback from the Westbury Community Area Health Fair

Jo Howes, Head of Community Engagement at NHS Wiltshire, provided feedback from the Westbury Community Area Health Fair workshop that was held on Saturday 24 April 2010.

At the event 12 people attended and gave priority to a number of issues. Priority 1 included stopping smoking, childhood obesity, child health and dentistry. Priority 2 included healthy lifestyles and smoking, and Priority 3 included sexual health and teenage pregnancy.

A number of suggestions for addressing the priorities were made and the next step was to work together to take them forward. Jo announced that she was happy to work with groups interested in working to address the local priorities.

8b) Feedback from the Local Development Framework (LDF) Consultation

Geoff Winslow and Luke Francis of the Spatial Planning team provided feedback on the LDF consultation results. There were also display boards at the rear of the hall for people to have a look at if they wished to.

Councillor Hawker expressed concern that the key proposals did not reflect the wishes of the community. In particular, there was no aspiration for large scale housing development and it was not desired for Matravers School to be relocated to an out-of-town location. Councillor Hawker asked if it was possible to view the comments made by the public during the consultation.

Luke commented that all of the comments were available to view on the Council’s portal website. The following comments were made during the ensuing discussion:

·         With the abolition of the Regional Spatial Strategy, the Council was awaiting clear steer from the Government in terms of future planning. This was hoped to come in the autumn.

·         The Council was beginning to work with Westbury Town Council regarding a Town Plan, incorporating plans for retail, housing and business development. It was hoped that these types of Local Plans would eventually link to form a Core Strategy.

·         Expansion of the existing Matravers School site should be considered as an option rather than relocating it.

·         Village development was equally important and the Council would be engaging with Parish Councils in the near future to gauge their local planning priorities.

To receive a presentation on the review of the library service from Niki Lewis, Service Director for Communities, Libraries, Heritage and Arts.

Niki Lewis, Service Director for Communities, Libraries, Heritage and Arts, gave a lively presentation regarding the review of library services that was taking place across the county.

There were currently 31 libraries across Wiltshire, plus 5 mobile libraries. The aim of the review was to achieve savings across the library service whilst retaining the same high levels of service that the libraries currently offered.

Niki outlined the services that were on offer at libraries at present, and also suggested some possible future services including longer and later opening hours, refreshment facilities, e-books, wi-fi access and meeting rooms amongst other things.

A few comments were made following Niki’s presentation, as follows;

·         It was felt that young people were accustomed to using electronic media which impacts on libraries.

·         Libraries were trying to deliver too many services and potentially missing their core purpose, which was ‘books’.

·         Many secondary schools had well-equipped libraries which could also be made available for community use.

·         A recent review of Westbury library had described it as ‘not fit for purpose’. Councillor Hawker suggested that this was referring to the fact that there was no lift in the building.

·         Westbury library was considered to be a very busy library with well-praised staff.

Niki thanked everyone for their comments and encouraged people to complete and return the ‘postcard’ consultation form.

John Hernon, National Planning Manager of Lafarge Cement UK, to provide information on the company’s proposals for the Lafarge site.

John Hernon, National Planning Manager of Lafarge Cement UK, provided information regarding future plans for the Lafarge site in Westbury.

John announced that it was with regret that plans were being made to decommission and demolish the clinker manufacturing at the Lafarge Cement works due to poor market conditions and a decrease in demand for the product. The distribution depot was to remain at the site, and jobs there and in logistics would not be affected.

Lafarge planned to maintain the site's cement mills for grinding and blending cement products using clinker transported from its other UK cement works.

The company was now working with Wiltshire Council to consider future uses for both the site, and the chalk and clay quarries which supplied raw materials. Lafarge would be retaining a strong hold on core areas of the site, but other areas would become surplus to requirements and alternative options for their use were being considered.

Although there were no plans or proposals for the site yet, John indicated that there were no plans for a mixed-use development, as this would not be compatible with the current cement activities at the site. Employment opportunities were being considered, along with waste management opportunities, as either of these options could be considered as compatible with current activities at the site.

In response to a number of questions from the public, John made the following statements:

·         With regards to the previously closed public footpaths, discussions were now taking place with Wiltshire Council officers to re-open them.

·         The safeguarding of the steam railway land was no longer the responsibility of Lafarge as the land had been sold on.

·         Pipes from the quarry would be abandoned and not used any longer, but the pipes would do no damage to the environment.

·         There was no timescale for demolition at present as a lot of planning was required and it was too early to give firm timescales. However it was likely that the company would start planning for demolition in the next 12 - 24 months.

·         The company had a lot of experience in managing redundant sites and site demolition, and a lot of investigation and planning would go into the project to ensure there was no release of pollutants.

·         With operations ceasing at the site, there was no possibility of the kilns being used in the future. There was, however, a possibility that the chimney could be put back to use.

·         Although the site could possibly be used for waste management activities in the future, Lafarge was not a waste management company and would not be putting any waste proposals forward.

The Chairman thanked John Hernon for coming to the meeting and explaining the current position of Lafarge.

To consider applications for funding from the Community Area Grants Scheme.

Sally Hendry announced that Westbury Area Board had a grants budget of £40,447 for the year 2010/11. A number of grants had been approved at the previous meeting, leaving the total sum available as £34,647. Anybody interested in applying for a grant should contact Sally for further details.

There were two applications for grants as follows:

Reeves Orchard Community Project

An application had been received requesting the sum of £231 for name plates, tree stakes, tree ties, rabbit guards and four new trees.

Decision

The Area Board agreed to award the sum of £231 to the Reeves Orchard Community Project.

Reason The application met the 2010/11 Community Grant criteria and linked to a number of Wiltshire Council’s priorities including encouraging tourism.

Westbury Music and Arts Festival

An application had been received requesting the sum of £950 towards the running and promotion of a music and arts festival to be held in September 2010.

Decision

The Area Board agreed to award the sum of £950 to the Westbury Music and Arts Festival.

Reason The application met the 2010/11 Community Grant criteria and linked to a number of Wiltshire Council’s priorities including improving young people’s participation in positive activities.

The Chairman announced that an urgent slot was being given to officers from the Waste team due to a consultation that had just been launched on waste and recycling proposals.

Martin Litherland, Head of Waste Collection Service, provided an overview of the new proposals for waste and recycling collection. At present, there were different services across different parts of the county, which all needed to be brought in line.

The new proposal was that there would be a fortnightly collection of household rubbish and a fortnightly collection of black recycling boxes. This would be complemented by a non-chargeable fortnightly kerbside collection of plastic bottles and cardboard, and a non-chargeable fortnightly kerbside collection of garden waste.

The public consultation was now open and would run until Friday 20 August 2010. Views and comments could be submitted online or in writing using the consultation leaflet. There would also be a series of road shows taking place, including one in Trowbridge Town Centre on Wednesday 30 June 2010 from 10.00 am until 2.00 pm.

The next meeting will take place on Thursday 7 October 2010, 7.00 pm at Matravers School in Westbury.

The Chairman thanked everyone for coming along and contributing to the meeting and encouraged people to complete and return their feedback forms.

Councillor Cuthbert-Murray requested that future Area Board meetings were held in village locations as well as Westbury venues.

The next meeting of the Westbury Area Board would be held on Thursday 19 August 2010, 7.00 pm at Heywood Village Hall.