Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Westbury Area Board.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

To discuss the Wiltshire Children’s Trust draft 13 to 19 Commissioning Strategy which sets out suggestions on priorities for the future including ensuring the council’s youth service is as modern and effective as possible so it can continue to meet young people’s needs. Young people and representatives from a range of agencies working with 13 to 19 year olds have been involved from the start and their views have informed the draft strategy.

To view the draft strategy and comment, www.wiltshirepathways.org/ShowNews.asp?NewsID=379

Kevin Sweeney, Area Manager Integrated Youth Service who is leading on the consultation process for the Children’s Trust Draft Commissioning Strategy updated the board on the aims and scope of the consultation. The Strategy has a broad scope and includes health, education, housing, leisure, teenage pregnancy, youth crime and safeguarding. It is taking place against a backdrop of both national and local initiatives and changes including:

Nationally

·         Big Society including Citizenship scheme and local decision making

·         New Education Bill – Academies and free schools

·         Information Advice and Guidance – moves towards an all age service?

Locally

·         Local services delivered through campus sites

·         Savings needing to be made in all services - £600,000 from Youth Work  and £417,000 from Information Advice and Guidance Children and Young People’s Plan Vision

The key aim is to improve the outcomes for young people aged between 13 -19 in Wiltshire, and this will be achieved by:

·         Making sure there is a good range of quality services

·         Providing early response to the needs of young people when they are at risk or problems arise

·         Improving the way we work together and with partners

A separate key priority within the Strategy is to work with the new campus developments planned for Wiltshire.  The plan is to create a campus in each community area which will be a building or collection of buildings where a number of services or agencies are all based e.g. library, playgroup, sports hall and office space for workers.  It is possible that some of the space in each campus will be for 13 – 19 year olds.

Wiltshire Council is currently looking to change the way it runs youth work in the county, part of this is to reflect the need to make savings but also to ensure that the needs of young people are met.  The principles that will guide decisions on future youth work services and savings are that all Wiltshire young people aged 13- 19 will have access to high quality youth work opportunities.  Young people will be actively involved in the planning and delivery of youth work.  There will be enough youth work resources to meet the needs of vulnerable young people and there will be a greater range of service providers and growth in voluntary sector youth work.   There are 4 suggestions being put forward by Wiltshire Council about possible changes to the youth service these are;

·         Testing the Market  - involving competitively tendering the existing service

·         Developing Local Partnerships with the Voluntary Sector or Secondary Schools or Colleges – involving partnership working, reducing the overlap and duplication

·         Local Management and Closer Alignment with Campus Developments – align existing provision more closely with the 18 Area Boards and with Campus development

·         Changing Local Youth Work Offer through Reduced Reliance on Existing Buildings – Youth Development Centres in a few major population centres staffed by Team Leaders, youth Development co-ordination and part time assistant youth workers.

Members of the board and public raised a number of points and questions  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

1. Brief overview on the implications for Westbury Community Area by Cllr Fleur de Rhe-Philippe, Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Strategic Planning

2. Chairman Cllr Julie Swabey will introduce issues for discussion:

• Employment land allocation
• Housing land allocation
• Transport and A350 associated traffic issues
• Landscape Policy
• Other issues
  • Matravers Secondary School
  • Lafarge cement works

To view the Wiltshire wide consultation document  follow link:

http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planninganddevelopment/planningpolicy/wiltshirecorestrategy/wcsconsult2011.htm by clicking on the Wiltshire Core Strategy Consultation Document (June 2011).

To respond to the consultation on the emerging Wiltshire Core Strategy:

·         enter your comments online at http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal,

or

·         complete a response form which will be available at the meeting.

Cllr Fleur de Rhe-Philipe gave an overview of the Core Strategy in relation to the Westbury Community area. Salient points of note were;

·         Westbury has been identified as a location for new strategic employment to encourage higher value jobs within the area and reduce the level of commuting to Bath, Bristol and elsewhere

·         No new strategic housing sites have been identified

·         Firms want to come to Wiltshire and also existing firms want to expand but need the correct sites on which to develop

·         18.5 ha of employment land had been identified

o       14.7 ha Mill Lane, Hawkeridge

o       3.8 ha North Acre Industrial Estate

The Chairman thanked Cllr Fleur de Rhe-Philipe for her overview and led the Board in discussions over a variety of topics.

Employment Land Allocation

Cllr Russell Hawker explained that he had taken part with Westbury Town Council in extensive discussions regarding this consultation document.  Whilst initially he had been against the use of the land at Mill Lane he now realised the need for higher quality employment land and he fully supported Westbury Town Council’s Highways and Planning Development Committee’s response to the Core Strategy Consultation and explained that any development should attract high quality employment use only, must have a proper road junction or roundabout on to the Hawkeridge Road, preferable a roundabout and the development must have high quality landscaping to the perimeter.

The Chairman informed the board that she had an opposing viewpoint and that the land at Hawkeridge should act as a natural rural buffer. The area surrounding Hawkeridge Mill is very ancient, the mill having been mentioned in the Domesday Book.  A network of public footpaths criss-cross these fields and have great amenity value. This area stands close to Bitham Brook, a tributary of the River Biss and is a designated floodplain. This is an area of low lying meadows traversed by three water courses. This open low lying meadowland is tranquil, strongly rural in character and has an abundance of wildlife, including an important population of water voles. The fields enclose the village of Hawkeridge and the small settlement of Norleaze and needs to be protected to repel any encroachment of the West Wilts Trading Estate from development to the east.

Heywood and Hawkeridge Parish Council informed the board that they had responded to the consultation document and had recommended that the land at Mill Lane be removed from the document.

After further discussion the Area Board’s view on this issue was,

Decision

To designate that the land south of Hawkeridge village , to the east of the B3097, to its boundary with the dismantled railway as a rural buffer to be protected from development and encroachment from the West Wilts Trading Estate.

It should be noted that Cllr Hawker wished his support for the Westbury Town Council proposal to be recorded.

Housing Land Allocation

No strategic site has been identified.  Housing development will be at a reduced rate compared to the past with a focus on improving and consolidating  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The next meeting of the Westbury Area Board will be held on 11 August for immediate business only, starting at the earlier time of 6.30pm at All Saints Parish Hall, Westbury.

Westbury Area Board open day will take place on 13 August, 10am – 2pm at Soisy Gardens, Westbury.

The Chairman thanked everyone for their input in what had been a productive meeting.

The next meeting of the Westbury Area Board will be held on 11 August 2011 at 6.30pm, Westbury Parish Hall (All Saints), Westbury.  Westbury Area Board open day will take place on 13 August 2011 from 10am -2pm in Soisy Gardens.