Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.  He introduced the Wiltshire Councillors, and the Community Area Manger and the Democratic Services Officer.  The Chairman welcomed all new attendees to the area board meeting and invited questions at any stage of the meeting.  He reminded everyone to complete the evaluation forms.

Apologies were received from the following:

Councillor Brian Atfield (Cricklade Town Council)

Jo Howes (NHS Wiltshire)

Wing Commander Rob Snell and Lisa Mitchell (RAF Lyneham)

Laurie Bell (Service Direct – Wiltshire Council)

To approve and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on 26 May 2010.

Decision

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 May 2010 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

To include, but not limited to, the following:

a.    Call for Grot Spots

b.    Parking Strategy Consultation

c.    Reducing Unnecessary Street Lighting in Wiltshire

d.    Local Transport Plan – Funding Allocation

e.    Area Board Priorities 2010/11.

The Chairman referred the meeting to the announcements circulated with the agenda.  He added that a workshop event was planned for the part night lighting project on 29 July.  Those interested in the project were to contact the Community Area Manager.  Further details relating to the Local Transport Plan announcement were to be considered under the agenda item 7b – Task Group Updates.

The Chairman made the following additional announcements:

A letter had been received from Mouchel inviting comments by 29 July about the engineering works planned for the river bridge at Tadpole Bridge.  Pedestrian and horse access was to be kept open.

The report to Cabinet on 27 July included the recommendation that the Special Educational Needs unit at Longleaze Primary School be retained with the capacity for 10 full time places.

A statement from Chief Executive Andrew Kerr about the Leisure Facilities Review had been issued.  Lime Kiln Leisure Centre was one of the facilities earmarked for devolvement to the community to manage.  There were no further details available at the time.

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

a.    Key Partners including Wiltshire Police, Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, NHS Wiltshire, Community Area Partnerships, Parishes, Westlea Housing Association and Chambers of Commerce

b.    Outside Bodies.

The following updates were received:

a.    Wiltshire Police – the written report was noted.  Sergeant Martin Alvis updated the meeting about the arrest of a Swindon man in connection with five burglaries that had taken place in the Purton area.

Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service – the written report was noted.  Relationship Manager Mike Franklin announced that in the first quarter of the year, 63 home fire-safety checks had been made.  He introduced his colleague Area Manager John Popowicz.  There had been an increase in hoax calls.  While it was possible that these had been instigated from the same source, Mr Franklin offered to investigate the situation and report any further information to the Community Area Manager.

[Note: after the meeting Mr Franklin sent the following information:  Referring to the statistics within the written update, the graph key was not reproduced correctly and missed out the coloured key for 'False Alarm' which made the key for 'False alarm good intent' look as though it was the key for ‘Hoax’.]

Northern Community Area Partnership (NCAP) – Bob Jones (Chairman) made the following points:

·         NCAP was working with Julia Stacey (Community Support Officer) on new ways of working with the area board.

·         the recent meeting had been productive although not well attended

·         the partnership welcomed the scrapping of the Regional Spatial Strategy

·         the partnership’s work with the youth task group was complete.

Westlea Housing Association (WHA) – Martyn Baker, Customer Accounts Manager, updated the meeting on the recent activities of Wiltshire Money and offered to organise a Money Advice event together with with several partners to help the local community due to the closure of RAF Lyneham.

Lyneham & Bradensoke Parish Council – Councillor Philip Lightowler made the following points:

·         Defence Estates would be speaking with the parish council regarding the closure of RAF Lyneham but as yet there was insufficient information available

·         a new play area had been funded by the RAF.

b.    Outside Body Updates – no reports were received.

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

a.    Rural Buffer Zone Task Group

b.    Local Traffic and Highways Working Group.

The Chairman reminded the meeting that the nominated parish representatives were welcome to attend the task group meetings.

a.    Rural Buffer Zone Task Group – the written report was noted.  The Chairman apologised that Gina Chapman’s name had not been included on the Terms of Reference.  Councillor Groom gave a verbal update highlighting some of the points noted in the written report.

b.    Local Traffic and Highways Working Group – the written report was noted.  The area board had received a funding allocation of £14,025 to address local transport issues via a working group.  The Chairman proposed that the work be done by the existing Local Traffic and Highways Working Group.

Decision

It was agreed that the Local Traffic and Highways Working Group was to identify the issues to progress using the discretionary highway budget.

The next meeting of the working group was 6pm on 21 September 2010.  Further details were available from the Community Area Manager.

Niki Lewis (Service Director for Communities, Libraries, Heritage & Arts) and John Salen (Business Change Project Manager) will give an update on the review of Library Services.  The meeting will be asked to consider their top five priorities for the future library service.

John Salen, Project Manager – Business Change, introduced Tessa Cozins, Area Library Manager – North and East, and Jessica Phillips, Community Librarian.  This was followed by a presentation on the library service review. 

The following points were made:

·           the review was county-wide

·           £500,000 savings were to be achieved within two years

·           98% of library customers thought the standard of customer care was good or very good

·           the impact of reading and literacy on people’s lives, including their career prospects and health and wellbeing

·           what the library service offered now

·           what a future library service might offer, such as time zones for different groups (Noisy Fridays/Quiet Mondays), longer core opening hours and late night opening, meeting rooms for public use, refreshments, e-readers, washroom facilities, Wi-Fi access, game zones and plasma screen broadcasts.

The meeting raised the following points:

·           some libraries and mobile libraries offered internet training for children, disabled people and older people

·           Cricklade library was currently sourcing funding for its Silver Surfers group

·           Cricklade Leisure Centre currently offered the Silver Surfers programme

·           customer focus groups expressed a wish for extra services at the library

·           every aspect of library provision was to be reviewed

·           there was an on-going strategic review of all council-owned buildings that considered new models of service delivery

·           further consultations were to take place

·           adult literacy courses were desirable

·           currently there were no plans to alter the very popular mobile library service

·           both Cricklade Town council and the library offered information points that may be better combined for resource efficiency.

There was the opportunity to contribute to the review through opinion cards at the meeting that asked for the top five priorities for a library service in the future.

The Chairman thanked Mr Salen for his presentation.

Martin Litherland, Waste Contracts and Development Manager, will give a short presentation to launch the waste collection consultation, and respond to any questions.

Martin Litherland, Head of Waste Collection, gave a short presentation following the recent launch of the council's waste and recycling consultation.  He included the following points:

·           the new council had inherited four different waste collection schemes across the county, which operated to different service levels and standards, and achieved very different recycling rates; residents in these areas had very different opportunities to recycle, which was unfair

·           landfill tax was set to increase from £40 per tonne in 2009 to £80 per tonne in 2014, increasing by £8 per year

·           the proposed new service would provide each household in Wiltshire with a 2 weekly collection of household waste, black box recycling, plastic bottles and cardboard, and a non-charged ‘opt-in’ garden waste collection

·           leaflets were available at the meeting that provided additional information and also described the ways in which people could engage in the consultation , such as visiting the council's website.

A written question had been received from Mr John Webb asking if the new fortnightly collection of residual waste was compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act with regard to the disposal of medical waste.  The response was that clinical waste was categorised as being low risk waste. This included nappies and incontinence pants (known as Grade E clinical waste) and were to be double bagged as usual and disposed of via the normal collection - it was safe for this material to go to landfill.  There was a clinical waste collection service for high risk waste.

The following points were made:

·           the current waste recycling figure of  40% was county-wide, included municipal waste , black box collections and household recycling centres.   The figure of 28% only referred to the kerbside collection in North Wiltshire.  Higher collection rates were achieved when there was a fortnightly residual waste collection.  Examples provided were 44% in the east and 43% in the west

·           not all garden waste was suitable for composting

·           secondary packaging could be targeted before reducing collection

·           waste should be used to generate energy

·           50,000 tonnes per annum of residual waste was diverted from south Wiltshire and sent to an Energy from Waste facility out of the county

·           recycling figures included all recycling and were formulated by government set performance indicators

·           household recycling centres might be able to collect other types of recyclable waste if paper and plastics were removed , if kerbside collections were introduced to collect this material. 

·           this waste collection scheme may be better suited to rural areas rather than more highly populated urban areas

·           the consultation was to be carried out online, through the media and through the area boards.

Councillor de Rhe-Philipe pointed out that in West Wiltshire the fortnightly waste collection was functioning well.

a.     Community Area Grants Scheme

To consider 1 application to the Community Area Grants Scheme, as follows:

          i.          1^st Purton & Lydiard Beavers Pack request £943 to provide play equipment for the pack at their new premises at Purton Youth Centre.

Grant application packs for the Community Area Grants Scheme areavailable from the Community Area Manager or electronically at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/areaboardscommunitygrantsscheme.htm

b.     Area Board Projects

The Wiltshire Councillors seek agreement to set aside 20% of the area board budget (after the allocation to the community area partnership) to fund councillor-led area board projects.  This amount is £8269.  Any funds not allocated by 31 December 2010 will be returned to the main area board budget.

Projects must have the approval of the Area Board and should clearly set out one or more of the following:

·         Evidence of community need

·         Clear links to the community plan

·         Evidence that it addresses an on-going issue that has been logged via the Community Issues System.

a.    Community Area Grants Scheme

Wiltshire Councillors were asked to consider one application seeking funding from the 2010/11 community area grant budget.

Helen Griffin and Wendy Griffin addressed the meeting on behalf of the 1^st Purton and Lydiard Beavers Pack.

Decision

The 1^st Purton and Lydiard Beavers Pack was awarded £943 to provide play equipment for the pack at their new premises at Purton Youth Centre.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grants Scheme 2010/11 criteria and met locally agreed/area board priorities demonstrating the benefits of being involved with youth groups and encouraging participation in community groups.

b.    Area Board Projects

The Chairman introduced the proposal, explaining that the following two agenda items were examples of what could be achieve by this process.  He proposed to ring fence 20% of the area board budget (£12460) until 31 December 2010 for such projects.  The meeting considered the proposal and made the following points:

·           the meeting preferred the title councillor-sponsored projects to councillor-led initiatives

·           further guidance was requested on the issue of councillors’ interests – it was pointed out that there would only be an interest for the councillor if the proposal related to an organisation or body to which the councillor belonged (registerable interest)

·           the meeting disagreed with the principle of ring fencing the funds.

Councillor Allison Bucknell will present a scheme to provide youth activities and transport across the community area.

Councillor Allison Bucknell gave a presentation on a transport scheme that would enable young people, particularly those living in rural areas, to access a variety of safe (alcohol and cigarette free) venues.  It was pointed out that 10-16 years olds cannot afford public transport fares and this would offer greater choice at fairer prices for young people.

Decision

Councillor Bucknell was to bring further details of the scheme to the following area board meeting for consideration.

Councillor Peter Colmer will give a verbal presentation on the Fire Cadet project and respond to any questions.

Councillor Peter Colmer gave a presentation on the Cricklade Fire Cadets.  The unit’s funding was to be withdrawn at the end of August.  The following points were made:

·           Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service should consider other funding cuts before discontinuing this scheme

·           this was a worthy scheme that benefitted young people; however, it was questionable whether the area board should fund the organisation.

Decision

Further work was required if the project, or any element of it, was to be considered.

The Cabinet Representative will talk about her responsibilities for finance, performance and risk, and as a member of the Sponsoring Group of the Military Civilian Integration Programme.  Councillor de Rhé-Philipe will respond to any questions.

Councillor Fleur de Rhé-Philipe gave an overview of the current situation at RAF Lyneham as a member of the Sponsoring Group of the Military Civilian Integration Programme.  She made the following points:

·           the site’s possible uses were still being considered

·           a developer had shown an interest

·           a broad plan was being formulated for consideration by the community

·           a conference was hoped for

·           the abolition of the Regional Spatial Strategy created greater flexibility

·           prospects for the use of the area were good

·           the housing stock would attract interests and residents

·           environmental contaminants needed to be considered

·           there was a need to remain positive pending further information.

Councillor de Rhé-Philipe gave an overview of her roles and responsibilities as cabinet member for Finance, Performance and Risk.  This included the following:

·           budget setting process

·           monitoring monthly performance throughout the year

·           monitoring of the risk register

·           savings had been made because of the unitary process.

Councillor de Rhé-Philipe responded to the following two written questions (responses below):

Given that the area board handbook states at page 42 “the needs of those who cannot access electronic sources of information should be kept in mind” and at page 44 “Wiltshire Council is committed to make sure that no-one is at a disadvantage by not being able to be involved, or through discrimination” what actions has Wiltshire Council and its ‘partners’ taken to ensure, in so far as is practicable, that house/bed bound residents, whether residing at home, a care or nursing home or while temporarily hospitalised with access to electronic sources of information and those without will be involved in and enabled to take part in Council’s and its ‘partners’ involvement structures that less constrained residents would be able so to do, and by what future date will, as far as is practicable, the situation of disadvantage experienced by such group of residents be expected to be nullified within Wiltshire.

The council is working hard to provide information where practicable to all members of the public.  Any person who is unable to access area board information online should contact their local community area manager who will arrange for papers to be sent by post.  This is a service we currently provide.

How is council able to justify the use of council tax payer’s monies to pay the relatively exorbitantly high fees of consultants as in the case of Peter Fletcher Associates Ltd 2008 ‘accommodation strategy for people with physical and sensory impairment under 65’ commissioned by council’s department for community services on the basis of provision to said consultants of a flawed brief, flawed research (I use the term in its loosest sense) and council’s own data?

The Accommodation Strategy for People with Physical and Sensory Impairments was commissioned in 2008, following a tender process to ensure the Council obtained Best Value. Peter Fletcher Associates, a highly regarded company, was asked to identify the future accommodation needs for this group of people to enable the Council to plan and develop services that were identified  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

Julia Stacey, Community Partnership Support Officer, will give an update on the outcomes of the recent community planning workshop.

Julia Stacey, Community Partnership Support Officer, updated the meeting on the progress of the community planning process.  The following points were included:

·           attendance at the meetings had not been fully representational of all community groups

·           community planning worked best when it was issues driven

·           social networking might be a way of engaging other community groups

·           draft proposals were to come to the next area board meeting.

The Chairman will take any remaining questions for the floor.

The Chairman asked for any remaining questions from the floor. The following comments were made:

·           Recycle for Wiltshire (www.recycleforwiltshire.com) offered videos demonstrating the uses of recycled waste and the reasons for recycling

·           all existing community issues had been allocated to officers, organisations or task groups for progression – no new issues had been received

·           revisions to the area board handbook were underway but required an update to the council’s constitution first.

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

7.00pm Wednesday 6 October 2010, Wootton Bassett School, Lime Kiln, Wootton Bassett, SN4 7HG

7.00pm Wednesday 1 December 2010, Hook Village Hall, Hook Street, Wootton Bassett, SN4 8EF (tbc)

The Forward Plan is attached for information.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending. He apologised for the lateness of the finish but pointed out that engagement was high and hoped everyone had felt able to ask their questions.  The next meeting was to be held on Wednesday 6 October 2010 at Wootton Bassett School.