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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Sherston Village Hall

Contact: Becky Holloway (Democratic Services Officer)  01225 713935

Items
Note No. Item

7.00 pm

21.

Chairman's Welcome and Introductions

Minutes:

The chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

22.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Kim Power.

23.

Minutes

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meetings held on 16 May and 31 May 2017.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The minutes from the two previous meetings were received and it was

 

Resolved:

 

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meetings held on 16 May and 31 May 2017.

24.

Declarations of Interest

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

Minutes:

Cllr Gavin Grant declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 7 (minute 27) as chair of trustees at HEALS, the grant applicant. He declared he would not vote on this item.

25.

Chairman's Announcements

To receive any announcements through the Chairman to include the following:

 

·         Consultation on the Draft Wiltshire Housing Site Allocations Plan

·         Malmesbury Dementia Action Alliance

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Consultation on the Draft Wiltshire Housing Site Allocations Plan

The meeting’s attention was drawn to the consultation period which had begun for the above document. The draft plan included sites in Crudwell and Oaksey. Four public exhibitions would be held in July and attendees at the meeting were encouraged to submit their comments before the closing date in mid-September.

 

Malmesbury Dementia Action Alliance (DAA)

The Malmesbury DAA had recently been launched and it was hoped that membership would extend to include the Area Board, local businesses, and community groups. The aim of the alliance was to create communities and spaces where people with dementia and their carers could feel safe and accepted.

7.10pm

26.

Sherston Parish Council

John Matthews and Mike Johnson will deliver a presentation about the work of Sherston Parish Council and the village shop.

Minutes:

John Matthews and Mike Johnson gave a presentation on the work of Sherston Parish Council and the village shop.

 

Sherston Parish Council

Cpt Matthews shared some key statistics about the village including its demographics and features of interest. The village had a number of retail outlets as well as a village hall, primary school, GP surgery, church and allotments. The village was well served by local recreational groups and facilities and the village was held an annual boule competition which attracted 128 teams and included a separate youth contest. A parish newsletter, The Cliffhanger, was used to communicate with villagers. Sherston was fortunate in having upwards of 30 local employers which prevented it from becoming a dormitory village and allowed local shops and facilities to be supported. Key issues for the village included parking and traffic, and the development of neighbourhood plan. An emergency plan had also recently been created for the village. The majority of the precept raised by the parish council was spent on employing a parish clerk.

 

Cpt Matthews expressed his gratitude for the considerable amounts of time given by keen and active volunteers to supporting village activity. He concluded by thanking the Area Board for their support and expressing his opinion that despite the change from a district to unitary model, the parish felt closer to the council than in previous years.

 

Village post office and general stores

Mike Johnson gave a talk on the establishment and operation of the village shop, which had opened in 2012 and was run by a Community Interest Company. The building had previously been the primary school which, after a village referendum, the parish council had bought. The operating company was self-financing, employing local people and paying back a community loan which had been taken out to finance the upfront refurbishment costs. After the loan was paid off, the proceeds from the business would go into village projects and facilities. The project had been made possible by local legacies and fundraising activities, and receipt of grants including from the Area Board. Along with work to make the property suitable for use as a shop, a second phase of the project had been undertaken to install office space and toilets which had enabled other units to be opened and let out to local businesses which brought in a regular rental income.

 

In response to questions, Mr Johnson explained that the Community Interest Company was run by a board of annually-elected directors and had around 250 members, mostly from the parish. The post office and store operated as a business, and was not reliant on volunteers of regular charitable or community grants. A suggestion was made that other similar groups in the community area could benefit from networking with one another and could provide support to villages planning similar projects. It was confirmed that Sherston parish council were already involved in doing this, with positive feedback.

 

The Chairman thanked Cpt Matthews and Mr Johnson for their presentations and for their continuing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

7.20pm

27.

Local Youth Network Update and Applications for Youth Funding

To receive an update on the Local Youth Network (LYN) and for the Area Board to consider two applications to the youth grants scheme as follows:

 

i.              £2000.00 HEALS                       Summer Programme

ii.            £240.00    Malmesbury TC        Recycled Art workshops

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Richard Williams, the locality youth facilitator, gave an update on his recent work which included supporting an apprentice youth worker funded by a group of local churches, and working with the LYN to identify priority areas for spending the remainder of the youth fund for 2017/18.

 

The Area Board then considered two applications to the youth fund.

 

The application from HEALS for their Summer Holiday Programme was presented. Members discussed the value of the project and the ways in which Wiltshire Council and Malmesbury Area Board could support the programme of events planned. It was reported that funding from an alternative source funding had become available for the Falcon Summer Camp places. Members asked that the Community Engagement Manager and Locality Youth Facilitator worked to support HEALS in spending the grant and in seeking appropriate transport to and from planned activities.

 

An application from Malmesbury Town Council was presented, for a number of recycled-art workshops to be run over the summer holidays. The resulting art work would be displayed in the Town Hall.

 

Resolved:

 

To delegate authority to the Community Engagement Manager and Locality Youth Facilitator to award up to £2000 to HEALS to support the delivery of their Summer Holiday Programme.

 

To award £240.00 to Malmesbury Town Council to run recycled art workshops.

7.30pm

28.

Partner Updates

To receive updates from the following partners:

 

a.    Wiltshire Police

b.    Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

c.    Healthwatch Wiltshire

d.    Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)

e.    Riverside Community Centre

f.     Health & Wellbeing Champion

g.    Town and Parish Councils

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman drew the meeting’s attention to the written reports in the agenda pack and invited partners to give verbal updates. A request was made that the community update report from Wiltshire Police to town and parish councils be re-continued.

 

Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

The written report was tabled (appended) and Ade Hurren gave a verbal update. A new chairman had been appointed for the fire authority, and in response to recent events, work had been done to check the safety and evacuation procedures of high-rise residential buildings in the region. Fire teams had been trained in using defibrillators and these were now carried on board. There was currently a recruitment drive for on-call firefighters, particularly those able to work during the day and at weekends. In response to questions, it was confirmed that the location of fire hydrants was not in the public domain, but that members of the public would be encouraged to report any damage to them. In very rural areas of the county, postcodes would not always direct fire crews to the right location and anyone with concerns about specific areas should contact their local service.

 

Members thanked the officer for the response of the fire service to the Grenfell Tower incident and for the service’s ongoing work to help Wiltshire residents to improve their fire safety understanding.

 

Riverside Community Centre

Ellen Blacker gave an update on the centre which was operating well with trustees putting in a lot of effort. Lots of new groups had been established to fill the centre, users were not solely those who had moved in from elsewhere. Feedback had been very positive and the board were in the process of reviewing what was and wasn’t working in order to encourage a more diverse range of centre users.

 

Health & Wellbeing Champion

Ellen Blacker reported that client numbers went down during the summer but that these would increase again as autumn came. The two monthly lunch clubs continued to be popular and more volunteers were needed. Dementia Friends had met their target nationally of training 2 million friends, and the Dementia Action Alliance now established in Malmesbury would operate as an umbrella organisation for supporting communities to become dementia-friendly.

 

Members thanked Ellen for her updates and reminded parish councillors that a letter had been circulated seeking funding to support the older people’s champion’s work.

 

7.40pm

29.

Malmesbury Area Community Trust

Phil Rice will deliver a presentation on the work of the Malmesbury Area Community Trust, a local grant-giving charity.

Minutes:

Phil Rice gave a presentation on the work of the Malmesbury Area Community Trust. The Trust had originated in the 18th century from a legacy left by a Malmesbury resident for the education of the town’s children. This later amalgamated with the Elizabeth Hodges Trust and until recently, had managed a small grant fund, awarding around 4 grants a year to people and organisations who were in need of the funding. The Trust was managed by a diverse board of trustees with a range of experiences, and grant recipients included schools, families, community groups, and individuals. Four years ago, a much greater amount of funding had become available to the trust and this had increased the size and number of grants that the Trust were able to award. Increased efforts had been made to publicise the funds on offer. Anyone interested in applying for funding should get in touch.

 

The Chairman thanked Mr Rice for his presentation and congratulated him on taking on the increased demands of the role in more recent years.

 

7.55pm

30.

Emergency Planning for Parish Councils

Sarah Kelly, Emergency Plan, Resilience and Response Manager, will deliver a presentation on emergency planning and offer advice to parish councils around the preparation of their own emergency plans.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Sarah Kelly, Emergency Plan, Resilience and Response (EPRR) Officer, gave a presentation on emergency planning in parishes.

 

The officer explained that the purpose of an emergency plan was to ensure thought had been given to the different risks that communities may be subjected to, and the people within those communities would may be most vulnerable in an emergency. Examples given of potential risks included flooding, snow-blockages, flu epidemics, and power outages. A community risk register was available online to aid parish council’s with writing their plans and could be accessed at: http://wiltshireandswindonprepared.org.uk/ Plans should also include mitigation factors as well as response procedures, for example promotion of smoke alarms, and awareness of the Run-Hide-Tell national guidance.

 

The officer explained that 60 designated rest centres had been identified across the county for use in times of emergency, ranging from village halls and community centres, some schools and most of the county’s leisure centres. Venues did not need to be on the list to be included in an emergency plan and the main criteria was space for enough people and access to chairs and tables and facilities for making tea. A resilience fund was available from SSE for local communities to apply for up to £20,000 of work to improve community resilience. Details of the grant scheme were available online.

 

Local knowledge was invaluable in developing plans as experience of past problems and particular trouble-areas would help in identifying what the plan should cover. Emphasis was put on keeping plans up to date: to include any new housing developments, main roads, water pipelines or substations etc. Keeping emergency plans up to date was also important for enabling local authority officers to get in touch with parish contacts when incidents occurred and to support the emergency services in finding rural or isolated locations.

 

Parish Councils were encouraged to send their emergency plans in to the EPRR team at Wiltshire Council.

 

The Chairman thanked the officer for her presentation and explained that the Area Board would like to work with parishes to ensure they were adequately trained and prepared.

8.10pm

31.

Area Board Funding

Councillors will be asked to consider the following application to the Community Area Grant fund:

 

£4524.00       Minety Village Hall – Hall Repairs and Upgrades

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

One application to the Community Area Grant fund had been received from Minety Village Hall for £4524 to insulate the building in preparation for a new heating scheme being planned.

 

Resolved:

 

To award £4524.00 to Minety Village Hall for hall repairs and upgrades

8.15pm

32.

Dementia Friends

Ollie Phipps, Community Engagement Manager, will deliver an information session on Dementia.

Minutes:

This item was deferred to a future meeting.

 

8.55pm

33.

Community Area Transport Group

The Area Board will be asked to consider the recommendations from the Malmesbury Community Area Transport Group (CATG) meeting held on 13 June 2017.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The notes from the CATG meeting held on 13 June 2017 were received and it was reported that additional funding had now been allocated to CATG for pavement improvement work. Following recommendations from the CATG, it was

 

Resolved:

 

To allocate £5000 towards a substantive bid for a new footway on Holloway Hill (aka Wychurch Hill), Malmesbury (issue 3963)

 

To allocate £5000 towards a substantive bid for traffic calming measures in Oaksey (issue 4391/4660)

 

34.

Urgent items

Any other items of business which the Chairman agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.

Minutes:

There were no urgent items.

 

9.00pm

35.

Evaluation and Close

The next meeting of the Malmesbury Area Board will be held in Crudwell Village Hall, at 7pm on Wednesday 6 September 2017.

Minutes:

It was reported that the Wiltshire Council business plan was available online and could be downloaded here: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council-democracy-business-plan

 

The Chairman thanked everyone for their attendance and reminded Members that the next meeting of Malmesbury Area Board would be held on Wednesday 6 September 2017 in Crudwell Village Hall.