Agenda and minutes

The Chairman will welcome those present to the meeting.

The Chairman welcomed those present to the meeting and thanked everyone for making the effort to get to Sherston Primary School.

Apologies for absence were received from Ellen Blacker (Dauntsey Parish Council), Peter Campaigne (Norton and Foxley Parish Council), Jo Howes (NHS Wiltshire), Bernard Ingham (St Paul Malmesbury Without), George Lynham (Luckington and Alderton Parish Council), John Marsh (Ashton Keynes Parish Council), Terry Mockler (Hankerton Parish Council), Robin Rogers (Oaksey Parish Council), Ray Sanderson (Malmesbury Town Council) and Councillor Carole Soden (Minety).

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 3 March 2010.

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 March 2010 were approved and signed as a correct record.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

The Area Board will also give an update on health projects in the Malmesbury area.

The Chairman drew attention to the written announcements included in the agenda papers. These were on the successful bid made by the Malmesbury Extension Skate Park group to the Performance Reward Grant Scheme, the gypsy and traveller site allocation event on Wednesday 19 May in the Neeld Hall in Chippenham between 4.00pm and 8.00pm and youth worker staffing allocations in Malmesbury.

The Chairman also explained there was a programme of events being hosted by Wiltshire libraries from 27 May to 5 June 2010. There were 70 events and activities being organised across Wiltshire, including talks from authors, workshops for budding writers, activities for children, walks and the launch of an art exhibition on recent British illustration. For further information, please pop into the library to pick up a copy of the programme, or contact Carolyn Kennedy (Community Librarian), on 01666 824953 or carolyn.kennedy@wiltshire.gov.uk.

To receive updates from the following partners:

a)    Wiltshire Police

b)    Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

c)    NHS Wiltshire

d)    Malmesbury and the Villages Community Area Partnership

e)    Town and Parish Councils.

The Chairman drew attention to the written updates from partners included with the agenda papers and invited questions from the floor.

a)    The written update from Wiltshire Police was noted. It was highlighted that crime statistics on the update were not up to date. Up to date statistics would be brought to the next Area Board meeting.

b)    The written update from Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service was noted.

c)    The written update from NHS Wiltshire was noted.

d)    Sid Jevons spoke on behalf of the Malmesbury and the Villages Community Area Partnership. The Partnership’s annual work plan and claim for running costs had been submitted to the Area Board. The Partnership were looking for funding towards various initiatives including an administrative officer, a project officer, redesign of the website, printing costs and training of members. Please find a copy of the annual work plan for 2010/11 attached.

Decision:

The Area Board agreed to fund £3,000 to the Malmesbury and the Villages Community Area Plan.

e)    The Community Area Manager invited parish chairmen, clerks and the parish area board representatives to an informal meeting. The purpose of the meeting would be to provide an opportunity to discuss any issues about Area Board involvement, how to get issues on the agenda, opportunity for parish clusters, dealing with community issues and engagement with Malmesbury and Villages Community Area Partnership.

Miranda Gilmour hoped to hold the meeting in June/early July, with further information to follow.  

Trevor Daniels, Head of Special Educational Needs, will give a presentation on changes to services for children with Special Educational Needs. This will be followed by an opportunity for community debate and questions.

Carolyn Godfrey, Director for Children and Education, gave a presentation on changes to services for children with Special Educational Needs.

The presentation covered the following main points:

·         Why a review of Special Educational Needs provision was taking place.

·         The consultation process – this would close on 24 May 2010 at noon.

·         Provisions covered by the review.

·         Aims of the review.

·         Funding issues.

·         Data relating specifically to Malmesbury Primary School.

This was followed by an opportunity for community debate and questions, when the following main points were raised:

·         Low take up of resources should be investigated. It was commented there was a lower incidence and degree of Special Educational Needs in Malmesbury compared to the county average.

·         Too much Council bureaucracy.

·         The Centre Manager in Malmesbury had contacted all cluster schools and every six weeks discussed children they could help with Educational Psychologists. Educational Psychologists visited all schools and worked with Special Educational Needs Coordinators. Concern was raised over relying on an individual Educational Pschologist to communicate needs of children.

·         Work was needed to improve communication between Malmesbury Primary School and the cluster schools.          

·         Lack of consideration of the financial or emotional consequences of withdrawing funding from the unit.

·         Insufficient attention directed to transport issues involved.

·         Concern over the impact of diluting the funding to an array of smaller schools that do not have the capacity, expertise or stamina to accommodate vulnerable children with special needs.

·         There was wide evidence that early detection of special needs support is helpful and effective to avoid more costly interventions at a later age for the child. 

·         Special Educational Needs centres were keen to do more outreach work with local schools.

·         The review missed the value of having a beacon school in the north of the county.

·         Long term provision for the community would need to be taken into account.

Decisions

1)    The Area Board asks the Department for Children and Education to contact parents of the children admitted by Wiltshire to the Centre to discuss arrangements for their child at an appropriate time.

2)    The Area Board requests the Department for Children and Education to work with the school to clarify the funding streams that are in place at the school to ensure appropriate use of the resources for the Wiltshire nominated pupils, and for other pupils with SEN at the school.

3)    The Area Board would encourage the school to fully engage with the ongoing discussions regarding the development of Complex Needs Centres, and to take guidance from the Department for Children and Education regarding examples of schools with other models of SEN provision so that the school can assess a range of models.

4)    Following on from the implementation of new service agreements for all Wiltshire centres the Area Board suggests that the school works with the Local Authority SEN school support services as part of the future support network for other schools.

5)    The Area Board suggests that the school updates its information to parents to meet the requirements of SEN  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Adrian Hampton, Head of Local Highways and Streetscene, will provide information on the 2010/11 major works programme for the Malmesbury Community Area. This will be followed by an opportunity for community debate and questions.

Adrian Hampton, Head of Local Highways and Streetscene, provided information on the 2010/11 major works programme. He spoke about:

·         The current funding situation.

·         How the Highways department identified and prioritised their workload.

·         The Highways assessment matrix.

·         Major works completed in Malmesbury Community Area 2007-10.

·         Minor works completed in Malmesbury Community Area 2009/10.

·         Examples of community issues that had been addressed, including dropped kerbs and a footpath in Luckington. 

·         The major works programme set out on the Wiltshire Council website at present: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/area-board-highway-info-malmesbury.pdf   

·         The work that would be completed next year depended on Government funding.

Decision

Adrian Hampton would return to the 15 September Malmesbury Area Board meeting to provide a Highways update. 

This was followed by an opportunity for community debate and questions. This included the following main points:

·         Highways issues should be reported in the first instance to Clarence on 0800 232323. Members commented that it was important to note the Clarence reference number given to the issue to help them chase it if needs be.

·         Work would be prioritised on a safety first basis, with regular inspections taking place.

·         Guarantees on specific sites could not be made.

·         The department was aware of innovations across Europe and dealt with an international contractor. Weather conditions in the United Kingdom were relatively extreme and this had contributed to the potholes over the winter.

·         Damage to infrastructure was often caused by utilities companies. If town and parish councils could track when utilities undertake work and report any problems afterwards this would be helpful.

·         A core issue was that Wiltshire was penalised under the current funding system and did not receive funding.      

Mark Levitt will give a short presentation to inform the Area Board of the work of Police Protective Services.

Chief Inspector Mark Levitt gave a short presentation about the work of the Police Protective Services Department and answered questions from the floor. Departments covered by Protective Services included major crime, special branch, economic crime, public order, civil contingencies, critical incidents, organised crime, public protection, forensics and operations (such as roads policing, dog section and firearms).

Specific to the Malmesbury area, Police Protective Services had completed a lot of work behind the scenes on tackling travelling criminals. Intelligence teams had been set up to keep the local community safe with the WOMAD festival taking place in July. The department had also contributed to a positive impact on boy/girl car racers. Further information was available from the Wiltshire Police website: www.wiltshire.police.uk.

The Community Area Manager will provide a summary of current community issues and the Area Board will agree those to be closed.

The Community Area Manager provided a summary of current community issues. She reminded the meeting that if anyone had a community issue they would like addressed, they need to submit an issues sheet to the Area Board in paper copy or online from the Wiltshire Council website: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/malmesbury_final_issues_sheet_template.doc.

The Area Board was then asked to agree the issues to be closed. Councillor Sturgis commented that a recycling facility for Tetrapaks at Station Yard car park was not possible within the budget. In addition there was only one factory producing this facility and this was at full capacity at present.    

Decision

The Community Area Manager would close issues 807, 763, 656 and 280, as shown in the agenda papers.

Decision

Further information would be sent to Bill Sykes and the Malmesbury and St Pauls Residents Association regarding the crossing at Filands and the school crossing warning signs needed by St Joseph’s RC Primary School in Malmesbury.

Councillors will be asked to consider the Community Area Grants report and make recommendations on the applications received.

Consideration was given to the two funding allocations made to the Community Area Grants Scheme.

Decision

Friends of Athelstan Museum were awarded £3,250 towards a community education and outreach project, conditional on the balance of funding being in place.

Reason

The application meets the 2010/11 grant criteria and addresses the need to maintain community facilities including playing fields, while young people wanted more sports facilities and activities in villages for teenagers.

Decision

Ashton Keynes Cricket Club were awarded £980 for a pedestrian sprayer, conditional on appropriate storage for the equipment and consideration of health and safety implications.

Reason

The application meets the 2010/11 grant criteria and desires to maintain community facilities. The project offers scope to enhance education and lifelong learning amongst both the local community and visitors to the area.

One expression of interest had been received from St Aldhelms Mead, Malmesbury for a Play Area Enhancement Scheme.

The project objective is to create a multi-use games area, including an all weather sports pitch at St Aldhelms Mead, for use by mainly older children and adults. Currently there is play equipment suitable for younger children at this site and the open space is used for ad hoc games of football. The multi-use games area will encourage involvement in a wide range of sport such as football, hockey, tennis, netball, volley ball and basketball. Providing such a facility will fill a gap in the local provision which in recent years has concentrated on improving play facilities for younger children up to the age of eleven. While this facility would benefit residents of Malmesbury, it will also be accessible to everyone in the wider community area.  

An expression of interest had been received by the Area Board from St Aldhelms Mead, Malmesbury for a Play Area Enhancement Scheme. The Chairman explained that unfortunately this item could not be taken at the meeting as one Board member had sent apologies and Councillor Killane had to request dispensation under these special circumstances. It was hoped that this would be arranged for the next Area Board meeting on Wednesday 7 July.  

To give advance notice of local consultations and any feedback.

13. Public Consultation

The Chairman drew attention to the information on public consultations regarding the Air Quality Strategy for Wiltshire, the Contaminated Land Strategy for Wiltshire and consultation on the Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service Strategic Plan 2010-2013 included in the agenda papers.  

He spoke about progress made after consultation with local people regarding the Orchard Court bus service. The Area Board had received a request to stop the town bus visiting Orchard Court and visit the Primary Care Centre only. Malmesbury & Villages Community Area Partnership (M&VCAP) worked with the Area Board by distributing consultation letters from Wiltshire Council and talking to local residents about the service.

The feedback to Wiltshire Council’s passenger transport team was significant and it was decided that since 50% of the residents were against any change, this was sufficient to make a decision in advance of the date given at the March Area Board. It was felt that delaying a decision was not in the interest of local residents.  

Decision

The Area Board would retain the Orchard Court section of the town bus service.  

The Chairman thanked M&VCAP for their fantastic work and suggested a further survey could investigate use of the service with respect to timings. He asked that M &VCAP also arrange a leaflet to reassure residents that the town bus service would be retained.”    

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending the meeting and noted that the next Area Board meeting would be held on Wednesday 7 July 2010 at 7pm at Malmesbury Primary School, with refreshments available from 6.30pm.