Agenda and minutes

The Chairman will welcome those present to the meeting. This will include a special welcome to Inspector Chris Martin.

The Chairman welcomed those present to the meeting and introduced Inspector Chris Martin, the new Inspector for Wootton Bassett Police Station, and Sean Cooper, Solicitor for the Wiltshire Police Authority. The Chairman thanked the waste collection and highways and gritting teams for doing a good job over the Christmas and New Year period. The Chairman said thank you for the Fairtrade promotion stand which was available to view before the meeting.  

Apologies for absence were received from Katherine Doody (Malmesbury Town Council), John Parmiter (Lea and Cleverton Parish Council), Graham Thorne (Minety Parish Council), Mark Wilkins (Charlton Parish Council) and James York Moore.  

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 10 November 2010.

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 November 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 Chairman will provide information, as in the agenda pack.

The Chairman drew attention to the written announcements included in the agenda pack. He added that several late Chairman’s announcements had been received.

Malcolm Beaven is our new Area Highways Engineer, based in Chippenham (following Sally Barnett’s decision to take up a post in the south of the county). Malcolm was happy to be contacted by telephone, email or letter. Malcolm can be contacted via CLARENCE on 0800 232323 or 01249 445554, northernhighways@wiltshire.gov.uk, or by writing to Bath Road Industrial Estate, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN14 0AB.

Health experts were still keen to encourage all people who were deemed ‘at risk’ of serious illness from seasonal flu to get the vaccination from their GP, if they haven’t done so already. For clarity, the swine flu strain of flu was now covered in the seasonal flu vaccine. GPs were responsible for ordering the supplies and there were plenty in Wiltshire. There was no question of a shortage and all ‘at risk’ people should have no problem getting the jab.

Malmesbury Area Board was inviting local young people to come up with ideas to help improve local transport and access to projects and activities, with £8,000 up for grabs for the best entries. Young people were invited to apply for funding (maximum of £1,500 per project) by Friday 18 March 2011 and those meeting the criteria would be invited to present their ideas to the Malmesbury Area Board on 4 May 2011. Application forms and funding criteria could be found on Sparksite, the Council’s website for young people: www.sparksite.co.uk, under the Malmesbury section. If anyone had any questions or would like help to develop their ideas into an application, please contact Gareth Brown on 01666 823747 or gareth.brown@wiltshire.gov.uk or Miranda Gilmour on 01672 515742 or Miranda.gilmour@wiltshire.gov.uk.   

To receive updates from the following partners:

a)    Wiltshire Police – to include an update from Wiltshire Police Authority

b)    Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

c)    NHS Wiltshire

d)    Malmesbury and the Villages Community Area Partnership

e)    Town and Parish Councils.

The Chairman noted the written updates from partners included with the agenda pack and invited partners to add further information if appropriate.

a)    The written update from Wiltshire Police was circulated at the meeting, please find attached to the minutes. Inspector Chris Martin gave a short summary of his background in Wiltshire Police. Problems raised from the floor with cars parking over dropped kerbs at Hudson Road and outside St Mary’s Hall were noted.

Councillor Soden then gave a short presentation about proposed spending cuts to Wiltshire Police Authority. £15 million of savings were needed over the next four years (the current total budget for policing in Wiltshire was £107 million). Planned savings at present include nearly £4 million savings on general expenditure and £11 million from staff savings. There were no plans to change frontline numbers, there would be 11 Inspector led areas as now and Swindon and the County divisions were to be merged to give one Force wide service delivery.

Councillor Soden asked the meeting to take part in the consultation by completing the questionnaire cards that were available, visiting the Wiltshire Police Authority website to complete the survey there: www.wiltshire-pa.gov.uk, or calling 01380 734022 for a hard copy of the plans and questionnaire.  

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

c)    The written update from NHS Wiltshire was noted.

d)    Sid Jevons highlighted main points in the written update from Malmesbury and the Villages Community Area Partnership (M&VCAP). Following discussions with Malmesbury Town Council it was determined that this project was delayed and it was agreed that M&VCAP would put on hold further involvement until the way forward had been clarified. The results of a speed bump survey for Malmesbury had been presented to the planning and environmental committee of Malmesbury Town Council on 4 January 2011. The committee thanked the Partnership for their work and this would now be examined by a sub-committee before recommendations were made to the full planning and environmental committee.

e)    There were no updates from Town and Parish Councils.   

Councillors will be asked to consider a report from the Local Transport Scheme Funding Allocation group and make recommendations on a range of transport schemes.

Councillors were asked to consider a report from the Local Transport Scheme Funding Allocation group and make recommendations on a range of transport schemes.

Community Area Transport Groups (CATGs) had been set up in each Community Area to consider highway requests, identify priorities for transport investment and make recommendations to the Area Board on the schemes to be funded from the discretionary highways budget.

In order to have a scheme considered for funding, parish and town councils would need to contact their Area Board Manager and raise it on the electronic community issues system. Members of the public and community groups could also request new transport schemes, although these would be referred to the relevant parish or town council by the Area Board Manager to ensure they are supported by them before they are considered by the CATG.

The discretionary highways budget was to be used to provide new highways infrastructure, such as pedestrian crossings, footways, traffic calming, traffic management and cycle facilities. It could not be used to fund highway maintenance, the provision of speed limits and parking controls, public transport services and major highway schemes, for which other procedures and funding mechanisms existed.

The Chairman thanked the members of the CATG, Area Board members and nominated representatives, for their work.

Decision

To allocate £3,000 towards replacing existing low level kerbing and overlay existing footway adjacent to Swann Close, Crudwell.

Decision

To allocate £600 towards the installation of two ‘pedestrians in the road’ signs in Tetbury Lane, Crudwell, conditional on their suitability being confirmed by Officers.

Decision

To allocate £5,000 towards the installation of halos to the zebra crossing outside Malmesbury primary health care centre and repainting of road markings in order to make it more obvious to road users.

Decision

To allocate £600 towards the installation of two ‘pedestrians in the road’ signs on the bend between ‘The Green’ from opposite Olivermead Lane to ‘Sedgemoor’, Dauntsey, conditional on their suitability being confirmed by Officers and retained on the Community Area Transport Group list.

Decision

To defer allocating the balance of the 2010/11 CATG budget towards improvements at North End Crossroads, Ashton Keynes, until Officers had revisited the site and investigated changes to signing and lining to improve safety.

The Area Board also agreed to retain a number of schemes on the CATG  request list, request further investigation at some sites and/or actions by partners and remove a number of schemes on the CATG request list, either because they were not possible to deliver or of lower priority, as indicated in the report in the agenda pack.     

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 and the Area Board agreed those to be closed. The Chairman thanked Miranda Gilmour and the highways departments for their work on solving issues. Councillor Killane advised the meeting to not be concerned about poor tarring at the lower end of the High Street in Malmesbury because the highways department were looking into it. 

Decision

The Area Board would close the following issues:

Issue 273, 637 and 430– highways repairs and road surfacing had been undertaken, some of which would be finalised in the New Year, while speed bumps were being dealt with via a separate issue. 

Issue 440– dropped curbs in Malmesbury had been installed outside the Rose & Crown and access through Market Lane had been improved.  The Council was not able to stop vehicles parking in front of a garage in St John’s Street.

Issue 1133– a footpath opposite Malmesbury Primary Care Centre had been repaired.

Issue 1135 – the footpath between Lea village hall and The Street was submitted in 2010/11 for major maintenance but was not deemed a priority compared to other schemes. The Area Office would continue to submit this project for treatment.

Issue 1393 – re-decoration work had been completed at Sherston village hall by the Community Payback Scheme.

Issue 1270 – changes to the Park Road, Malmesbury bus stop would be considered in 2011/12.

Decision

The Area Board would close a further five issues which had been considered by the Local Transport Allocation Group (item 7).

Decision

The Area Board would consider the issue of speed bumps in relation to consultation data at a future Area Board meeting.   

To identify possible venues for face to face contact with Wiltshire Council customers in the Malmesbury Community Area.

Jacqui White, Service Director for Shared Services and Customer Care, gave a short talk about the move to identify possible venues for face to face contact with Wiltshire Council customers in the Malmesbury Community Area.

Wiltshire Council Officers were working to visit customers more in their homes and in their local area as this was the most efficient way of doing business. The Customer Care team were seeking suggestions for venues where Officers could go and meet customers and there would be the technology and a kiosk for virtual visits. Please get in touch if you have any suggestions for suitable venues.

Further comments and enquiries to: John Rogers, Head of Customer Access, on 01225 756191or john.rogers@wiltshire.gov.uk.

Councillors will be asked to consider a report from Malmesbury and the Villages Community Area Partnership and make recommendations on where reductions in lighting could be made.

Project Officer Mark Allen asked Councillors to consider a report from Malmesbury and the Villages Community Area Partnership and make recommendations on where reductions in lighting could be made, as in the agenda pack.

Councillors of the Area Board were very supportive of this scheme and would like to see this approach extended in 2011/12 to enable other parishes to participate in the future.

Decision

Up to the full allocation of lights would be turned off with the available funding, as in the recommendations of the report from Malmesbury and the Villages Community Area Partnership.

Councillors will be asked to consider the Community Area Grants report and make recommendations on the applications received, as follows:

a)         Malmesbury Lawn Tennis Club – seeking £2,000 towards the refurbishment of two existing tennis courts

b)         Twynnoy Explorer Scouts – seeking £665 to enable the purchase of seven tents

c)         Crudwell Pre-School – seeking £3,215 towards replacing the surface of an external play area at Crudwell Village Hall

d)         Ashton Keynes Millennium Green Trust - seeking £2,100 towards the cost of re-establishing a roadside hedge at the Millennium Green, as a wildlife habitat

e)         Cotswold Water Park Trust - seeking £900 towards the involvement of children from the Malmesbury Community Area participating in willow lantern workshops and pageant

f)          Little Somerford Parish Hall – seeking £790 to provide new entrance doors for the hall

g)         Malmesbury & Village Community Area Partnership – seeking £468 towards the cost of publicity and communications material

h)         Luckington Children’s Playground Trust – seeking £9,763 towards the cost of new play equipment and ancillary works.

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

Decision

Malmesbury Lawn Tennis Club were awarded £2,000 towards the refurbishment of two existing tennis courts, conditional on the balance of funding being in place.

Reason

The application meets the 2010/11 grant criteria and there is specific reference in the Community Plan to young people having greater access to tennis facilities. 

Decision

Twynnoy Explorer Scouts were awarded £665 to enable the purchase of seven tents. 

Reason

The application meets the 2010/11 grant criteria and the application provides a range of activities and skills for the young people who live in the town and surrounding villages. 

Decision

Crudwell Pre-School were awarded £3,215 towards replacing the surface of an external play area at Crudwell village hall, conditional on the balance of funding being in place and should other funding applications be successful, that this sum be returned to the Area Board.

Reason

The application meets the 2010/11 grant criteria and meets the local need to support early years, toddler groups and pre-schools in villages. 

Decision

Ashton Keynes Millennium Green Trust were awarded £2,100 towards the cost of re-establishing a roadside hedge at the Millennium Green, as a wildlife habitat, conditional on the balance of funding being in place.

Reason

The application meets the 2010/11 grant criteria and helps to preserve and manage the countryside and wildlife.  

Decision

Cotswold Water Park Trust were awarded £900 towards the involvement of children from the Malmesbury Community Area participating in willow lantern workshops and pageant, conditional on the balance of funding being in place.

Reason

The application meets the 2010/11 grant criteria and will provide a leisure activity for young people while at the same time acquiring new skills.   

Decision

Little Somerford Parish Hall were awarded £790 to provide new entrance doors for the hall.

Reason

The application meets the 2010/11 grant criteria and the availability of local village halls is valued by all members of the community by providing a venue for a variety of social activity. 

Decision

Malmesbury and the Village Community Area Partnership were awarded £468 towards the cost of publicity and communications material.

Reason

The application meets the 2010/11 grant criteria and will help M&VCAP to raise their profile within the community, particularly as they undertake more consultative work.

Decision

£8,029 (£4,029 youth transport allocation from Cabinet plus £4,000 matched funding from the Area Board) would be ring fenced and a request would be made to Cabinet that funding was carried over to 2011/12 to enable delivery of a participatory budgeting event for young people addressing their transport and access needs.

An application from Luckington Children’s Playground Trust had been withdrawn for amendment and would be resubmitted for consideration at the next Area Board meeting. The Chairman emphasised that the deadline for the next round of funding was 31 January 2011 and £8,024 was available to be spent in the Community Area.   

Since the November meeting, members of the Area Board have approved an application from ‘DEVELOP Enhancing Community Support’, circulated to all Wiltshire Area Boards for the provision of an accredited volunteer centre for Wiltshire. This will bring benefits to all community areas in Wiltshire, providing better access to volunteering opportunities and support to individuals, an employer volunteering scheme, specialised support, information and good practice services, access to draw down further funding and access to national support and information.

To note, since the November Area Board meeting, members of the Area Board had approved an application from ‘DEVELOP Enhancing Community Support’, circulated to all Wiltshire Area Boards for the provision of an accredited volunteer centre for Wiltshire. This would bring benefits to all Community Areas in Wiltshire, providing better access to volunteering opportunities and support to individuals, an employer volunteering scheme, specialised support, information and good practice services, access to draw down further funding and access to national support and information.

An opportunity to embrace a pilot website designed specifically around the Malmesbury Community Area to strengthen local communication with residents and  communities of interest and improve how organisations work together to deliver significant change.

The Community Area Manager introduced ISWE, a pilot website designed specifically around the Malmesbury Community Area. The website would help with community planning by enabling conversations on topics in the local area, hosting forums and blogs, information gathering, displaying news and updates and connecting with local people who do not usually attend meetings. The Community Area Manager emphasised that the new website would supplement malmesbury.com.     

The Chairman asked for a show of hands regarding who was in support of piloting the new website. A large majority of those at the meeting did support a pilot scheme.

Information will be provided on the results of the leisure consultation and other Wiltshire Council consultations, as in the agenda pack.

The Chairman explained that information on the public consultations taking place was included in the agenda pack. Councillor Killane drew attention to the dog control consultation as an opportunity to call for banning dogs from certain children’s play areas. The consultation was available for public comment until 7 February 2011 at the following link: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council/consultations.htm. Further information was available from Simon Cleaver, Pest Control and Dog Warden Service Manager, 165 Bradley Road, Trowbridge, BA14 0RD, or simon.cleaver@wiltshire.gov.uk.     

Councillor John Thomson will provide a short overview of his Cabinet role and responsibilities as Deputy Leader of the Council. There will then be the opportunity to ask Councillor Thomson questions.

Councillor Thomson’s overview of his Cabinet role and responsibilities as Deputy Leader would be deferred until after the Wiltshire Council budget, when further information would be available.   

The Chairman provided the opportunity for any other business to be raised. Cotswold Water Park was highlighted as a local resource that would become a new open membership organisation by April 2011. Concern over increases to long stay parking charges for local employees was spoken about. Wiltshire Council was in discussion with Chambers of Commerce regarding having season tickets at concessionary rates for certain car park users. The Chairman advised to contact Malmesbury Chamber of Commerce to find out more information or to contact Councillor Dick Tonge, Cabinet Representative for Highways and Transport, on 01225 742471 or Richard.tonge@wiltshire.gov.uk directly.     

The Community Area Manager then invited those present to indicate their views about the meeting, using coloured post it notes.