Agenda and minutes

The Chairman will welcome Councillor Lionel Grundy, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services.

The Chairman welcomed Councillor Lionel Grundy, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, and Andrew Kerr, the new Wiltshire Council Chief Executive. The Chairman thanked the meeting for the good turn out.   

Apologies for absence were received from Peter Campaigne (Norton and Foxley Parish Council), Michael Franklin (Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service), James Gray (MP), Jo Howes (NHS Wiltshire), Iain Hunter (Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service), Tony Pooley (Little Somerford Parish Council), Maggie Rae (NHS Wiltshire), Ray Sanderson (Malmesbury Town Council) and John Tremayne (Easton Grey Parish Council).  

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 20 January 2010.

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 January 2010 were approved and signed as a correct record, with the amendment to item 7a, ‘Mr Matthews from Sherston Parish Council expressed interest in a Farm Watch Scheme in the local area. Inspector Cox would arrange to put Mr Matthews in touch with the appropriate Officer’, and the amendment to item 10 of the spelling of Jaeger.

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 drew attention to the written announcements on the NHS out of hours service and the waste consultation attached to the agenda papers. From 1 April 2010 the out of hours service would be provided by Wiltshire Medical Services, which was run by local GPs. The service would be run from all existing sites, plus a number of additional sites, to improve access for patients.

A planned public consultation into possible changes to Wiltshire’s waste and recycling service which was due to start shortly, would now not take place until after the General Election.

The Chairman announced that an enforcement training session would be offered to all parish councils on 12 May between 5.30pm and 6.30pm at Malmesbury Secondary School before the May Area Board. All parishes would receive an invitation from the enforcement team to attend and could send as many members as they wished. A minimum attendance of fifteen would ensure the training went ahead.

A representative from the Police would be attending the 12 May Malmesbury Area Board to give a presentation about Protective Services. The Police were pleased to receive any questions in advance of the May meeting in order to ensure the matter was covered in their presentation. Questions should be sent to Detective Sergeant Rob Findlay before 12 May.  

Concern had been raised about the lip reading service at Wiltshire College due to two tutors leaving at the same time. The college were looking for individuals who had been formally trained and hoped to recruit two new members of staff.      

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.

reaThe 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.

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

c)    The written update from NHS Wiltshire was noted. Please find the March update attached.   

d)    The written update from Malmesbury and the Villages Community Area Partnership was noted. Sid Jevons stated there would be a meeting to discuss community safety issues on 1 April at the Kings Arms in Malmesbury at 7.00pm.  

e)    Malmesbury Town Council reported that an agreement had been signed for the new CCTV system and appointment of six people who would monitor the system had begun.

Martin Rea of Sherston Parish Council spoke about the success of the Community Payback Scheme in Sherston, though there had been issues with access to hot water and toilet facilities. Councillor John Thomson confirmed the work completed had been excellent.   

Councillor Lionel Grundy will provide a short overview of Schools, Children and Families and Youth provision in the Community Area. There will then be the opportunity to ask Councillor Grundy questions.  

Councillor Lionel Grundy OBE provided a short overview of children’s services in the county and his role as Cabinet Member. Main points included:

·         Children’s Services involved schools and education, vulnerable children and youth and skills.

·         Schools in Malmesbury were doing very well

·         Trials held in the Malmesbury area for services to help young carers had resulted in a two year contract to role the programme out across the county

·         Information was provided on safeguarding children, children in need and child protection plans

If you had a concern about any child, please contact Wiltshire Police, your Councillor or call 0300 4560100 and ask for the social work team. Councillor Lionel Grundy assured that all concerns were dealt with confidentially.     

Nicola Cretney, Assistant Director of Public Health - NHS Wiltshire, will provide information and the Area Board will make decisions on health priorities in Malmesbury Community Area.    

Councillor Simon Killane explained that the Health Joint Strategic Needs Assessment Event had been a public health fair event and workshop in Malmesbury. Nicola Cretney, Assistant Director of Public Health for NHS Wiltshire, then introduced herself and her colleague, Mary-Ann McKibben, Consultant in Public Health.

The Health Joint Strategic Needs Assessment Event had considered data for the community area. This was to identify priorities and inequalities, to inform decision making and to monitor progress. Top issues arising from the event for Malmesbury Community Area were:

·         Malmesbury was a very healthy place

·         Road traffic accidents (rank was 16^th out of 20 areas)

·         Chlamydia screening uptake (rank was 19^th out of 20 areas)

·         Stroke admissions to hospital - high rate of admissions however not significantly different to rest of Wiltshire (rank was 18^th out of 20 areas)

Dementia was also a concern in the community. Please find further information from the NHS attached. 

Each of the issues was discussed and possible improvements to the current situation. Suggestions to improve Chlamydia screening uptake included better provision of information and advice, looking at best practice across the county, being sensitive to the anonymity issue related to the rurality of the community area, working more closely with GPs in Malmesbury, Malmesbury School, youth centre, consideration of work places for screening kits and using teenage mentors.

Mary-Ann McKibben confirmed that the data on road traffic accidents did not include the M4. Councillor Toby Sturgis drew attention to the need to capture accidents that did not involve the Police, such as those when people drive off the road and end up in the ditch.

Decision

A questionnaire would be sent to all parishes to identify local road traffic accident ‘blackspots’.

Councillor Simon Killane spoke about stroke admissions to hospital. Improvements in the community area could include nurturing and supporting First Responders, proactive education about the benefits of healthy living, blood pressure and cholesterol testing in convenient public places and better provision of information and advice.      

The Area Board agreed that each Councillor would take the lead on an issue. Please contact Miranda Gilmour if you would be interested in becoming involved in tackling any of the health issues: Tel: 01672 515742, E-mail: Miranda.gilmour@wiltshire.gov.uk.      

Decision:

Councillor Carole Soden would take the lead on improving Chlamydia screening uptake in Malmesbury Community Area.

Decision:

Councillor Toby Sturgis would take the lead on road traffic accidents in Malmesbury Community Area.

Decision:

Councillor Simon Killane would take the lead on stroke admissions to hospital in Malmesbury Community Area.

Decision:

Councillor John Thomson would take the lead on dementia in Malmesbury Community Area.

Councillors will provide an update on the community issues that have been submitted and resolved and those on which work is ongoing.

The Chairman drew attention to the community issues log circulated with the agenda papers and reminded the meeting of the issues process and how issues could be logged and tracked on the Wiltshire Council website.  

A summary of Malmesbury Area Board grant distribution for the financial year 2009/2010.  

A summary of Malmesbury Area Board grant distribution for the financial year 2009/2010 had been provided with the agenda papers. Miranda Gilmour invited the public to contact the Community Area Manager if they had a funding application: Tel: 01672 515742, E-mail: Miranda.gilmour@wiltshire. gov.uk. The Chairman reminded the meeting that the Community Area Partnership were able to access funding streams that Wiltshire Council and parish councils were not and that the Charities Information Bureau could advise on securing funding.           

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An expression of interest had been received by all Wiltshire Area Boards for the Community Payback Scheme. 

An expression of interest had been received by all Wiltshire Area Boards for the provision of facilities for the Community Payback Scheme.

Decision

Malmesbury Area Board would endorse the expression of interest for the Community Payback Scheme.

The opinion of the Area Board will be sought on the Orchard Court bus service.  

The Area Board had received a request to stop the town bus visiting both the Primary Care Centre and Orchard Court on the other side of the road, and visit the Primary Care Centre only. This was discussed and the Councillors suggested it was a good opportunity to look into bus use by Orchard Court residents. The investigation would take into account the nature of the A429, the mobility of bus users and how use would vary across a year, with less people possibly using the service during the warmer summer months than in winter.

Decision:

An investigation into the use of the town bus service by Orchard Court residents would take place for six months and results would be reported back to Malmesbury Area Board.     

To give advance notice of local consultations and any feedback. This will include information on the Northern Operational Flood Working Group, the Special Educational Needs Consultation and the Conservation Area Management Plan.

The Chairman provided information about forthcoming consultations.

Northern Operational Flood Working Group

The new flooding legislation meant that Wiltshire Council had the responsibility for putting in place local strategies for managing flood risk.To this end Wiltshire Council had set up two operational flood working groups, one in the north and the other in the south of the county. As part of the work of these groups they had been collating information on flooding and drainage issues from highways and drainage teams around the county, which were currently being loaded onto a GIS system. 

The operational flood working groups were concerned that parish and town councils may have additional information and were hoping they would assist with gathering this information. They would welcome information on ALL types of flooding within their areas.

The Area Board would like to invite each town and parish council to identify areas which flood or have previously flooded and any documentary evidence (preferably photographic) to support this. 

You are invited to collect the packs of information this evening and return them to the Community Area Manager at the 12 May 2010 meeting.

Gypsy and Traveller Sites

Wiltshire Council was preparing a plan that would identify land for gypsy and traveller sites and include a policy for assessing the suitability of other sites the Council was asked to consider through the planning application process.

Wiltshire Council had a responsibility to plan for the housing needs of everyone in the Wiltshire community, including a responsibility to plan for the accommodation needs of gypsies, travellers and travelling show people.

An 8 week consultation on the issues and general approach to identifying land for new gypsy, traveller and showpeople sites was to start on 6 April until 5pm on Friday 4 June 2010. This was the first stage in the process of preparing a Gypsy & Traveller Site Allocations Development Plan Document.

All information relating to the consultation would be available from the end of March online at: www.wiltshire.gov.uk/gypsyandtravellersitesallocationsdpd, in the main Wiltshire Council offices in Chippenham, Devizes, Salisbury and Trowbridge and at local libraries.

If you would like to discuss the issues involved in this consultation in more detail, drop in events were being held at the following locations between 4pm and 8pm:

Neald Hall, Chippenham                                       Wednesday 5 May 2010

Wessex Room, Corn Exchange, Devizes           Tuesday 11 May 2010

Meeting Room, City Hall, Salisbury                     Thursday 13 May 2010

Review of Special Educational Needs Provision

Over recent months Wiltshire Council Officers had worked with schools, parent representatives and other people to review Special Educational Needs (SEN) provision in the county.

The review related to the whole of Wiltshire and its purpose was to more effectively use available resources. The review considered:

•           Special school provision

•           Specialist provision that was part of mainstream primary and secondary schools

•           SEN support services for schools

A document had been written that set out what the review had shown and what Wiltshire Council would like to do in the future. This would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending the meeting and noted that in an amendment to the agenda papers, the next meeting would be held on Wednesday 12 May 2010 at 7pm at Sherston School, with refreshments available from 6.30pm.