Agenda and minutes

The Chairman will welcome those present to the meeting.

The Chairman welcomed those present to the meeting and thanked Malmesbury Primary School for hosting the evening.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor John Brady (Cabinet Representative for Economic Development, Planning and Housing), Andrew Carnegie (Malmesbury Town Council), Michael Franklin (Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service), Jo Howes (NHS Wiltshire), Terry Mockler (Hankerton Parish Council), Charlotte Morris (Malmesbury Secondary School), Councillor John Thomson (Chairman of Malmesbury Area Board) and John Tremayne (Easton Grey Parish Council).

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 12 May 2010.

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 May 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 announcements, as in the agenda pack.

The Chairman drew attention to the written announcements included in the agenda pack. The Chairman reminded the meeting that the consultation on the Local Transport Plan draft Parking Strategy was now available for viewing at http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal. Wiltshire Council would welcome your comments on this document and there was the opportunity to respond to specific questions and make general comments at a number of points in the document. The consultation would run from 9.00 am on Monday 12 July until 5.00 pm on Friday 3 September.

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

a)    The written update from Wiltshire Police was noted. Sergeant Martin Alvis added that the south west policing team were doing well and the Dauntsey team in particular. Third and fourth offenders in the Community Area were being tackled and good information had been received regarding travelling criminals. 

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

c)    The written update from NHS Wiltshire was noted.

d)    The written update from Malmesbury and the Villages Community Area Partnership was noted. Sid Jevons asked to amend the update regarding CCTV, to read “The monitor has been ordered and a site inspection carried out”.

The Partnership would be looking for an Officer to work with and this would be advertised in the local paper.

The next event gathering would be Wednesday 8 September at 7.00 pm, for a 7.30 pm start in the Town Hall, Malmesbury. The event would be an opportunity for the Partnership to further consult about local transport issues and to publicise all travel options available.

e)    Information from the town and parishes was that Sherston Boules and Carnival would take place from Saturday 10 to Sunday 18 July 2010.     

A presentation on the proposals for a new waste and recycling service.

Martin Litherland, Waste Contracts and Development Manager, gave a short presentation on the waste consultation. This was being held with a view to unifying the service across the county and meeting stringent targets to divert more waste from landfill. 40% of waste was at present recycled across the county.

Wiltshire Council was putting forward a proposal that would bring all the different collection arrangements into one. The existing kerbside black box scheme would be complemented by a kerbside collection of plastic bottles and cardboard every two weeks and a non chargeable optional kerbside collection of garden waste every two weeks. However, these additional recycling services could only be offered if the waste that was left over was also collected every two weeks, to enable the re-use of existing resources and vehicles. This service was currently provided in the east and west Wiltshire, but would be a change in the north and the south of the county.

If you would be interested in contributing to the review, please have your say on the Wiltshire Council website at:  http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/rubbishandrecycling/waste.htm

Questions on the subject were taken from the floor. Points covered included:

·         Having two or three garden waste bins provided free of charge was a level of service detail that had not yet been confirmed

·         The garden waste collection service would be provided as widely as possible

·         Examples of best practice from across Europe to encourage recycling had been researched to feed into the Wiltshire Council proposal

·         Councillor Sturgis would continue to take forward the issue of having a single commercial waste contractor in the local area with the present Government.  

Councillor John Brady will provide a short overview of Economic Development, Planning and Housing in the Community Area. There will then be the opportunity to ask Councillor Brady questions.

Councillor John Brady, Cabinet Representative for Economic Development, Planning and Housing was unfortunately unable to attend the meeting. If you have any questions relating to his area of responsibility, please submit them to Alexa Smith (Democratic Services Officer), 01249 706612 or alexa.smith@wiltshire.gov.uk and Councillor Brady will provide written responses.

Councillor Sturgis stepped in and provided a short update about the relevant policy context. The coalition government had revoked regional policy (Regional Spatial Strategies) and this would be abolished after recess. Preparation of the Wiltshire Core Strategy would continue, to include a review of housing numbers in Wiltshire.    

Decision

Councillor Brady would be invited to attend a future Malmesbury Area Board meeting.  

A presentation on the review of the library service.

Niki Lewis, Service Director for Communities, Libraries, Heritage and Arts, gave a presentation on the review of how the library service should be delivered. This covered the following main points:

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

·         98% of library customers think the standard of customer care is 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 offers now

·         What a future library service may 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.

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

Questions from the floor were also invited. The provision of encyclopaedias in paper copy as well as electronic was discussed; for the same price as one set of books, the service could be provided to all library users, in the library, at home and in an office. Electronic encyclopaedias could too be searched more much more effectively. It was confirmed there were no plans to charge for internet usage in libraries.  

Councillor Sturgis will give a presentation on a scheme to reduce unnecessary street lighting in Wiltshire, to enable communities to reduce their carbon footprint, reduce light pollution of the night sky and reduce energy costs.

Councillor Sturgis gave a short presentation on a scheme to reduce unnecessary street lighting in Wiltshire, for communities to reduce their carbon footprint, reduce light pollution of the night sky and reduce energy costs. Councillor Sturgis asked for volunteers to take part in the scheme.

Sergeant Martin Alvis contributed that burglars do not like dark places and having less street lighting could reduce anti social behaviour by encouraging people to go home. Crime rates are especially low in Minety, a parish with minimal street lighting.  

Decision

Malmesbury and the Villages Community Area Partnership would coordinate responses from the parishes, who were asked to feed back information by the end of September 2010.

To ask the Area Board to set up a Community Area Transport Group to identify schemes they wish to progress using the discretionary highway budget that has been allocated to the Area Boards.

The Malmesbury Area Board were asked to set up a Community Area Transport Group to identify schemes they wished to progress using the discretionary highway budget that had been allocated to the Area Boards.

The amount of funding available to the Area Boards would be confirmed in due course. The allocation would be for capital funding and could only be used to provide new and improved infrastructure. It would be used for schemes that improved safety, increased accessibility and sustainability by promoting walking, cycling and public transport, and improved traffic management.   

Decision

The Malmesbury Community Area Transport Group would comprise of Malmesbury Area Board Councillors and a nominated representative from each division.

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 reminded the meeting that community issues can be submitted and their progress tracked online from the Wiltshire Council website:  

http://portal.wiltshire.gov.uk/area_board/areaboard_issues_search.php?issue_location_in=Malmesbury

The Area Board was then asked to agree the issues to be closed. A question was asked regarding issue 562 (needing a crossing on Tetbury Hill Road near Filands). This would be an issue for the newly established Community Area Transport Group.   

Decision

The Community Area Manager would close issues 442 and 443 (relating to noise and anti-social behaviour from young people and cars in the town and long stay car park at Station Yard) and issue 813 (concerning the pavement in Pool Gastons Road).   

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

Minety Pre-School were awarded £1,508 towards the cost of providing a safe all weather play area within the pre-school garden, conditional on the balance of funding being in place.

Decision

Crudwell Village Hall and Recreation Ground were awarded £2,912 towards refurbishment of the main hall and the committee room floors.

An expression of interest has been received from Malmesbury Amateur Boxing Club’s Headquarters who are seeking £20,000 towards a £28,200 project to raise the building by 1.3 metres in order to provide flooding protection to the building and to replace/reinstall equipment and paint external walls. The purpose of this project is to stop further flood damage which results in club closures due to flooding damage.

This club, established in 1977, is a voluntary organisation charging no joining fees or subscriptions and caters for 20-30 members plus young people from across the community area. The objectives of the project are to promote boxing as an alternative sport, which requires determination and discipline to a range of young people and to be able to provide this facility on an uninterrupted basis.

An expression of interest had been received from Malmesbury Amateur Boxing Club’s Headquarters who were seeking £20,000 towards a £28,200 project to raise the building by 1.3 metres in order to provide flooding protection to the building and to replace/reinstall equipment and paint external walls. The purpose of this project was to stop further flood damage which resulted in club closures due to flooding damage.

A representative from the Boxing Club spoke on behalf of the project. The club was a voluntary organisation charging no joining fees or subscriptions and catered for 20-30 members from across the Community Area. The number of members was hoped to increase when young people go back to school in September.

The objectives of the project were to promote boxing as an alternative sport, which required determination and discipline to a range of young people. The club had received positive feedback from Malmesbury Secondary School on the difference participation made to certain pupils.

Decision

Malmesbury Area Board would take up the offer to visit the Malmesbury Amateur Boxing Club’s Headquarters before the September Area Board meeting.  

Decision

The expression of interest from Malmesbury Amateur Boxing Club in the Performance Reward Grant Scheme would be deferred until the September Area Board meeting.      

To ask Councillors to match fund the transport and young people project funding allocated by Cabinet.

A major conference was held for young people in Wiltshire in February 2010 to discuss the issues that were important to them. Transport issues in the local area were identified as being a main concern. After the conference, Cabinet allocated up to £4,000 funding to Malmesbury Area Board to address transport issues. At the meeting the Councillors were asked to match fund the transport and young people project funding allocated by Cabinet.

Decision

Malmesbury Area Board would match fund the transport and young people project funding allocated by Cabinet.

To consider the appointments to outside bodies which were made by the Area Board last year and to note appointments for 2010/11.

Activity Zone Leisure Centre Advisory Committee – Councillor Killane

Malmesbury Community Trust – Councillor Soden and Councillor Thomson

Malmesbury Youth Issues Group (CAYPIG) – Councillor Killane and Councillor Thomson.

The appointments to outside bodies which were made by the Board last year would continue for 2010/11.

Activity Zone Leisure Centre Advisory Committee – Councillor Killane

Malmesbury Community Trust – Councillor Soden and Councillor Thomson

Malmesbury Youth Issues Group (CAYPIG) – Councillor Killane  and Councillor Thomson.  

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending the meeting and noted that the next Area Board meeting would be held on Wednesday 15 September 2010 at 7.00 pm at Malmesbury School, with refreshments available from 6.30 pm.