Agenda item

The Chairman referred to the updates set out in the agenda and invited further updates from Town/Parish Councils and other Partners, including outside bodies.  It was noted that the preferred option was for written updates, to minimise time spent during the meeting.

Police

The meeting welcomed the new Police Inspector for the Amesbury Community Area, Inspector Christian Lange to speak to his written report set out in the Agenda. Insp. Lange introduced himself and gave a brief account of his seven years as a Police Inspector in both the West Country and in London.

Insp. Lange explained the way the public can contact the police has changed, with the introduction of a new dedicated line for non-emergency calls, 101. This number is a nationwide initiative which will cost a charge of 15p per call, no matter the length of your call.

Those at the meeting and the public in general were encouraged to bring any local problems, for example anti-social behaviour, to the attention of their local PCSOs and beat managers who would then ensure that these concerns were logged and recurrent problems tackled.

In the rural areas of the Amesbury community area, a recent success was the arrest of a 17-year old following a chase on byways in the area. Members of the public had reported anti-social use of motorbikes and in response local policing teams had increased patrols, including using a new off-road motorbike, which was involved in the operation to arrest the detained individual.

In Amesbury itself levels of graffiti had seen a decline since July, whilst non-domestic burglary (e.g. thefts from sheds), had increased. A recent police operation had seized a large amount of stolen property, estimated to account for a sizeable proportion of all property stolen in the area last year. The majority of the property had now been returned to its rightful owners and officers hoped that following the associated arrests the statistics for non-domestic burglary would continue to fall.

Insp. Lange also clarified that in future there would be four main hubs where the Police Officers in the south of the county were based. For Amesbury the main hub was Salisbury, and this was where policemen would begin and finish their shifts. The larger teams that this change entailed would give the Police the flexibility to have the right officers available at the right times to give the best possible service across the community area.

Members of the public were urged to come forward and report crime when they were victims.

Fire and Rescue

The written update at pages 29-31 was noted.

NHS Wiltshire

The written updates at pages 33 and 35 were noted.

Cllr Hewitt reminded members of the public and the Town and Parish council representatives present that if they had any issues or concerns regarding healthcare in the area, they should raise their concerns to their local Councillor and the Community Area Manager, who would then ensure an officer attends the following meeting to discuss any matters of interest.

Town and Parish Council updates

No updates were received from Town or Parish councils for inclusion with the agenda.

Allocation of Social Housing

The Chair invited members of the Parish Councils present to raise any concerns or give verbal updates on matters that had affected their area and would be of interest to the wider community area.

Cllr David Healing, Durrington Parish Council – expressed concern at the current method for allocation of housing used by Homes for Wiltshire, which was based exclusively on need, and operated county-wide, meaning that local people could end up with no access to local authority housing in their area. He queried whether a priority system could not be developed.

In response, Cllr Wright explained he had raised the issue with the Area Board Chairman and a report on this matter would return to a future meeting.

The Cabinet member in attendance, Cllr John Thomson, Deputy Leader of the Council, with responsibility for Adult Care, Communities and Housing, explained that this matter fell under his portfolio, and following mounting concern at the exclusively need based process for homes allocation, he would be seeking a review of the process. Officers would be instructed to update the board on their progress when it was appropriate for them to do so.