Agenda item

To receive any updates from partners – Parish and Town Councils, Police, Fire and Rescue Service, NHS, Community Area Young People’s Issues Group, Chamber of Commerce and BA13+Community Area Partnership.

Written updates are available in the agenda packs (pages 13 to 30 refer).

 http://cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=173&MId=5412&Ver=4

Westbury Town Council

Cllr Sue Ezra from Westbury Town Council updated the board on the joint project with the Chamber of Commerce to challenge Wiltshire Councils Car parking charges.  She urged everyone to sign the petitions that are available for signature in the local shops within the Town.

She went on to explain that the Town Council has been in consultation with Westbury Rotarians with a view to cleaning the White Horse.  A detailed work plan needs to be submitted to English Heritage and the Town Council have been in contact with the specialist company who undertook the previous clean up of the horse.

There will also be a survey undertaken to find out what type of Market local residents would like, she would update the board when more details were available.

Chamber of Commerce

Cllr David Jenkins informed the Board that the Service Excellence Awards Grand Final would be taking place on 15 March with the winner receiving £1000 and £1000 of advertising from the Wiltshire Times.

He urged people to sign the petition against Wiltshire Councils Car parking charges and reminded those attending that the ‘Business Idea’ competition would be run again – further details would be available at a later date.

Community and Young Persons Issues Group (CAYPIG)

Members of CAYPIG updated the board, the main issues were

Multi-media room

Young people came up with the idea of developing a multi-media room within the Youth Development Centre some time ago because they want to have a facility where they participate in film making, photography, animation, music technology, other art forms, computer skill development and other media opportunities, during the evenings and weekends (out of school hours) but have no access to this equipment. Thorough planning took place, along with funding applications being submitted.  The group are turning a redundant room in the centre into a multi-media room, which will then benefit the community, specifically young people but also other groups. The group are completing ASDAN Activities, Arts Awards and Duke of Edinburgh Awards to reward them for their hard work and achievements, as well as participating in focused projects, in the main a local heritage project. A DVD film produced by young people showing how the grant was spent will be shown at a future Area Board. Most of the specialist equipment has been purchased and is being used. Furniture has to be ordered next so that the room can be set up and accessible at all times. The ceiling is being finished painted by contractors during February 2012 too.

Smoothy bar project

The smoothy bar project has been in existence for well over 18 months now and continues to grow and improve. The idea came from young people because they wanted more positive activities in the area and to showcase their skills to the community and portray young people in a positive light. The project comprises of a core group of 15 young people who have been participating in diverse local community events, where they have either requested to take part or have been invited, running a smoothy bar and hot drinks bar, where they have thoroughly planned recipe’s, budgeted, purchased resources, completed food safety qualifications, served the public and evaluated the project. They are also using the project to achieve a section of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and gain an ASDAN qualification both of which will greatly enhance their future. They have moved onto cooking and selling biscuits and donuts too as want to continually expand the project.

The Chairman thanked CAYPIG for their informative report and it was rewarding to see how grants given by the Area Board were being spent.