Agenda item

To receive an update from a member of the group.

Councillor: Tony Deane

The Board will also consider the attached SID report.

Officer: Stephen Harris, Community Area Manager

Councillor Tony Deane advised the Board that the small budget allocated to the Community Area Transport Group (CATG) had nearly all been allocated. He advised that funds were available centrally for improvements to council housing estates; he suggested that any bids for improvements such as drop kerbs could be made by local residents, directly to Councillor John Thomson.

Community Area Transport Group (CATG) Funding

The Board considered the recommendations of the CATG for allocation of funds to projects as detailed in the officer’s report, circulated at the meeting.

Decision

The South West Wiltshire Area Board ratified the recommendations of the Community Area Transport Group (CATG) to release funds from the CATG budget for 2011/12, to the following projects:

·         £1500 towards dropped kerbs in Charlton

·         £3500 towards Tollard Royal roadside kerbing

·         £3500 towards Tisbury Row footbridge

Speed Indicator Device (SID)

The Board considered the recommendation as set out in the officer’s report relating to the centrally owned SID, and the Area Board purchased SID for the South West Wiltshire community area.

Decision

The South West Wiltshire Area Board agreed to delegate responsibility for future discussions and decisions on the allocation of the SIDs to the Community Area Manager in consultation with the Community Area Transport Group. 

Questions and comments were then taken from the room, these included:

·         There was a request for information on the ‘C’ road review. Answer: A map detailing all of the ‘C’ roads within the South West Wilts Community Areas was circulated to the CATG; from this, the C12 road matched most of the suggested criteria, so was chosen for use in a pilot scheme for further scrutiny. The usual process for submission of comments from parishes and the public would be available during the review.

Cabinet member, Councillor John Brady explained that from April 2012, the system of local authority housing finance has been devolved to local authorities to manage themselves and the Council will now gain full control of its housing income and expenditure.

Council house residents in the rural areas were urged to get involved in suggesting how the funds should be spent. Councillor Brady added that it was important to let the tenants decide which schemes for improvements should take place, rather than for the council making those choices for them.

A representative from the Tenants Panel informed the Board that on one site in the South West, there was an issue with limited parking due to the road being too narrow, causing vehicles to be parked half on the pavements. This was causing problems for residents as they were then unable to walk on the pavement very easily, especially for those with pushchairs and wheel chairs. The residents had been trying for two years to get some improvements carried out, but had been told that no funds were available, and that improvements were not possible. On hearing the news from Councillor Brady, the lady agreed to bring the improvement project up again at the next Tenants Panel meeting, and would propose that the project be considered for funding from this newly available budget.