Agenda item

The Board will receive verbal updates from partners present, some written updates are attached.

·       Police

·       Wiltshire Police Authority – Crime and commissioner update

·       Wiltshire Fire & Rescue

·       NHS

·       Youth Services

·       Tenants Panel

Other Update to include:

·       Mere Area Bus timetable – Rachel Hyde

Note: Following recent feedback highlighting the length of some area board meetings, verbal updates given in this section of the agenda will be limited to 3 minutes per speaker.

Police – Inspector Lindsey Winters

The general performance figures across Tisbury and Mere were down slightly on the previous year’s figures. There had been some incidents reported during the school holidays, people were advised to contact their local Neighbourhood Watch Scheme prior to going away, so that they could keep an eye on unoccupied properties and to keep all doors and windows secure.

Wiltshire Police Authority – Cllr Richard Britton

From 15^th November 2012, the way in which the Police are governed and made accountable to the public will dramatically change, when a Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) is elected for each force area.

The PCC will appoint the Chief Constable and set the Police precept. He will formulate a Police and Crime Plan and hold the Chief Constable to account for the delivery of that Plan. Legislation requires the formation of a Police and Crime Panel (PCP) for each force area. For Wiltshire this will consist of 10 members, 3 of those will be appointed from Swindon Borough Council and 7 from Wiltshire Council. The Panel will also appoint two Independent members.

The PCP has the power to veto the police precept and the appointment of the Chief Constable. It will hold the PCC to account for the delivery of the Police and Crime Plan.

Questions and Comments included:

·       The PCC in Wiltshire is to be paid £70,000 a year, will this come from the Police precept? Answer: The PCC salary and the costs of the PCP will be funded by central government.

·       Where do the candidates for the PCC come from? Answer: To date two candidates have come forward, one is a recently adopted Conservative candidate and the other is a Labour candidate. There is still time for others to be nominated.

·       The £5,000 deposit required by candidates may put some people off. Answer: Cllr Britton agreed that it was a lot of money for an independent candidate to put up, and that it may limit some from coming forward.

·       Cllr Jeans noted that there would not be a circulation of information about the candidates prior to the election, local people would not find out any details unless they went online. Answer: Cllr Britton confirmed that this would be the case adding that it was not his role to defend the way in which central government ran their campaigns.

Youth – Jaki Farrell, Youth Development Co-ordinator Mere & Tisbury (Locality Team Leader)

A group of 14 young people engaged in the National Citizen Service which is a national initiative for young people who have just left year 11 or 12. So far members of the group had taken part in:

·       Engagement activities,

·       A weeklong team building adventure sports residential in Wales

·       A week at the Ancient Technology Centre taking part in training in Peer Leadership, Employability & Food Hygiene and engaged in some planning days and fundraising events.

·       A junior leisure credits project for four days is currently being run with a view to running a two day reward residential for the participants at Cotswold Water Park.

Leisure Credits is running in all 3 community areas, the Wilton scheme is running from the Development Centre for Young People (DC4YP) on a Tuesday evening and the Mere & Tisbury scheme is running at various daytimes over the holiday period. Jobs that are being focused on are:

·       Strimming & Footpath clearance in Tisbury

·       Footpath restoration works in Mere

·       Work on the youth club allotment in Tisbury

·       Painting the play equipment in Tisbury Park and the swimming pool fence

·       Work on a memorial garden for a young person who died in Wilton.

10 young people from the Mere & Tisbury area have also gained first aid qualifications as part of Leisure Credits. 4 young people have gained their NPLQ qualification and hoped that they could carry out some voluntary hours at Tisbury Pool to increase their skills and assist the staff.

The DC4YP have remained open over the holiday periods although some sessions have been altered to accommodate the activity programme. Tisbury DC4YP has had a ‘music matters’ project running on a Thursday evening where young people have been developing their drumming and guitar skills.

CAYPIG meetings and similar initiatives have taken a back seat over the summer due to various other activities but these will begin again in September.

The new Lead Assistant Youth Development Worker (Sophie Fergusson) has now started work in Wilton, it was hoped that there would be a new programme of youth work for the area developed with young people very soon.

Questions and Comments included:

·       Had there been any further efforts to go back and work on the Shiny Sevens Badges? Answer:  The issue with that site was that the chalk kept on washing away. The group need some technical assistance to resolve the problem.

Tenants Panel

No one from the Tenants panel was available to provide an update. They would be invited to the next Board meeting to provide an update.