Councillor Jane Scott, Leader of the Council will provide updates on:
· The Wilton Cycle race
· The Business Plan
· And will take any questions from the floor
Minutes:
The Leader of the Council, Councillor Jane Scott gave the following updates to the Board:
Wilton Cycle Race
The Wiltshire Legacy Board was working with the event organisers of the Wiltshire Cycle Race to ensure that the 2 day event was as successful as possible. The event would involve professional riders as well as riders from the community. The South West Wiltshire local representative on the Legacy Board was Gary Nunn; he would feed back further updates to the Board in due course.
Wiltshire Council’s Business Plan
The council’s Business Plan had been published online, to view a copy follow the link:
http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council/howthecouncilworks/plansstrategiespolicies.htm
Paper copies are also available in libraries across Wiltshire.
Over the next four years the council will focus on 12 key actions to help deliver the three priorities, some of these are:
· Council Tax - Since the start of the unitary council in April 2009 there had been no increase to council tax, there would continue to be no increase for the next two years.
· Roads - Additional money would be invested during 2014–2017 to reduce the historic backlog in highways maintenance. This would include works on major roads as well as rural and estate roads and pavements.
· Balfour Beatty Contract – The initial handover period of this large contract had taken time to get going, however weekly meetings with the contractor were taking place and improvements were now happening. The £1 million saving from this contract would go back into road maintenance.
· Investments to refurbish council housing would be made and the development of new affordable homes would be encouraged, including supported living in rural areas.
· The council would be looking to run a pilot scheme, to build and provide special housing units for older people, to enable them to remain in the rural community settings they have always lived in, close to family and existing support networks. Further information on this scheme will be available at a future Area Board meeting.
· To continue to improve safeguarding services to protect the most vulnerable in our communities.
· To invest in the economy. The unemployment figure for Wiltshire falls 1.7% under the national average; the council aims to work to keep on top of this.
Questions and comments were then taken, these included:
· Phil Matthews, Wilton Town Council - Who was the contact on the Legacy Board regarding the Wilton Cycle Race? Answer: The local representative would be Gary Nunn, but the main Lead Officer would be Laurie Bell.
· Would the pot holes in West Street, Wilton be filled in prior to the cycle race? Answer: The pot holes were scheduled to be filled in early 2014.
· David Hope, Mere – The council resurfaced part of the Shaftesbury Road but stopped short of the boundary, leaving that section in need of repair, why wasn’t the whole section of the road completed in one go? Answer: An answer would be fed back to the Community Area Manager.
Action: CAM to provide feedback once received.
· Although there had been no rise in council tax over the past four years, have the costs been passed onto other bodies or parish councils by handing over the car parks and public toilets to them to maintain? Answer: No costs have been taken out of the voluntary sector, Wiltshire council was the only in the country to do so. We aim to talk work with communities to find a way together to keep services open. Parish and Town councils were offered the opportunity to take on their local public toilets and car parks in order to keep them as free facilities. Mere Tisbury and Wilton all took on the maintenance of their car parks as this was their preferred option.
· Mr Robinson, Hindon – It had taken 4 years for Hindon to produce a Village Design Statement (VDS), they were now in the process of producing a Neighbourhood Plan, however they were waiting for an Officer to visit to provide advice and assistance. With regards to the pilot scheme to build older peoples housing units, would the parish VDS’s be consulted prior to the decision being made? Answer: Parish councils would be consulted prior to any decisions on which villages would be chosen for the pilot scheme. Two NHP events had been scheduled and would take place in Warminster and Calne.
Action: CAM to forward details of the Parish which had requested a visit from the NHP Officer.
· Wiltshire has 15% more elderly in the population than in any other county, the council recently wrote to Eric Pickles to ask for a budget increase for the elderly, but the local MP’s don’t seem to have taken this on board. Answer: The local MP’s are aware of the situation but it is the same for any public sector funding, if one area is given more then another would receive less.
We must make sure that people in Wiltshire have jobs and that children receive a good education, this way we can remain a successful county.
Wiltshire as a county, came fourth in the country in a poll on how happy people felt, Wiltshire was also one of the top five places for people to chose to set up new businesses, this bodes well for the future.
· When Planning application details are passed to parishes for comment, if the parish responds unsupportive comments, could the Planning Officer liaise further with the Parish so that the application can be called in rather than be passed through? Answer: Your Local Councillor should be alerted by you as soon as you receive a planning application which you do not support, so that they are able to call it in for you with the Planning Officer.
Cllr Wayman noted that the time frame given to Cllrs to call in applications was quite short, this sometimes resulted in the Cllr having to plead with the Planning Officer to get the application called in.
Cllr Jane Scott noted the comments.
· Cllr Edge – Wilton had been waiting over a year to have some yellow lines repainted. The original date of implementation had been rescheduled, but no new date had been provided. How do we get a scheduled date for works? Answer: Balfour Beatty had brought in additional staff to get back on track with scheduled work. The local Area Manager for Highways should be contacted when requesting the schedule of dates for works which are on the system.
Action: Cllr Scott would get a date for the works and would feed back to the CAM.
· The Chairman asked whether the Icelandic money had been returned? Answer: The Leader confirmed that the Icelandic money due to Wiltshire Council had been successfully reclaimed.