Agenda item

To receive any verbal updates, in addition the following written updates are attached to the agenda:

 

·         Police

·         NHS

·         Fire

 

The Board will also receive an update from the Police Authority on their budget proposals over the next few years.

 

Speaker: Chris Hoare, Wiltshire Police Authority

Updates were received as follows:

 

Ludgershall Parish Council thanked the Board for the £500 of funding which had previously been awarded to them.

 

Tidworth Town Council had begun the year with a good start by making changes to their committee system and had opened their council office to enable people to drop in.

 

Enford Parish Council - Stan Bagwell, thanked the Board for the funding which had been provided for the footpath project on the A345 through the Local Transport Scheme via the Community Area Transport Group.

 

Garrison – Colonel Tabor provided the following update:

 

·       A significant number of soldiers were still deployed in Afghanistan, near on 1,000.

·       Bulford and Tidworth would deploy considerably more of their numbers towards the end of the year.

·       Tedworth House would cease to be used by the MOD by 12^th February and would be transformed into a rrecovery Centre for sick, injured and wounded soldiers.

·       ‘Help the Heroes’ would allocate £17 million of funds towards the Recovery Centre at Tedworth House. The first of the soldiers to make use of the facility would be in there by 11^th June 2011.

·       A new wing would be built at Tedworth House. This had been sympathetically designed to be in keeping with the existing building.

·        Tedworth House would provide a home for soldiers, who were not finding life outside of the Army as easily as they had thought, by providing all sorts of advice and assistance to soldiers who were leaving the Army for a change of direction.

·       Another Garrison clear up was planned for March. The date once confirmed would be circulated in hope that other groups or organisations would join in and help with a cleanup of the area.

·       On the 4^th and 5^th of June there would be a long distance cycle event around Tidworth and Tedworth Park.

·       On the 9^th July there would be a polo event called the Rundle Cup. People could bring their cars into Tedworth Park, it would cost nothing for the people to enter, but there would be a charge for the car entrance.

·       On the 28^th September the Early, Early Christmas Fair  would be held in a marquee at the rear of Tedworth House.

 

TCAP – Tony Pickernell, Coordinator

 

·       Out of the 9 thematic groups, 8 were up and running, having been reinvigorated, where necessary.

·       TCAP website was also now up and running, TCAP hoped to have full control over the site soon. The site address is:

 www.tidworthcommunityarea.info/NEW

TCAP would seek the permission of Town and Parish Councils to include links to their sites from the TCAP website. It was also hoped that there would be nine links to the thematic groups which would allow users of the site to view minutes from the individual thematic group meetings.

·       Arranged through TCAP 100 children and staff from Zouch Primary School in Tidworth Visited Tedworth House and St Marys Church, where a talk on the history of both the house and church was given by Tony Pickernell TCAP Coordinator.

·       700 young people had attended the Christmas Band Show in the Garrison Theatre Tidworth. Children were given refreshments in the interval, and all went home with a goody bag. The event was organised by TCAP, the Area Board gave a grant towards the transport and insurance for the event. Good feedback of the event had been received. It was hoped that they would be able to put on two shows the following year so that more young people could attend.

·       TCAP had liaised with Wendy Higginson (Youth Coordinator) to discuss ways in which they could provide youth activities within the parishes, as it was currently difficult to arrange transport for the young people to get into the towns for activities.

 

Community Area Awards (CAA) – Godfrey Tilney

 

A handout had been circulated and is attached at the back of these minutes.

 

Godfrey outlined the five main awards for 2011 as detailed on the attachment. He explained that there would be an additional award this year which would be given to the best candidate out of the five categories. This would be chosen and presented by the Area Board.

 

The new Wellington Academy had offered the use of its theatre, which would seat 360 people, for the event. The event promised to be a good evening for all. It was important for local councils, organisations and individuals to nominate people for the various awards. Distribution packs would be sent out to Town and Parish Councils and other groups and organisations from 7^th February.

 

The Wellington Academy – Andy Schofield

 

Andy Schofield, Principal of The Wellington Academy notified the Board that a community event to say goodbye to Castledown School was planned to take place during the February half term, over an afternoon and evening, to give people the opportunity to celebrate the end of an era.

 

He reported that an Ofsted report the previous week, stated that the Academy had done very well.

 

Wiltshire Police Authority – Councillor Richard Britton

 

Cllr Britton gave a presentation to the Board and had circulated a one page handout and a survey form people to complete; a copy of both is attached to the end of these minutes.

 

Some of the points covered were:

 

•        WPA would need to make £15 million in savings over the next four years.

•        In four years time the Force would be likely to have 150 fewer officers and 200 fewer staff.

•        It was WPA’s responsibility to ensure that Wiltshire continued to have an effective and efficient police service. 

 

The top priorities:

 

·       No plans to reduce frontline local policing – that means the numbers of officers on patrol and responding to emergency calls would stay the same.

·       Neighbourhood Policing Teams would also remain untouched

·       So, in finding the savings WPA were committed to:

 

1.     Keeping local officers on patrol and keeping the public safe.

2.     Responding promptly to emergency 999 calls.

3.     Ensuring that general enquiries and non urgent calls were dealt with to an acceptable standard.

 

Other commitments included:

 

·       WPA would seek out extra Special Constables with the powers of regular officers, and more Volunteers to provide support.

·       To make best use of new technology so officers stay on the beat.

Examples include officers using hand held mobile devices when on the streets to access Force IT systems and control room staff being able to see where officers are via our Automatic Resource Location System (ARLS).

·       WPA currently had an arrangement which include a helicopter police air ambulance, this would remain until 2014.

 

Cllr Britton urged people to take part in shaping the future of the Wiltshire Police Service by completing and returning one of the survey questionnaires, which had been handed out (and can be found attached to these minutes).

 

Wiltshire Police

 

Inspector Martyn Sweett highlighted some of the figures from the update attached to the agenda.

 

Community Area Young People’s Issues Group (CAYPIG)

Wendy Higginson, Youth Development Coordinator showed a DVD which was which highlighted some of the projects and activities accomplished by the Young People over the past year, followed by an update on other events including:

 

·       Discussions had taken place with TCAP to find a way forward in providing youth work for teenagers within the rural parishes.

·       The young people involved in the dance project had been invited to perform at the Community Area Awards later in the year.

·       A young parents group would be starting in February in conjunction with Windmill Hill.

·       Ludgershall Youth Club had seen a high number of young people attending, with lots of interest in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.

·       The funding received from the Board had helped the Collingbourne Youth Group get up and running, with over 100 young people involved.

·       Work with the Academy was ongoing.