Agenda and minutes

To elect the Chairman for the year 2022/23.

On the nomination of Councillor Ian Blair-Pilling, seconded by Councillor Kevin Daley, it was,

Resolved:

To elect Councillor Graham Wright as Chairman for the forthcoming year.

To elect a Vice-Chairman for 2022/23.

On the nomination of Councillor Graham Wright, seconded by Councillor Kevin Daley, it was,

Resolved:

To elect Councillor Robert Yuill as Vice-Chairman for the forthcoming year.

To welcome those present to the meeting.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Stonehenge Area Board and thanked Woodford Village Hall for hosting the meeting.

At the Chairman’s invitation, the Councillors of the Area Board introduced themselves.

To receive any apologies for absence.

An apology had been received from Debbie Potter, Chair of Tilshead Parish Council.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 28 March 2022.

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 March 2022 were presented for comment, and it was,

Resolved:

To approve and sign the minutes as a true and correct record.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive the following announcements through the Chairman:

·       Recruitment of hackney carriage and private hire drivers (pages 13 – 15)

·       Healthwatch Wiltshire (page 17)

·       Clinical Commissioning Group (pages 19 – 21)

·       FUEL Camps (pages 23 – 57)

·       Positive Conduct Equals Positive Democracy (pages 59 – 62)

Announcements were made as detailed in the agenda and agenda supplements. Attention was drawn to the work of the Area Board in the last year, including the holding of monthly clinics and cluster meetings with local parishes to keep updated on local priotities.

To receive an update on the area board review which has taken place and changes to area boards which are being implemented as a result, for example new grant funding criteria.

Further details regarding the changes, including a new area board handbook, can be found online here: Wiltshire Council – Area Boards

The new grants criteria and online application form can be found here: Area Board Grants - Wiltshire Council.   

The Community Engagement Manager, Jacqui Abbot, provided an update on changes to area board arrangements following a review. These included updates to the grant funding criteria, a handbook on arrangements and amended processes of the area boards.

Details were provided of the level of grant funding available for the forthcoming year, including capital funding, health and wellbeing and local highways funding. In order to spread investment widely where possible a limit of £2500 per application would be requested for capital funding.

The Chairman then provided an update on activities taking place in the community area over the last year, including many which had been supported or funded in part by the Area Board, with details included in the presentation attached to the minutes.

At the end of discussion, it was,

Resolved:

To note the Area Board update.

To consider Stonehenge Area Boards priorities for 2022/23 and to have an open floor session with discussion on priorities and any updates from partners and parishes.

The Community Engagement Manager presented a report on the annual review of local priorities, discussing the cluster meetings, subgroups and other information gathering to inform an update to the priorities.

Comments were sought on the proposed updates, and Members discussed events that had taken place over the last year in support of the priorities.

It was

Resolved:

·                  To acknowledge and note the progress update from the 2021/22 local priorities work as at appendix A (pages 70 – 71) 

·                  To adopt the suggested priorities for the forthcoming year and appoint lead councillors to each priority and their related working groups as at appendix B (page 72) : 

·                  Health and Wellbeing 

o        Chairing . Cllr Monica Devendran: Health and Wellbeing Group, supported by 

o        Cllr Graham Wright: Lunch Club/Activities lead 

·                  Young People 

o        Cllr Mark Verbinnen: Local Youth Network 

·                  Getting around and improved access – quite important, covers transport, information, link scheme volunteers, how people find out what is on. 

o        Cllr Monica Devendran: Health and Wellbeing Group, supported by  Cllr Graham Wright: Activities lead  

o        Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling: Paths 4 All theme lead 

o        Cllr Kevin Daley: Rural Access theme lead 

·                  Protect the environment and reduce carbon footprint 

o        Cllr Robert Yuill 

In the open floor session the meeting then received an update from Philip Wilkinson, the Police and Crime Commissioner. He stated that since his election 10 months ago he had undertaken major consultation and identified many people had not been happy with the service they were receiving from the police, and he had instituted a plan to improve services.

He stated it would shortly be announced that Wiltshire Police was to be placed into special measures. He said that he and the Chief Constable had already started to put in place mitigating strategies to address concerns, which was already having an effect. He also discussed operations focusing on drug dealers in the community, and cross agency work to develop bespoke packages to target anti-social behaviour.

Inspector Tina Osborn then spoke to the written update from the agenda, noting an increase in burglaries of non-dwellings in the area.

John Derryman on behalf of Speedwatch provided an update on efforts to improve performance, data and recruitment, with data now being accepted into police systems to enable deployment decisions.

The Board discussed the above updates and sought details from the speakers, including on the logging of non-injury accidents, getting communications into very local publications and the Commissioner’s plans to improve services.

A presentation was then received from the Bakehouse Mental Health & Wellbeing Support Group, Mental Elf. The group had been running from locations in Amesbury for 12 years and was now set up in Durrington, working with local groups to reduce the stigma of mental health and provide support.

To consider the Area Board representatives to Outside Bodies and Memberships of Working Groups as detailed in the attached reports.

Following presentation of proposals it was,

Resolved:

·                  To appoint Members as Lead representatives to Outside Bodies as follows: 

o        Stonehenge World Heritage Site Steering Group: Cllr Kevin Daley 

o        A303 Stonehenge Steering Group: Cllr Kevin Daley 

·                  To reconstitute and appoint to the LHFIG: 

o        Cllr Graham Wright 

·                  To note the terms of reference for the LHFIG as set out in Appendix C (pages 97 – 100) 

To receive an update on youth activities

To consider the applications for youth grants:

·       Amesbury Town Council, £1,380 towards Stockport Avenue Youth Area.

To note the following application for youth grant funding already awarded under delegated authority of the CEM:

·       Rural Youth Project, £1,913.19, towards phase 2 of the project. (Combined with £418.60 from the capital funds)

Grant reports under item 14 with details.

Councillor Mark Verbinnen provided an update on youth activities in the community area. He stated this was a top priority for the board, noting the correlation with efforts to reduce crime and improve education results. He discussed intentions to work closer with the schools and how to inform parents of activities in their areas.

He then presented youth grant applications which had been reviewed by the local youth network.

On the nomination of Councillor Verbinnen, seconded by Councillor Graham Wright, it was,

Resolved:

To award £1380.00 to Amesbury Town Council towards the Stockport Avenue Youth Area.

To award £1913.19 towards phase 2 of the Rural Youth Project, to include £418.60 from the capital funds.

Reason: The grants met the grants criteria.

To receive an update on the Health and Wellbeing Group.

To consider the applications for Older and Vulnerable Adults grants:

·       Bluesky retreat, £808.16 towards almost wild camping with Bluesky

Retreat for bereaved parents.

·       Silver Salisbury Group, £850 towards Silver Amesbury 2022 including

Durrington and surrounding villages.

To note the following Health and Wellbeing grant already awarded under the delegated authority of the CEM.

·       Chat Café Evergreen Court, £150 towards a Coffee Morning

Grant reports under item 14 with details.

Councillor Dr Monica Devendran provided an update on Health and Wellbeing Group activities. She stated a meeting would be held on 6 September with organisations to discuss cooperative efforts, and on 15 December a night would be held to recognise volunteers of the community for their hard work supporting the Board and health and wellbeing efforts.

She then introduced grant applications relating to health and wellbeing.

Following presentation from grant applicants, and on the proposal of Councillor Devendran, seconded by Councillor Graham Wright, it was

Resolved:

To award £808.16 toward ‘almost wild camping’ for bereaved parents, to Bluesky Retreat.

Following presentation from grant applicants, and on the proposal of Councillor Devendran, seconded by Councillor Kevin Daley, it was

Resolved:

To award £850.00 towards Silver Amesbury 2022 (including Durrington and surrounding villages.

The Board also noted a grant for £150.00 had been approved by the Community Engagement Manager under delegated authority to Chat Café Evergreen Court towards a coffee morning.

Councillor Robert Yuill then provided an update on the Environment and reducing carbon footprint. He emphasised the importance of the new subgroup, and to delivery on achievable and measurable outcomes, and noted council measures such as upgrading its housing stock. There was discussion of projects in Amesbury to increase biodiversity.

There was then an extended discussion on methods of travel in the countryside, speed limits, and areas where it was not safe to walk. Members discussed the process for seeking to implement changes, with concerns raised that accidents would need to occur for changes to be actioned. The Chairman sought additional details to look into the matter further.

To recieve an update on the new CATG model – Local Highways and Footpath Improvement Groups (LHFIG).

To consider any updates and recommendations from the Community Area Transport Group (CATG) in relation to the funding available towards Local Transport Projects.

Funding recommendation for approval:

·       1-22-1 Orcheston 20mph speed limit assessment £2,500 (CATG £1,875, Orcheston PC £625)

The Chairman introduced an update on the new model for Local Highways and Footpath Improvement Groups (LHFIG) which were previously known as Community Area Transport Groups (CATG). The groups would now be able to improve or repair existing infrastructure, as well as investing in new infrastructure as before, more funding was available, and as the name indicated footpath improvements were also included.

Details were provided of high priority schemes in progress, and at the conclusion of the update it was,

Resolved:

1)    To note the discussions from the Stonehenge CATG meeting held on 13 April 2022.

2)    To confirm the high priority schemes.

3)    To approve the funding recommendation for  1-22-1 Orcheston 20mph speed limit assessment.

To determine the following applications for Community Area Grant funding:

·       Durrington Amateur Dramatics Society, £2,750 towards new staging.

·       Catholic Church of Christ the King, £1,600 towards AED for Catholic church and surrounding retirement residences.

At the Chairman’s invitation, Councillor Robert Yuill, Vice-Chairman, introduced the grants to the Committee and invited applicants to speak to their requests.

At the conclusion of discussion, and on the motion of Councillor Robert Yuill, seconded by Councillor Mark Verbinnen, it was,

Decision

Durrington Amateur Dramatics Society was awarded £2750.00 towards new staging.

Reason - The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria.

At the conclusion of discussion, and on the motion of Councillor Robert Yuill, seconded by Councillor Mark Verbinnen, it was,

Decision

Catholic Church of Christ the King was awarded £1600.00 towards Automated External Defibrilator for Catholic Church and surrounding retirement residences.

Reason - The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria.

Any other items of business which the Chairman agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items.

The next meeting of the Stonehenge Area Board will be held on 22 September 2022.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Amesbury Area Board would be held on 22 September 2022.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending.