Agenda item

To welcome those present to the meeting. To receive the following announcements through the Chairman:

Leader Delegated Decision

As the legislation which allowed local authorities to take public meetings and decisions online during the pandemic, was not extended past 6 May 2021 all Area Boards held online are required to pass any recommendations for a decision, through the Leader Delegated Decision process.

 Additional Community Engagement Support

From 11 October 2021 Alexa Davies, who has worked in the Royal Wootton Bassett and Cricklade community area previously, will be providing extra capacity on top of the role that Jane Vaughan is already performing.

RWB&C is naturally a complex area due to its geographical character with 4 distinct local centres.  It is hoped that Jane and Alexa will develop ways of working that will benefit the community and support the delivery of an action plan in the area.

Jane will continue to also support Calne Community Area within her role and Alexa will continue to support Malmesbury.

Changes to the Local Area Coordinator Service Provision

A verbal update will be provided to explain changes to the service that will affect this Community Area.

Bus Services

To provide information about areas identified for possible subsidised bus service funding.

Feedback from The Lydiard Archives

To note the attached update about the use of Area Board funding to support a digital survey and local history project.  The Lydiard Archives provide a unique collection of artifacts telling the history of Lydiard Tregoze.

www.TheLydiardArchives.org.uk

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the online meeting of the Royal Wootton Bassett and Cricklade (RWB&C) Area Board. Members and officers then introduced themselves.

The Chairman explained that the legislation allowing local authorities to take public meetings and decisions online had not been extended past 6 May 2021. Area Boards held online after this date would therefore need to have any funding decisions ratified through the Leader Delegated Decision process before funding could be released.

She also informed the Area Board that, from 11 October 2021, Jane Vaughan would be supported by Alexa Davies as Community Engagement Manager (CEM) and that they would work closely together to deliver an action plan for the area.

Thanks were given to Frances Barrone for the support she had given as the Local Area Co-ordinator for RWB&C over the past three years.  It was noted that the Local Area Co-ordinator Service would be restructured and replaced with a new Prevention and Wellbeing Team from October 2021. The Chairman offered to share further information about how to access the service when it became available. In addition, she offered to assist residents to ensure that there were no gaps in service provision during the transition (please see the attached document for further details).

The Chairman then referred the Area Board to information contained within the agenda about plans for additional bus services. Cllr Steve Bucknell reported that the level of positive feedback about the proposals had resulted in the decision to use a larger bus than originally anticipated from Lydiard Residential Park. The tender process for a larger bus had led to an adjustment to the anticipated start date of the new service. Given the desire of residents to use the service as soon as possible, he stated that conversations were underway to see if a smaller bus could be used as an interim measure until the larger bus delivered further capacity.

A web link was available in the agenda pack thanking the Area Board for its support of the Lydiard Archives. The Chairman praised the work of the Friends of Lydiard Park in preserving the wealth of historical material for the public and explained that discussions were underway about the possibility of displaying artifacts in a local village hall.

The Area Board was notified by the Chairman that the Lime Kiln Leisure Centre was due to come under the management of Wiltshire Council from the start of October 2021. She also noted that there was a possibility that this would lead to the refurbishment of the facility in the longer term.

The CEM, Jane Vaughan, then rounded off the Chairman’s Announcements by updating the Area Board about a county-wide youth survey that was running until 22 October 2021. The survey gave young people the chance to give their feedback about local services and priorities. The CEM would be sending out additional information to local schools, youth providers and other partners in order to encourage as many young people as possible to get involved.