Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Southern Wiltshire Area Board and announced the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II earlier in the evening. The Area Board partook in a two-minutes silence of remembrance; after which it was agreed that the meeting would be adjourned and would recommence at a future date.

On 12 October the Chairman re-commenced the meeting which had been adjourned on 8 September 2022.

Apologies for absence were received from:

• Cllr Zoe Clewer
• Inspector Tina Osborn – Wiltshire Police
• District Commander Chris Wood – Dorset & Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 26 May 2022.

Decision

The minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 26 May 2022 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

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

There were no declarations.

To receive Chairman’s Announcements

Cost of Living

Following on from an update presented at Cabinet, the Chairman highlighted the Council’s response on recent increases to the cost of living. He confirmed that the Area Board would be a key part in the delivery of support to communities, providing signposting and support for projects which would benefit the key priorities and themes.

Area Board Arrangements 2022

Following a restructure of the Area Board Officer Team, the Community Engagement Manager Role had been replaced by Strategic Engagement and Partnerships Managers (SEPM). Karen Linaker would continue to support Southern Wiltshire as the SEPM, but would now also look after Salisbury and South West Wiltshire Area Boards, supported by Karlene Jammeh, the newly appointed Area Board Delivery Officer (ABDO) for the south of the county.

Laverstock ETRO

Cllr Dr Mark McClelland, Cabinet Member for Transport, Waste, Street Scene and Flooding and Parvis Khansari, Corporate Director - Place, provided an update on a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) scheme for Church Road, Laverstock.

It was explained that for many years there had been concern from residents and Laverstock & Ford Parish Council (L&FPC) relating to excess school traffic and associated obstructive parking, impacting on access through the parish at certain peak times.

L&FPC had worked with Officers at the Council to investigate the possibility of an Experimental (ETRO), which had involved a local consultation carried out by the parish council, to ascertain local opinion, receiving a high number of responses.

Following further investigation by Wiltshire Council, it was reported that the preferred route was to investigate a TRO and not the ETRO. 

It was noted that a previous ETRO scheme is Salisbury City had received strong objection from local residents and had later been removed, thus strengthening the view that it was paramount to fully consider the views of all that would be impacted on, which in the case of Laverstock should involve the families of the children attending the four school sites which may not reside in the parish itself and not restrict the consultation process to just the residents of Laverstock.

It was noted that the end decision would be formed from a more enhanced official consultation process.

The Local Member for Laverstock & Ford, Cllr Ian McLennan noted the history behind the ETRO and the amount of work it had taken to get to this point, including partnership working with the Schools, Parish Newsletters and a thorough parish consultation, with the aim of having an ETRO in place by September 2022 at the start of the new academic year.

L&FPC wished to have an ETRO as they felt it was more flexible than a TRO, leaving scope for change.

The Chairman noted the importance of reaching all that may be impacted on, to understand their input and asked for future updates as the process developed.

·         Wiltshire Council Updates:

1.    Area Board Briefing Note

2.    Building Bridges

3.    Post 16 Skills & Partnership Officer

·         Wiltshire Centre for Independent Living

·         BANES Integrated Care Board Update

·         Current consultations: https://wiltshire.objective.co.uk/portal/

The Board noted the written updates included in the agenda pack, which included:

Wiltshire Council Updates:

·         Area Board Briefing Note

·         Building Bridges

·         Post 16 Skills & Partnership Officer

Wiltshire Centre for Independent Living

BANES Integrated Care Board Update

Current consultations: https://wiltshire.objective.co.uk/portal/

a) Parish Councils and Community groups

b) Community Policing – local issues and priorities. Inspector Tina Osborn.

    (written update attached)

c) Fire & Rescue – District Commander Chris Wood

    (written update attached)

The Board noted the written reports for:

a)    Community Policing – local issues and priorities.

b)    Fire & Rescue – District Commander Chris Wood

To consider any funding requests as set out in the attached report and summarised below:

Officer: Karen Linaker, Strategic Engagement & Partnership Manager

Health & Wellbeing (H&W) Funding

The Board noted the Older Persons awards which had been made in September through the Strategic Partnership and Engagement Manager Delegated Funding process.

Decision

To note the H&W award of £350 to the Downton Older Persons Event

Youth Funding

The Board noted the Youth Funding awards which had been made in July through the Strategic Partnership and Engagement Manager Delegated Funding process.

Decision

To note the Youth Funding award of £350 to the Alderbury Summer Pop Up Events

Decision

To note the Youth Funding award of £500 to the Downton Pop Up Youth Cafe Events

An update on the Dog Warden Service and the role of the team, in response to parish feedback.

Officer: Claire Francis, Public Protection Team Leader

The board noted the written paper which had been provided by Winterbourne Parish Council, detailing issues experienced regarding dogs.

Clair Francis, Public Protection Team Leader provided an update on the Dog Warden Service and the role of the team in response to the recent parish feedback.

An additional Dog Warden had been recruited to work with the team. There had been an increase in people owning dogs since Covid, with many not receiving the same level of socialisation due to social distancing.

There had been an increase in the numbers of reported stray dogs with only 30% of those brought in being collected by owners. Those not collected were put into rehoming schemes, however it was becoming increasingly common for the rescue centres to be full to capacity and not able to take any more dogs.

Cases of dog-on-dog attacks were dealt with by the Dog Warden Team, whilst dog on human attack was dealt with by the Police.  

The Council worked closely with the RSPCA and worked jointly to educate people on responsible dog ownership.

A total of 40 Community Protection notices had been served in 2021, this figure had doubled from the previous year.  

Stickers and leaflets were available to parish councils, to aid awareness of dog fouling.

Questions:

·         Any areas that have got on top of dog fouling?

Answer: It is an issue countrywide; you need to try and catch the people that are doing it.

·         Who to contact in first instance?

Answer: Email dogs@wiltshire.gov.uk

·         Which animal rescue organisations do you work with?

Answer: We have a contract with Battersea cats and dogs home, we do have regular meetings with other homes, however they are struggling to take more on at the moment due to full capacity.

·         Unfortunately people with dogs don’t look online to see what they should be doing, you need to leaflet them and put signs up.

Answer: We can provide parishes with stickers and leaflets can be downloaded. We are available to attend a community meeting to do talks.

·         Who deals with issues around dogs scaring sheep?

Answer: Livestock quarrying is covered by Police, we can assist with getting the message out especially coming up to lambing season. We are not able to issue fines at the moment as not covered by legislation.  Owners have a duty to keep a dog under control

·         What about Community Protection Orders?

Answer: It is possible to serve a Community Protection Order if we have a witness and find out who the person is.

·         Will you provide new poo bins if requested?

Answer: Parishes can put bins in but they need to pay to have them emptied. There is no Revenue funding to empty those bins. A regular public waste bin can also be used.

An update from Karen Linaker, Strategic Engagement & Partnerships Manager, to include:

·         Communications

·         Make a Friend Be a Friend

·         Healthy Schools

·         Environment

Karen Linaker, Strategic Engagement & Partnerships Manager, provided an update which included:

Environment

·         Planning a follow-up engagement event.

Young People

·         A busy summer of engagements in Alderbury and Winterslow, with others planned for Downton.

·         Second year of funding for the Rural Outreach project which would restart the Winterslow Youth Club and;

o   Focus on villages in the Bourne Valley with a pop-up event at Newton Tony Mem Hall.

o   A lots of focus on Downton with multi-facetted initiatives such as Street Watch. 

o   Redlynch – look at what can be done there

·         A joint AB event with Salisbury and South West Wilts at Salisbury College.

Health & Wellbeing Priority

·         Make a Friend be a Friend initiative, delayed by Covid was expected to take place in Downton & Redlynch from November 2022.

·         Silver Salisbury range of events held around International Older Persons Day.

·         Celebrating Age Wilts – in Nov – presentation on the planned provision for the area.

·         Cost of Living issue and Warm Spaces issue - refocusing the AB action in relation to addressing deprivation for southern Wiltshire.

The Chairman note that he was keen to hear from any rural businesses up to bigger businesses wishing to be represented at the Youth event at Salisbury College

Questions:

We previously benefitted from the Celebrating Age initiative in Bourne valley, and have just registered our Village Hall as a warm space, are we able to access any advice leaflets for this? Answer: Yes, Karen would make contact with the PC outside of the meeting.

Action – Karen to make contact with Bourne Valley PC regarding the provision of Warm Spaces leaflets.

Cllr Clewer noted that the recently set up Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) in Downton was already having an impact and young people appeared to not want to end up with something on their record and as a result were  adjusting their behaviour.

To provide an update on the proposed ETRO scheme for Church Road, Laverstock.

The Board is also asked to note the minutes and consider any recommendations for funding arising from the last LHFIG meeting held on 17 August 2022 as detailed in the attached report.

Recommendations for funding:

·       4c - £750 - Firsdown PC / Winterslow PC, Safety improvements at Dunstable Crossroads

·       4e - £1867.50 -Britford PC, Installation of NAL sockets for SIDs

·       4h - £1736.25 - Laverstock & Ford PC, Introduction of waiting restrictions in Sherbourne Drive

·       4i - £3000.00 - Alderbury PC, Introduction of waiting restrictions at various locations

The Board noted the minutes of the last LHFIG meeting held on 17 August 2022 and considered the recommendations for funding as set out in the report.

The Chairman urged any parish councils aware of particular roads in need of maintenance to feed the details in for consideration, prior to the next scheduled HFIG meeting on 2 November.

Decision

The Board approved LHFIG funding to the following schemes:

• 4c - £750 - Firsdown / Winterslow - safety improvements at Dunstable Crossroads
• 4e - £1867.50 – Britford – installation of NAL sockets for SIDs
• 4h - £1736.25 – Laverstock & Ford – introduction of waiting restrictions in Sherbourne Drive
• 4i - £3000.00 – Alderbury – introduction of waiting restrictions at various locations

Future meeting dates (7-9pm):

·         17 November 2022

·         23 February 2023

Area Board Funding deadlines are 4 weeks prior to the meeting date. Contact karen.linaker@wiltshire.gov.uk for further information.

The next meeting would be held on 17 November 2022, 7.00pm at Winterslow Village Hall.

Summary of actions:

Action: Karen to provide leaflets on warm space venues to Bourne Valley PC.