Agenda item

To receive updates from any of the following partners:

·       Wiltshire Police

·       Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

·       BaNES, Swindon and Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)

·       Healthwatch Wiltshire

·       Warminster and Villages Community Partnership

·       Warminster Health and Wellbeing Forum

·       Local Youth Network

·       Town and Parish Councils Nominated Representatives

·       Ash Dieback

Some written updates have been received and are included in this agenda.

Updates were received from the following partners:

·       Wiltshire Police

The Area Board noted a written update attached to the agenda.

·       BaNES, Swindon & Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group (BSW CCG)

The Area Board noted a written update attached to the agenda as well as a Vaccination Stakeholder Briefing.

·       Healthwatch Wiltshire

The Area Board noted a written update attached to the agenda.

• Warminster and Villages Community Partnership

Councillor Pip Ridout updated that there had not been a recent meeting of the Warminster and Villages Community Partnership.

• Warminster Health and Wellbeing Forum

Councillor Pip Ridout updated that Chair of the Forum, Stephanie Stevens, was unable to attend the Area Board and that though the Forum was no longer part of the Area Board, it would submit a written report to the Area Board. Councillor Ridout noted the following three points that were addressed within the report attached to the minutes:

• There has been a change to the function of the Warminster Health Wellbeing and Social Care Forum (HWBSC Forum).
• The previously postponed Warminster and District Health Fair will not take place this year.
• The HWBSC Forum is looking to attend the Army outdoor engagement event on 27 July.

·       Local Youth Network

Community Engagement Manager, Graeme Morrison updated that following the last Area Board meeting, he had met with Town Councillor Stacey Allensby who had agreed to Chair the format of the new Local Youth Network going forwards. It was raised that there is set to be a meeting 22 March with local youth organisations to identify what the youth network should look like; with an update to be provided at the next Area Board meeting.

Graeme also informed the Area Board of the one-year rural youth outreach programme that had been taking place, with Community First having been allocated a £5,000 grant from Warminster to make up a combined amount of £25,000 from 5 Area Boards. The first four months of this programme have included conducting research, with a focus on young people living in isolated rural areas. After this four-month phase, the project will move to a delivery phase, which will look to initiate positive activities for young people from the research conducted and will work with existing providers to break down barriers.

·       Town and Parish Councils Nominated Representatives

The area board noted the following written updates that had been attached to

the agenda from the following Parish Councils; Heytesbury, Imber and Knook,

Sutton Veny, Maiden Bradley and Horningsham. A written update was also attached to the agenda from Warminster Town Council.

Councillor Sue Fraser provided a verbal update on behalf of Warminster Town Council. The update covered the following points:

·       Spring in the park is set to go ahead on Sunday 1 May in the Lake Pleasure Grounds.

·       The Civic Awards for 2021 have now been awarded.

·       The Town Council is looking to update its CCTV cameras.

·       The Town Council has started work on revising the Neighbourhood Plan.

Councillor Neil Carpenter provided a verbal update on behalf of Corsley Parish Council. The update covered the following points:

·       In the previous Parish meeting a focus had been identified as improving the environment for walkers and horse riders.

·       The Parish Council is aiming to get better signage to align with the Highway Code as well as the A362, which has a bridal path crossing it.

·       There is also an aim to improve kissing gates to enhance the environment.

·       Ash Dieback

Head of Local Highways (Wiltshire Council), Chris Clark, provided an update on Ash Dieback. The update covered the following points:

·       A brief explanation of Ash Dieback was provided to the Area Board, being a disease affecting native Ash trees, with the majority that have it being dead within 5 to 10 years. It was noted that from a Highways perspective this is particularly dangerous with trees failing and losing structural strength, therefore causing large limbs to shed onto roads.

·       The response from Highways has been a risk-based approach, looking at main A and B road networks, with visual assessments having taken place with trained arborists having been driven around to look at the trees alongside highways.

·       This surveying process has been conducted 2 years running, however Ash Dieback is spreading wider and quicker than first expected. There is therefore a focus to remove trees presenting a current risk which totals out at 1,600 trees this year, example areas have included the A4 on Derry Hill as well as Box to Fiveways.

·       Looking forwards, the Highways team is looking at open spaces and Rights of Ways, working with landowners to increase knowledge and awareness of the disease.

·       The majority of the trees removed have been chipped down to go off to be used as biomass, with work being conducted to investigate whether a local facility can be used to make use of these materials.

·       Another concern was presented as the need to replant trees to offset those being removed in order to align with the Green and Blue Infrastructure policy.

Following the verbal update there was time for the following questions and points to be raised:

·       Chris Clark stated that if rural villages see clearly diseased trees, they should, where possible, approach landowners as very often they would have a better connection to the landowner than the Council would. It has however been found that generally larger landowners are aware of the disease and have been acting. Additionally, the risk-based approach has not been conducted to the exclusion of roads which are C classed or unclassified, with action being taken if identified as being unsafe.

·       Regarding the responsibility of landowners, Chris Clark stated that the responsibility of removing diseased trees does come under their responsibility and that though no financial support can be provided, advice is available. Regarding enforcement, a number of legislations can be used under the Highways Act and Miscellaneous Provisions Act to try to engage with landowners.

·       It was acknowledged as being correct that over the next 10 years, £10/12million pounds is needed to be found for Ash Dieback; however Chris Clark noted that the Council is learning more and has adapted to using a forestry harvesting machines rather than individual chainsaws to be more cost efficient.

·       Regarding information offered to be provided by Parish Councils, Chris Clark noted that this would be difficult as there would be a differing level of expertise across Parish Councils and if Parishes were to report issues, this could potentially lead to the Highways team being inundated with requests.

·       The price of the biomass chips was questioned, to which Chris Clark stated that the previous job conducted equated to around 10% of the value of the works undertaken.

·       Regarding the possibility of managing the felled timber locally, the Council is investigating a long-term contractor for arboriculture work as well as facilities to store timber centrally.

·       Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

The Area Board watched a video update from the Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service which could be accessed via the following link: https://youtu.be/DcVai1fa4-c