Agenda item

Open floor session with updates from partners, parishes and free flow discussion.

Verbal Updates

To receive any verbal updates from representatives, including:

·       Wiltshire Police – Inspector Ricky Lee

·       Wiltshire and Swindon Road Safety Partnership – Perry Payne

·       MOD Boscombe Down – Kev Taylor

·       Town and Parish Council’s

At the Chairman’s invitation, updates were received from the following:

·       Wiltshire Police – Inspector Ricky Lee, Amesbury Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT)

The Inspector stated that Wiltshire Police had received a better grading from His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) and was therefore moving out of the engage process (similar to special measures). There was however still room for improvement, especially in regard to answering 999 and 101 calls, however calls were being answered in the designated time period. Recruitment had been going well with most vacancies filled. For Amesbury and Tidworth, the teams were fully staffed. Crime statistics were in a good place, with a 15-20% reduction in crime in the last 3 months. According to the statistics Wiltshire was a safe place to live and was the safest county in the UK. Burglaries were a concern, and numbers had not reduced. The Afghan community relocation project had been coming up a lot on social media and the Inspector wanted to reassure people in relation to that. There had been no substantive offences committed by this community. Lots of partner organisations were working together to help integrate them into the community. The Afghans were those that had supported the British in Afghanistan, and were often highly skilled such as doctors, nurses and interpreters along with their families.   

Cllrs highlighted that there had been some difficult public perceptions around this, and that the Inspector had handled it very well.

An audience member from Shrewton detailed an incident where the A303 had been shut and traffic diverted through Shrewton. This included a large truck/trailer which had got stuck in Shrewton, causing issues and resulting in the driver having to reverse his way out. It was queried why the traffic was diverted through Shrewton.

The Inspector responded that he could not speak to this incident as had not been there. The A303 caused a lot of headaches for the police. He felt it would be helpful if National Highways could patrol the A303 as they did other large roads such as the M4. However, he offered apologies for the incident.

·       Wiltshire and Swindon Road Safety Partnership – Perry Payne

Mr Payne gave a presentation which is appended to these minutes, there was also a written road safety update included within the agenda pack.

Mr Payne then took questions from the Area Board Members and the audience.

Cllr Robert Yuill stated that he was disappointed that STATS 19, the mechanism that the police used to report Road Traffic Collisions (RTC’s) which resulted in personal injury did not include all serious collisions, and queried whether data was collected for RTC’s which did not result in injury.

Mr Payne explained that STATS 19 was a national standard that everyone had to adhere to. Furthermore, the police did not necessarily attend RTC’s where there had been no personal injury, and there was no requirement for people to even inform the police, so it would be very hard to gather the data. It was also highlighted that it was serious personal injury RTC’s that the police gathered data on, and that what ordinary people may consider a serious injury might be different to what is considered a serious injury under the national standards.

Cllr Yuill also highlighted that there was no Community Speed Watch (CSW) in Amesbury, and he felt that Amesbury really needed one. 

Cllr Wright stated that he felt it would be good to have a recognition event for CSW volunteers in the Stonehenge community area, as they did a marvellous job. Mr Payne felt that was a good idea and asked if he could be advised if and when that was arranged.

·       MOD Boscombe Down – Kev Taylor

Mr Taylor had been due to attend but unfortunately was unable to do so. He had sent through some points that he was going to detail and the Chairman briefly ran through those. MOD Boscombe Down continued to support the Amesbury Carnival Committee with the delivery of the Super Fete and this had been held successfully on the Boscombe Sports Field over the last few years. There was continued appetite for engagement with Amesbury Town Council and Wiltshire Council regarding the future of the MOD Sports Field.

·       Town and Parish Council’s

Netheravon Parish Council:

A representative from Netheravon Parish Council stated that the speed trial on the A345 was going well and the data seemed positive. They looked forward to the outcome of the trial. In addition, CSW was well received locally. Highways had reached out for a face to face meeting which went well. Thanks were given to Wiltshire Council for reaching out to take over some local amenity land.

Shrewton Parish Council:

A representative from Shrewton Parish Council gave an update stating that they had held 2 extraordinary parish council meetings recently. One was related to the cancellation of the A303 Stonehenge tunnel project, and what could be done instead, as the traffic problem in Shrewton was severe and they were looking to Wiltshire Council for help. The other meeting was to discuss the proposed changes to the NPPF as there were a lot more houses proposed. There was also an issue with some amenity land in Shrewton which had a lot of elderly trees on it which required work and the quote for that work was £8,000, which they could not afford.

In response Cllrs commented that in relation to the proposed changes to the NPPF, this was why it was so important that the draft Local Plan be approved by Wiltshire Council. If it could be submitted to the inspector and approved in time, it would still be valid so gave a grace period. The council were also concerned, and the Leader had been speaking to MP’s regarding the situation.  Cllrs further highlighted their concerns regarding the proposed changes to the NPPF and that if adopted the changes would result in an 81% uplift in housing requirements for Wiltshire. Furthermore, it was highlighted that even if applications were approved, if developers did not start building the houses, then they did not count towards numbers.  

In relation to the cancellation of the A303 Stonehenge tunnel, Cllrs stated that it was too early to give definitive answers as the council were still awaiting details from National Highways. However, they understood and sympathised with concerns.

In relation to the trees on amenity land it was clarified that the land was not owned by the village hall or parish council, but a charity. It was suggested that they may wish to consider submitting a grant application to the board. 

Concerns were raised by attendees from Shrewton and Durrington on when HRA roads were going to be adopted as it did not seem clear at the moment, and some LHFIG applications had been rejected as the roads were not adopted.