Issue - meetings

To receive any updates.

Partner updates had been received from NHS Wiltshire and from Everleigh Parish Council and were available at pages 27 to 31 of the agenda. Tidworth Town Council reported that it had a new Chairman, David Sherlock.

Councillor Williams encouraged the parish and town councils to use the update template as a means of updating the Area Board, the public and partners on recent news and activities. The template would be sent out by the Democratic Services Officer prior to each meeting.

A partner update had been received from Wiltshire Police and was available in the agenda packs. Inspector Martin Sweett commented that the update included plenty of useful links and contacts, and also an updated list of local priorities for Tidworth. Priorities for the Ludgershall and Rural Neighbourhood Policing Team were to be set next week.

Inspector Sweett made the following additional announcements:

·         Pro-active work was continuing against anti-social behaviour and any comments or suggestions should be fed into the local teams.

·         Local action plans were already being developed regarding Halloween and bonfire night.

·         Plans were also underway to deal with issues arising from the World Cup, although no major problems were envisaged. A dedicated team had been set up to deal promptly with any World Cup related issues, so the team should be contacted whenever necessary.

·         A new Police Community Support Worker was now working at Wellington Academy as part of the Safer Schools Partnership.

·         Last year there was an 11.5% reduction in crime from the previous year which was very positive. Dwelling burglaries, in particular, had reduced with only 10 occurring last year.

Col Tabor provided an update on the military and informed of the sad news regarding Captain Jonathan Allen, who had been killed by a passing lorry whilst cycling home to Burbage from his base in Tidworth. Col Tabor also made the following announcements:

·         A litter pick ‘clean sweep 2’ had been held on 22 April with the help of Wiltshire Council and Test Valley Borough Council. 23 tonnes of rubbish had been collected and these litter picks would now be held on a six-monthly basis.

·         An Environment Strategy Group had been set up and was aiming to reduce the military’s contribution to landfill to zero by 2020.

·         There would be a substantial mission rehersal exercise starting in the next few weeks so there was likely to be an increase in noise from helicopters and other equipment.

Councillor Williams had received a letter from a representative of the Ludgershall Mission Hall promoting the hall as a peaceful alternative to places of worship. The hall was in need of funding, and Councillor Williams recommended an application for funding from the Community Area Grants Scheme. Although the hall did not meet the grant criteria, this could be overridden if councillors felt that there was a wide community benefit.