Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to Hilmarton Community Hall and introduced the councillors and officers present. The Chairman explained that unfortunately Councillor Stuart Wheeler, Cabinet Representative for Campus Development and Culture, was unable to attend the meeting.

The Chairman highlighted the DVD that was played before the meeting. This encouraged members of the public to get involved in local politics and become councillors. Copies of the DVD would be distributed to all Town and Parish Councils. Nominated representatives were given their copy at the meeting.  

Apologies were received from Richard Aylen (Calne Without Parish Council), Martin Cook (Area Highway Engineer), Geoff Dickerson (Heddington Parish Council), Will Kay (Youth Development Coordinator) and Councillor Wheeler.

The minutes of the meeting held on 18 October 2011 were approved and signed as a correct record.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chairman will provide information about:

a.     A household survey called ‘What matters to you’ (attached)

b.     The intention to hold a participatory budgeting event at the next Calne Area Board meeting on 14 February 2012, in order to allocate the Area Board youth budget to projects initiated by young people to address issues affecting young people in the Calne Community Area.

Groups who are interested in being involved in this event will be encouraged to get in touch with the Community Area Manager to express an interest.   

The Chairman drew attention to the written announcements included in the agenda pack.

This included information about a household survey called ‘What matters to you’. The survey was taking place to help Wiltshire Council and its partners to understand local people’s priorities and needs. Copies of the survey were available to complete or take away at the meeting. The survey could also be completed online: www.wiltshire.gov.uk/whatmatterstoyou.

Calne Area Board was holding a participatory budgeting event at the next meeting on 14 February 2012. This was in order to allocate the area board youth budget to specific projects initiated by young people to address local issues affecting them. Groups who would be interested in getting involved should please contact Jane Vaughan, Community Area Manager, on 01247 721447 or jane.vaughan@wiltshire.gov.uk. 

Councillor Crisp stated the new plastic bottle and cardboard recycling collection service commenced in north Wiltshire on 10 October and over 400 tonnes of material had already been collected from the new blue lidded bins.

Wiltshire Council still had a small number of bins to deliver to properties which were missed during the main roll out. Wiltshire Council was also working to retrieve some bins which residents had asked to have removed. If you have not yet received a blue lidded bin and would like one, please contact Wiltshire Council on 0300 456 0102.

To receive an update from the partners listed below:

a.     Wiltshire Police (attached)

b.     Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service (attached)

c.     NHS Wiltshire (attached)

d.     Calne Community Area Partnership – to include a report about the future of the community hub (included in the electronic version of the agenda pack), a report on the release of the second tranche of Area Board funding (in line with the Community Area Partnership Agreement  - 19 April 2011) and an update from the Friends of Abberd Brook (attached)

e.     Calne CAYPIG (Community Area Young People’s Issues Group)

f.      Town and Parish Councils.

a.     The written update from Wiltshire Police was noted. The Chairman welcomed the new Inspector Schorah to the community area. Inspector Schorah explained that most people were now using the 101 number for non-emergency calls to the police. However there were minority groups of people who still were not familiar with the new number. A suggestion was made from the floor that a message was left on the old 0845 number, redirecting callers to 101 once the old number ceased.

Councillor Trotman asked Inspector Schorah a question about fireworks and the law after he was disturbed by a group of young people setting off fireworks late at night. Common firework offences include throwing a firework in a public place, possession of an ‘adult’ firework in a public place by an under-18, unauthorised possession of a ‘display only’ firework and setting off fireworks between 11 pm and 7 am (with exception of Guy Fawkes Night, New Year’s Eve, Chinese New Year and Diwali).

b.     The written update from Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service was noted. Mike Franklin explained that since the agenda was published, there was a more recent update from the service. This is included in the minutes pack. Mike noted there were low levels of fire in the community area, with three in the month of the most recent update. Strong partnership working was taking place between Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service and Wiltshire Council with visiting vulnerable people for home safety and education purposes. Mike thanked Barbara Gray and her colleagues for organising the use of four vans.

c.     The written update from NHS Wiltshire was noted. In February there would be a special meeting looking at priorities in the community area and the area board hoped that Maggie Rae, Director of Public Health and Public Protection, NHS Wiltshire and Wiltshire Council, would be able to attend. Councillor Hill drew attention to concerns in two areas in the community area about air quality.

Decision

Maggie Rae would be invited to the next Calne Area Board meeting and asked to come prepared to answer questions about local air quality.

d.     David Evans provided an update about the Community Area Partnership. The community hub was holding an open day between 10 am and 4 pm on Friday 9 December. Those involved were also working with Wiltshire Council to organise the next stage of the lease of the hub. The release of the second tranche of funding to the Partnership was reported, in accordance with the decision made at the Calne Area Board meeting on 19 April 2011. The written update from the Friends of Abberd Brook was noted. Stepping stones and the mosaics were now in place and no vandalism had taken place in the area. Wiltshire Police were thanked for their involvement with this.    

e.     Ed Jones from Calne Without Parish Council reported that the community group working towards getting white gates installed had been successful in drawing down funding from several sources and was likely to come  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Helen Lines, Health and Wellbeing Project Manager, provided information about the Wiltshire Good Neighbours service.

Wiltshire Good Neighbours was a free service co-ordinated by Community First and funded by Wiltshire Council aimed at older/vulnerable people in rural communities across the county. The service provided a range of information about statutory, voluntary and commercial services that supported older people to live safe, comfortable, fulfilling and independent lives. The service might also be able to help a younger person who had health concerns or a disability. 

Helen explained that the service did this through a number of local Good Neighbour Co-ordinators who listened to clients and gave them information and support to access other services, such as help with personal care, befriending services, advice on benefits, healthcare needs, social activities, financial concerns and transport.

Helen introduced Emma Dowie as the local co-ordinator working in Bremhill, Hilmarton and Compton Bassett. Emma spoke to the meeting about a number of clients and how she had helped them. Emma can be contacted on: 07557 922029.

This was followed by the opportunity to ask questions. It was confirmed that Wiltshire Good Neighbours engaged with family members when they could.       

To consider one application made to the Community Area Grants Scheme, as follows:

Goatacre Cricket Club – seeking £866 towards the extension of nets.

To consider one Area Board initiative, as follows:

Calne Voices – seeking £810 towards a facilitated arts project.

To report the allocation of £300 to purchase additional banners for each parish to promote the campus project consultation.

Consideration was given to the one application made to the Community Area Grants Scheme.

Decision

£866 was awarded to Goatacre Cricket Club towards the extension of nets.

Reason

The application met the 2011/12 grant criteria and it enabled leisure recreation in the villages and also activities for young people in villages.

Consideration was then given to the one Area Board initiative.

Decision

£810 was awarded to Calne Voices towards a facilitated arts project for people with learning difficulties and autism.

Reason

The project addressed issues in the Calne Community Area Plan, encouraging a sense of community cohesion, pride and well being.    

The Area Board then reported the allocation of £300 to purchase additional banners for each parish to promote the second phase of the campus project consultation which was now underway. 

Councillors will provide an update on community issues and progress on Area Board working groups. This will include:

a.     Skate board park working group – Councillor Howard Marshall

b.     Calne Area Transport – Councillor Christine Crisp

c.     Highways working group – Councillor Christine Crisp

d.     Calne campus working group – Councillor Alan Hill

e.     Sandpits Lane (section 106) working group – to include approval of the group’s terms of reference – Councillor Tony Trotman.

Councillors provided an update on community issues and progress on Calne Area Board working groups.

a.    Councillor Marshall reported that proposals for the skate board park, a planning application and fundraising were ongoing. He had set the group the challenging target of completing refurbishment of the skate park by July. Jane Vaughan and Will Kay, Youth Development Coordinator, had submitted an application to raise funding to the landfill tax credits scheme.

b.    Councillor Crisp gave an update about Calne Area Transport and the highways working group. The funding allocated to the group had now been spent and a meeting would be held in January to identify priorities in the local area and how best to address them. This would include using the Speed Indicator Device promised to Calne Area Board.

c.    Councillor Hill underlined the Calne campus working group had entered the second phase of their consultation. Two thousand random household surveys had been distributed about the campus project and surveys had been sent home with schoolchildren, were available at strategic sites in the local area and online through the Wiltshire Council website. The deadline for completion of the survey was 14 December 2011. There had been 971 respondents to the first phase of consultation and a similar response was hoped for for the second phase.

There would be a Cabinet meeting on 13 December 2011 when the first three campus projects in the county would be put forward for approval. Councillor Hill explained the progress of the Calne working group would be assessed and to date this had been pleasing.

d.    Councillor Trotman explained the composition of the Sandpits Lane (section 106) working group and asked the area board to approve the group’s terms of reference. Councillor Hill requested a footpath be put in place for the development before the houses were occupied to prevent the issues that had arisen at Lake View. This idea was already being discussed by the working group and Councillor Trotman would take the comment to those involved. The next meeting would be held on 12 December 2011.

Decision

The terms of reference for the Sandpits Lane (section 106) working group, as in the minutes pack, were approved.    

Unfortunately, Councillor Wheeler was unable to attend the meeting and sent his apologies for this item.

A short animation was shown about the Olympic Torch route.  Barbara Gray, Events and Sponsorship Manager, then gave a presentation about the 2012 year of celebrations in Wiltshire.

The Olympic Torch would travel 8000 miles over 70 days and involve a convey of 300 people. The Olympic Torch would be coming through Calne in the morning on Wednesday 23 May 2012 and this would be a fantastic occasion  to showcase the community area and Wiltshire on the whole, as well as the opportunity for free advertising for local businesses on a national scale. A huge evening event in Salisbury would be held on Wednesday 11 July 2012.

Calne Town Council had already established an events group and it was suggested that all interested individuals get involved. Wiltshire Council had produced a toolkit to help make it easier for communities to celebrate, which would be useful for forthcoming Jubilee celebrations too. Please contact Barbara Gray, on 01225 718423 or barbara.gray@wiltshire.gov.uk, if you would like a copy.    

The Chairman will take questions from the audience (depending on their nature, these may need to be responded to after the meeting), ask the audience to take part in an evaluation of the meeting (to help develop future meetings) and set out arrangements for the next meeting.

There was the opportunity to ask any remaining questions. The issue of 20 mph speed limits was raised. Wiltshire Council was currently involved in a pilot scheme to investigate the effectiveness of 20 mph speed limits and the area board was awaiting the results of this.  

The next Calne Area Board meeting would be held at 7.00 pm on Thursday 14 February 2012 at Calne Town Hall, with refreshments available from 6.30 pm. The Chairman thanked those at the meeting and wished everyone a happy Christmas and prosperous New Year.