Agenda and minutes

The Chairman will welcome Councillor John Noeken, Cabinet Representative for Resources.  

The Chairman welcomed everyone to Calne Area Board and introduced Councillor John Noeken, Cabinet Representative for Resources. The Chairman introduced the Councillors and Officers present.

A minute’s silence was held to mark the seven fallen servicemen whose hearses were travelling through Wootton Bassett high street today.

Councillors are requested to declare any personal or prejudicial interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

Apologies were received from Councillor Trotman, Richard Aylen (Calne Without Parish Council) and Edwin Jones (Calne Without Parish Council).

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 27 April 2010.

The Chairman approved and signed as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 27 April 2010.

Councillors are requested to declare any personal or prejudicial interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

Jane Macey, Spatial Plans Officer, will give a presentation to inform Calne Area Board about the Local Development Framework consultation results so far.

Jane Macey, Spatial Plans Officer, gave a presentation to inform Calne Area Board about the Local Development Framework consultation results so far. She highlighted that the exact implications of the new Government were not yet known.

Calne was identified as a market town and 500 dwellings were proposed to be located as an urban extension to the north east of the town. Since the Wiltshire 2026 consultation last year, planning permission had been granted for up to 350 dwellings on land off Sandpit Road via the planning appeal process. These 350 dwellings were taken off of the proposal to provide 500 dwellings in Calne leaving a figure of 150 dwellings for the plan period until 2026. Outside of Calne the document allows limited infill development in the villages of Derryhill, Studley and Heddington.

This was followed by the opportunity to comment and ask questions. Main points raised included:

·         The importance of Calne’s market town image

·         The need for cross department thinking – raising car parking charges would deter visitors to the town

·         The impact on build targets of Government proposals to abolish regional planning policies and the relationship between the towns of Calne and Chippenham

·         Wider repercussions of the closure of Lyneham.

The Chairman underlined that consultation on the Local Development Framework was ongoing and to find out more and to receive notification of future consultation events please visit: http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk.

To receive an update from the partners listed below:

a)    Wiltshire Police

b)    Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

c)    NHS Wiltshire

d)    Calne Community Area Partnership – including progress on the Community Hub and the Abberd Brook project.

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

f)     Town and Parish Councils.

a)    Inspector Kate Pain drew attention to the update from Wiltshire Police included in the agenda pack. In addition, she noted that the new Calne Police Station had been successfully completed on time and in budget. She thanked Calne Town Council for their cooperation with Wiltshire Police during the build. Inspector Pain would be happy to arrange visits to the station for anybody who was interested.

She discussed the crime statistics provided in the agenda pack and theft from motor vehicles in particular. This often took place when motor vehicles were left unsecure in the summer months and small high value items, such as Sat Nav systems, were left on display.

b)    The written report from Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service was noted. Councillor Crisp commented that the two areas of road safety concern raised by Calne Area Board had had road traffic collisions during March and April 2010, with collisions on the A4 at Derry Hill and the A3102 at Hilmarton, which resulted in a fatality. This sadly underlined that the concerns of Calne Area Board were legitimate.

c)     The written report from NHS Wiltshire for June was noted.

d)    Malcolm Gull provided an update on the work of Calne Community Area Partnership. Key issues included that a small management group had been set up to give the Steering Committee a more business-like approach, the Community Area Partnership Agreement had been signed in mid May, discussions continued with Wiltshire Council over the longer term use of the Community Hub and Friends of Abberd Brook had now received all necessary funding with thanks to the various sources. It was proposed to hold a full Partnership meeting in August when the new Terms of Reference would be presented for adoption.

e)    Will Kay, Youth Development Co-Ordinator, reported that the Calne Community Area Young People’s Issues Group had been quiet over the exam period. A kite boarding club was up and running for young people aged 13 and over and further information would be provided at the Calne Area Board meeting on 24 August 2010.

f)     Shauna Bodman reported that in Cherhill a survey had been set up to investigate having a community bus for use by younger and older people. The parish were looking into ways to reduce their carbon footprint, planning permission had been granted for a school car park and the Cherhill parish plan had been completed.

To consider one application to the Community Area Grants Scheme, from Calne Table Tennis Club for £1,425 towards providing equipment for a new club.

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

Decision

Calne Table Tennis Club were awarded £1,425 towards providing equipment for a new club.

Reason

The above application met the Community Area Grant criteria for 2010/2011 and an assessment of this application had been undertaken by the Wiltshire Council Sports Development Manager in which he identified the project as being of high priority with links to Wiltshire Council’s health and sports plan. This aims to get more people more active through the provision of a variety of sports and activities.

The Chairman reminded the meeting that the deadline for the next round of funding applications was 19 July 2010.

The Hilmarton and Goatacre Group Improving Safety (HAGGIS) fed back to Calne Area Board about progress made after a Community Area Grant had been awarded at the 16 February Calne Area Board meeting. It had been proved throughout the world that people’s surroundings help to regulate their speed. Well kept white gates were a very effective traffic calming measure and HAGGIS had recently installed white gates in Hilmarton. The group had also helped to improve the garden of the Duke Hotel and a speed watch scheme was in operation, with eight people trained to observe the speed of those travelling through the village.

The Wiltshire Council budget consultation, that was held on 15 December at Goatacre Village Hall for Calne Area Board, showed that this service area was of a low priority to the community. We are now looking to work with the community to review how the service should be delivered.  

Niki Lewis, Service Director for Communities, Libraries, Heritage and Arts, gave a presentation on the review of how the library service should be delivered. This covered the following main points:

·         £500,000 savings were to be achieved within two years

·         98% of library customers think the standard of customer care is good or very good

·         The impact of reading and literacy on people’s lives, including their career prospects and health and wellbeing

·         What the library service offers now

·         What a future library service may offer, such as time zones for different groups (Noisy Fridays/Quiet Mondays), longer core opening hours and late night opening, meeting rooms for public use, refreshments, e-readers, washroom facilities, Wi-Fi access, game zones and plasma screen broadcasts.

There was the opportunity to contribute to the review through opinion cards at the meeting asking the top five priorities for a library service in the future.

Niki Lewis also spoke about a worthwhile volunteer project to deliver books to elderly people. If you would be interested in volunteering, please contact your nearest library.

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

a)    Skate Board Park – Councillor Marshall

b)    Cycle Network – Councillor Berry

c)    Curzon Street – Councillor Hill.  

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

a)    Councillor Marshall spoke about the skate board park. The working group set up at the previous meeting had met and frustration had been expressed by young people that little had happened in the past on the issue in spite of meetings taking place. The meeting looked into possible sites for a skate board park, providing a range of facilities at the park and organising visits to other sites to find out what a facility could look like.

b)    Councillor Berry gave an update on the cycle network. A fantastic Calne Community Cycle event had taken place on Saturday 26 June in the afternoon. The free event for the family incorporated Go Ride skills, a 6 mile ride, a bike spinning challenge, fun races, bike safety checks and many more activities. The first meeting of the open to all working group was about to be arranged, please contact the Calne Community Area Manager, Jane Vaughan, if you would like to become involved, on 07900 606933 or jane.vaughan@wiltshire.gov.uk/

Anne Henshaw contributed information about the Biekability Programme. This was set up by the previous Government with the aim to offer cycling lessons and build cycling awareness through qualified instructors who can take groups, individuals or go to schools on a series of lessons. Through instruction, confident road riding and control skills can lead to a large increase in those using cycles for work, leisure, education or shopping.

Anne asked Calne Area Board to pursue this suggestion as part of their current policy regarding increasing cycling and encouraging its use. Another suggestion was for businesses and organisations in the town to compete to reduce their use of cars for one day.

Decision

Councillor Berry would take the suggestions of the Bikeability Programme and a car reduction competition to the working group tasked to improve the cycle network in Calne.

Decision

Councillor Berry would raise with Councillor Tonge the issue regarding a footpath in Cherhill.

c)    Councillor Hill spoke about the Curzon Street issue. There had been a working group in the pilot phase of Calne Area Board, however the Officer involved had sadly been very ill and the group was in the process of starting again with a new Officer.

There will be the opportunity to ask Councillor John Noeken general questions regarding his Cabinet responsibility for Resources (Customer Care, ICT, Information Management and Business Transformation).  

Councillor John Noeken introduced his Cabinet responsibility for Resources. This incorporated Customer Care, ICT, Information Management and Business Transformation. Councillor Noeken reported that his team were working to make efficiency savings. £9.5 million of savings were looking to be made in the next twelve months through changes to procurement. There was the aim to reduce Wiltshire Council office buildings from 95 to four main hubs and introduce ‘touch down’ facilities in places like leisure centres, depots and libraries. The main building work for Bourne Hill, Wiltshire Council’s main administrative hub in the south of the county, was now complete, with staff moving into the new offices from early November. Significant progress had been made in driving down the number of incidents reported to the CLARENCE system, the means of reporting a highway defect and getting it fixed. This included a reduction in the number of duplicated reports.

Councillor Noeken commented that starting the unitary process three years ago had left Wiltshire Council in a strong position to meet Government targets for 25% savings with no increase in Council Tax.

The appointments to outside bodies which were made by the Board last year would continue for 2010/11.

Calne Heritage Centre Trust – Councillor Trotman

Calne Leisure Centre – Councillor Berry

Calne Youth Issues Group (CAYPIGS) – Councillor Marshall

Calne Community Area Partnership – Councillor Crisp

Marden House – Councillor Trotman.

The appointments to outside bodies which were made by Calne Area Board last year would continue for 2010/11.

Calne Heritage Centre Trust – Councillor Trotman

Calne Leisure Centre – Councillor Berry

Calne Youth Issues Group (CAYPIG) – Councillor Marshall

Calne Community Area Partnership - Councillor Crisp

Marden House – Councillor Trotman.

Councillor Crisp noted that her appointment to the Viridor Credits Panel/Steering Group was no more, but the group were looking for a volunteer from the community to award local funding. If you would be interested in this position, please put your name forward at the Community Hub, on 01249 813747  

An opportunity to ask questions and make comments on the waste consultation.

The Chairman will address any other questions and comments from the floor.

Tracy Carter, Service Director Waste Management Services, gave a short presentation on the waste consultation. This was being held with a view to unifying the service across the county and meeting stringent targets to divert more waste from landfill. 40% of waste was at present recycled across the county.

Wiltshire Council was putting forward a proposal that would bring all the different collection arrangements into one. The existing kerbside black box scheme would be complemented by a kerbside collection of plastic bottles and cardboard every two weeks and a non chargeable optional kerbside collection of garden waste every two weeks. However, these additional recycling services could only be offered if the waste that was left over was also collected every two weeks, to enable the re-use of existing resources and vehicles. This service was currently provided in the east and west Wiltshire, but would be a change in the north and the south of the county.

If you would be interested in contributing to the review, please have your say on the Wiltshire Council website at:  http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council/focuson.htm?aid=103846

The Chairman will set out arrangements for the next meeting.

The next Area Board meeting would take place at 7.00pm on Tuesday 24 August 2010 at Lansdowne Hall in Derry Hill, with refreshments available from 6.30pm.