Agenda and minutes

The Chairman, Councillor Desna Allen, welcomed everyone to the meeting and invited the Area Board councillors to introduce themselves.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Jane Scott and from Parvis Khansari (Service Director).

      i.        To approve the minutes of the meeting held on Monday 5 March 2012.

    ii.        Actions from previous minutes.

Decision

The minutes of the meeting held on Monday 5 March 2012 were agreed a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

To include the following:

      i.        Review of Mini Recycling Sites & Summer Opening Hours

    ii.        Polling Station Review

   iii.        Rural Facilities Survey

   iv.        11 to 19 Commissioning Strategy Update

    v.        Paths Improvement Grant Scheme

   vi.        Cleveland Bridge Weight Restriction

  vii.        Petitions Update

viii.        2012 – A Year of Celebration

   ix.        Older Peoples Development Working Group.

The Chairman drew attention to a number of Chairman’s Announcements, full details of which were included in the agenda pack for information and were also available to view on the website.

A petition had been received regarding taxi licensing in the Chippenham Area, and Councillor Peter Hutton confirmed that meetings were being held between the Licensing Officer, the police and Cabinet member and that the petitioner was being kept informed of progress.

Another petition had been received regarding the poor state of the pavements at Burleaze in Chippenham, which has since undergone repair works. Councillor Judy Rooke expressed her thanks that the works had been completed.

The Chairman announced that the meetings of the Community Area Transport Group (CATG) were now open to members of the public and representatives of parish and town councils; however it was requested that anyone wishing to attend should inform their local councillor to enable additional numbers to be accommodated. The dates of the upcoming CATG meetings were available on the Area Board webpage, and the next meeting would take place on 21 May 2012 from 10am at the Monkton Park offices.

To appoint two Area Board members to act as representatives to this Charity.

Decision

Councillors Peter Hutton and Desna Allen were nominated as representatives to the Chippenham Borough Lands Charity for the ensuing four-year period.

To receive updates on the Area Board’s Priorities, as follows:

      i.        Health and Wellbeing – Lead Councillor: Peter Hutton

    ii.        Employment – Lead Partner: Chippenham Vision

   iii.        Skate Park – Lead Councillor: Paul Darby

   iv.        Road Safety – Lead Councillor: Bill Douglas

    v.        Night Time Economy – Lead Councillor: Peter Hutton.

Updates were received as follows:

      i.        Health and Wellbeing

It was reported that an Older Peoples Development Working Group was being established for the Chippenham Community Area, for which two Area Board representatives were being sought.

Decision

Councillors Chris Caswill and Nina Phillips were nominated as representatives for the Older Peoples Development Working Group.

Councillor Hutton reported that Sainsburys was hosting a carers Week during the week commencing 18 June 2012, and it was hoped that the Area Board would have a display stand at the event. Other local groups and organisations were encouraged to be involved.

    ii.        Employment

Tim Martienssen, on behalf of the Chippenham Vision, reported that there had been no major shifts in the employment situation in Chippenham and that things were stable at present.

   iii.        Skate Park

The Chairman reported that the noise impact assessment that was due to take place last week, had been cancelled due to the bad weather. It would be rearranged as soon as possible.

   iv.        Road Safety

Councillor Bill Douglas sought the support of the Area Board for ’20 is Plenty’ trials to proceed in selected areas of the town with high pedestrian usage, including Monkton Park, Wood Lane and Webbington Road.

The following comments were made:

·         The Council was currently preparing a policy on this issue.

·         Proposals for ’20 is Plenty’ would require the support of the Cabinet member.

·         Child safety on the roads was a concern as there were only two lolly-pop staff working in the Chippenham and villages area.

·         It was important not to forget the villages and rural areas when considering such schemes, particularly as these places often had no pavements.

·         It was suggested that any support for the scheme should be general at this stage and not site specific. The Community Area Transport Group could then consider particular sites and make recommendations to the Area Board.

The Chairman reported that the proposal from Councillor Douglas was noted and would be put to the Community Area Transport Group at its next meeting, so that the proposal could be prioritised along with other requests for funding improvements to the road network. Any recommendations from the Community Area Transport Group would require Area Board approval.

    v.        Night Time Economy

Councillor Peter Hutton reported that the Night Time Economy Group was continuing to work with its key partners and the next meeting would take place this Wednesday in Monkton Park. An information stand would also be set up at Chippenham Town Council’s Annual Town Meeting on Wednesday evening, providing an opportunity to meet the public and promote the work of the Group.

The Chairman will provide an end of year report for 2011/12, including details of the Area Board’s key activities and achievements throughout the year.

To prioritise the outcomes of the Forward Together and Youth Issues events recently hosted by the Area Board.

Councillor Mark Packard provided an outline of the Area Board’s priorities for the past year as set by the Area Board in April 2011.

For the past 12 months, the Area Board had been focussing on five key areas; being Road Safety, Employment, Health and Wellbeing, Night Time Economy and the Skate Park. This year, the Area Board was asking the public to help the Area Board to set it’s priorities for 2012/13.

Two public events had been hosted by the Area Board recently which had helped to inform the Area Board of some of the key issues in the Community Area. The first event was the Youth-themed Area Board meeting on 9 January 2012 and the second event was the Forward Together event on 29 February 2012 which looked at the findings of the Joint Strategic Assessment.

Following these events, Area Board councillors had met to discuss the outcomes and were proposing that the Area Board should focus on three key issues for 2012/13; being:

      i.        Night Time Economy

    ii.        Road Safety

   iii.        Child Poverty.

Views from the public on these proposed priorities were sought, and the following comments arose:

·         Deprivation was considered an important issue but the title’ child poverty’ was too narrow, so it was important to name this priority ‘deprivation.

·         There was much support for the Area Board to concentrate on deprivation, and it was acknowledged that good work was already happening by organisations such as the Rise Trust, the Chippenham Multi-Agency Forum and Sure Start.

·         A request was put forward for substance abuse to be considered as a priority and for an Area Board meeting to be dedicated to this issue in an attempt to understand it better and consider how the issues could be dealt with.

·         It was suggested that substance abuse could fall under the remit of the Night Time Economy group, particularly as key partners such as the Police and Anti-Social Behaviour teams were already involved.

·         It was suggested that the Night Time Economy needed to collaborate with the Chippenham Town Team and to work together.

·         There was some disappointment that the skate park was not being proposed as a priority for the forthcoming year. The Chairman provided reassurance that the skate park work would continue to be progressed but much of the initial work was now complete.

The handheld voting devices were used to capture the opinions of everyone present on the three priorities that were being proposed. The results of the vote were as follows:

·         Night Time Economy – 79% in favour; 21% against.

·         Road Safety – 80% in favour; 20% against.

·         Deprivation – 92% in favour; 8% against.

It was suggested that the priorities should be renamed as ‘focus areas’ to acknowledge that work on other areas would also be continuing.

Decision

The Area Board’s Focus Areas for 2012/13 would be Night Time Economy, Road Safety and Deprivation.

The Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Area Board will present the second Chippenham Community Area Awards.

The Chairman and Vice Chairman presented the 2012 Chippenham Area Board Community Awards. Nominations and winners were as follows:

Nominations for Team Award

Chippenham Memory Cafe

SNAP – St Nicholas Hydrotherapy School

Highly Commended Team = Chippenham Memory Cafe

The Winning Team = SNAP

Nominations for Individual Award

Mike Oakes

Barbara Stark

Paola Meekins

John Hargreaves

Highly Commended = Paola Meekins

The Winner = Barbara Stark

Individual Youth Award

The Individual Youth Award was presented to Lucy Ibbetson.

Team Youth Award

The Team Youth Award was presented to The Creative Juice Team.

Awards and certificates were presented to all the highly commended and winning individuals and groups.

The Chairman congratulated everyone who had been nominated for their hard work and dedication, and announced that the Community Awards would be held again next year with further details being announced soon.

Karen Scott, Voluntary Development Manager, will provide information on the work being undertaken by the Council and its partners to develop and support volunteering in Wiltshire.

Karen Scott, Voluntary Development Manager for Wiltshire Council and Simone Lord of Volunteer Centre Wiltshire delivered a presentation on the work being undertaken by the Council and its partners to develop and support volunteering in Wiltshire.

Work was ongoing to make volunteering available to all, and to ensure that volunteering was well managed, supported and recognised through schemes such as the new ‘Time Credits’ scheme, a scheme whereby volunteers were rewarded by the time they gave by receiving a time credit which could be redeemed against certain time-related activities.

There were plenty of opportunities available for volunteers; 1,500 volunteering opportunities had now been promoted through the Volunteer Centre and the number of volunteers had doubled in the last year to 2,265.

Further information on volunteering opportunities was available by telephoning 0845 521 6224 or by visiting www.volunteercentrewiltshire.org.uk .

Following the presentation, the following comments arose:

·         There was a lack of available community rooms and meeting room space which caused some difficulties for volunteers and voluntary groups. It was hoped that this issue would be considered along with the Campus development, and since the meeting it has been confirmed that rooms could be hired at both The Cause Music and Arts Centre and Chippenham Sports Club, in exchange for time credits.

·         The Time Credits scheme was considered to be a great incentive for young people to become involved in volunteering, and talks were taking place with Hardenhuish School to get young people more involved in the scheme.

·         With regards to insurance, it was confirmed that the individual organisations participating would have their own insurance to cover the work of volunteers, and for children, it was often the schools that acted as a mediator for volunteering activities.

The Chairman thanked Karen and Simone for their informative presentation.

To consider the following:

      i.        One Area Board Project application seeking £2,000 for Olympic Torch Day Celebrations in Chippenham on 23 May 2012.

    ii.        Delegation to Community Area Manager in consultation with Chairman and/or Vice Chairman, to approve expenditure of up to £1,000 between Area Board Meetings.

And to receive information on the new Small Grants Scheme.

The Area Board considered the following applications for funding:

      i.        One Area Board project application seeking £2,000 for Olympic Torch Day celebrations in Chippenham on 23 May 2012.

Decision

The Area Board awarded the sum of £2,000 for the Olympic Torch Day celebrations in Chippenham on 23 May 2012.

    ii.        Delegation to the Community Area Manager in consultation with the Chairman and/or Vice Chairman to approve expenditure of up to £1,000 between meetings of the Area Board.

Decision

The Area Board delegated authority to the Community Area Manager, in consultation with the Chairman and/or Vice Chairman, to approve expenditure of up to £1,000 between meetings of the Area Board.

To note the written reports and receive updates from any partners who wish to contribute:

      i.        Parish and Town Councils

    ii.        Wiltshire Police

   iii.        Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

   iv.        NHS Wiltshire

    v.        Chippenham and Villages Area Partnership (ChAP)

   vi.        Chippenham Vision

  vii.        Chippenham Shadow Community Operations Board

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

   ix.        Youth Strategy Update

    x.        Lyneham Steering Group

   xi.        Chippenham Partnership of Schools.

Updates from partners were received as follows:

      i.        Parish and Town Councils

Kington Langley Parish Council

Further to concern raised at the previous Area Board meeting regarding the calling-in process of planning applications, a constructive meeting had been held with planning officers and it was agreed that effective communication was the key factor. However, the Parish Council still felt that current procedures were lacking and that a 2-week notice period of a planning decision should be issues to the parish/town council and the local member to enable it to be called in if required.

Action: the Chairman undertook to feed this into the Development Services review.

Christian Malford Parish Council

The HGV issue on the B4069 was ongoing, and a recent incident had occurred on Lyneham Banks with a lorry overturning on a sharp bend. It was noted that the Council had recently produced a report on this issue, which was actually a countywide issue, and that the issues were being taken forward. It was also noticed that some hauliers had agreed not to use the B4069 route which was a positive start to further potential negotiations.

Seagry Parish Council

The new village hall was complete and ready to be hired out.

Chippenham Town Council

Following the recent Streetpride audit that had been undertaken, 31 signs had been identified as requiring replacing or improving. The Town Council would be considering funding the new signage at its next Planning & Environment Committee.

Biddestone & Slaughterford Parish Council

The Parish Council issued a plea for Chinese Lanterns to be used responsibly as they were still being found in land across the parish and could present various health and safety issues.

    ii.        Wiltshire Police

A full report from Wiltshire Police was contained within the agenda pack. In response to some concern regarding drug use in the town, Inspector Martin Schorah reported that drug offences in Chippenham had decreased from 133 to 123 over the past 12 months, and these were largely cautions for cannabis possession. Dwelling burglaries had also decreased which were often linked to drug offences, so overall the statistics did not support the view that Chippenham had problems with drug use.

Concern was expressed regarding the level of graffiti in the town; particularly as some of the graffiti was on the route that the Olympic Torch runners were due to take. Inspector Schorah reported that overall criminal damage in the Chippenham area had not risen, but that the Police could try to patrol the Torch route. Inspector Schorah did agree that the success of the spray art wall needed reviewing in order to determine its effectiveness.

Bill Parks, Head of Highways and Streetscene, reported that all of the Olympic Torch routes across the county were being looked at, which included graffiti.

   iii.        Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service

It was reported that there had been no fatal fires in Wiltshire in the last financial year, however there had recently been a serious but non-fatal fire at a house in Chippenham which proved how fast fires  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

Councillor Stuart Wheeler will talk about his Cabinet responsibilities for Transformation, Culture, Leisure and Libraries, and respond to any questions.

Note – questions may be submitted in advance – please email penny.bell@wiltshire.gov.uk by Monday 23 April.

Councillor Stuart Wheeler, Cabinet member for Transformation, Culture, Leisure and Libraries, provided an overview of his portfolio responsibilities.

The Campus development programme was progressing well with the Corsham, Melksham and Salisbury Campuses all having received agreement by Cabinet. The recent changes within the Olympiad were an excellent example of what could be achieved when space was maximised effectively.

The Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre in Chippenham was a huge asset for the town and the county, and had seen over 21,000 visitors over the last 12 months. There were also hundreds of volunteers who helped at the Centre.

Simon Burke, Head of Business and Commercial Services, will provide information on the Council’s consultation regarding the future provision of Informal Adult Education in Wiltshire, and the Area Board will be asked to provide a response to the consultation.

Simon Burke, Head of Business and Commercial Services, gave a presentation outlining the future options for adult education provision following the closure of Urchfont Manor.

The Council was currently consulting on the following options:

·         Option 1 – take no action

·         Option 2 – the Council to be direct provider

·         Option 3 – the Council to facilitate provision

·         Option 4 – the Council to co-ordinate and promote activities

A vote was taken to enable everyone present to have their say on their preferred option. The results were as follows:

Option 1 – no votes in favour

Option 2 – 8 votes in favour

Option 3 – 3 votes in favour

Option 4 – 1 vote in favour

A combination of options 3 & 4 – 10 votes in favour.

The recommendation from Chippenham Area Board was for the Council to consider a combination of options 3 and 4.

The Chairman will invite any remaining questions from the floor and will welcome the submission of new Community Issues.

The next agenda planning meeting will take place on Thursday 24 May 2012, 10am at Monkton Park. Any parish or town council representative interested in attending should contact the Community Area Manager or the Chairman.

The meeting is asked to note the future meeting dates below and is reminded to complete the evaluation forms in the packs.

The Forward Plan is attached for information.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending the meeting. The next meeting of the Chippenham Area Board would take place on Monday 9 July 2012, 7pm at Yatton Keynell Village Hall.

The next agenda planning meeting would take place on Thursday 24 May 2012 at 10am at Monkton Park. Any parish or town council representative interested in attending should contact the Community Area Manager or the Chairman.