Agenda and minutes

At the Chairman’s invitation, Frances Stratton (Headteacher of South Wiltshire Grammar School) welcomed everyone to the school.  The Chairman then invited the Board Members to introduce themselves and also introduced the Cabinet Representatives who were in attendance.

Apologies for absence had been received from Stephanie Denovan (Service Director, Wiltshire Council), Jo Howes (NHS), and David McMullin (Wiltshire Constabulary).

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

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 3 December 2009.

Enclosed for information are the responses to two questions raised at the meeting on 3 December 2009, in relation to Item 9 on the agenda for that meeting (“Setting the Council’s Spending Priorities”).

Decision

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 December 2009 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Chairman referred to outstanding issues from the previous meeting:

• The name of the Speedwatch Co-ordinator for Salisbury was Elizabeth Engero.  However, Marianna Dodd (Salisbury Community Area Manager) should remain the first point of contact.
• Councillor John Brady, as the Cabinet Representative for Planning, had responded to the City Council in relation to R2 funding.
• Written responses to two questions raised at the previous meeting (Minute 9 refers) were included within the agenda at page 15.

To receive updates from the Salisbury City Council representative and the Laverstock and Ford Parish Council representative.

Su Thorpe, Leader of Salisbury City Council (SCC), gave an update on the following:

• Reg Williams had been appointed as City Clerk, and Annie Child as Deputy Clerk.
• Another £10K of Community Grants had been allocated recently.  Details would be published in the next few days.
• Events were being planned to celebrate 10 years of the Bemerton Heath Neighbourhood Centre.

David Law of Laverstock and Ford Parish Council, updated the meeting on the following issues:

• In relation to congestion caused by school run traffic in Laverstock (issue raised at Area Board meeting on 1 October), a site meeting had now been held to consider possible solutions.  In addition, the issue had been raised with the Southern Wiltshire Area Board.
• The Parish Council had established a Sub-Committee to consider the potential impact of 525 new homes which were proposed for the area to the East of Hampton Park.

To receive a presentation from Nick Beard, Chairman of Age Concern Salisbury, followed by a discussion on the needs of older people in the Salisbury Community Area.

Nick Beard, Chairman of Age Concern Salisbury, was in attendance to give a presentation on the work of the organisation and the needs of older people in Salisbury.

Age Concern Salisbury was an independent charity serving the needs of older people in the Salisbury District, and was a part of the federation of Age Concern England.  This nationwide charity was in the process of merging with Help the Aged to form a new charity called Age (UK).

Current challenges facing services for older people included longer life expectancy and increased dispersal of families, in addition to expectation of state support.  Major concerns of elderly people in Salisbury were as follows:

• Lack of adequate income and being able to pay for long term care;
• Poor health (physical and mental) leading to loss of dignity and independence;
• Loneliness and isolation;
• Accessing appropriate transport; and
• Fear of being a victim of crime – this was despite a relatively low level of crime in Salisbury.

Nick set out the organisation’s mission statement, and listed some of the on-going projects, which included:

• Day Centre support,
• Provision of Information/advice and help with benefit claims;
• Projects to encourage social contact, including Theatre Club, Older People’s Forum and Tai-Chi;
• A Computer Club was run in partnership with South Wilts Grammar School which sought to educate older people in use of computers, while promoting interaction between generations;
• Nail clipping service;
• Gardening and handy person service; and
• Supported hospital discharge, and home support service.

Salisbury, with an above average elderly population, would need to adapt to the changing environment of services to older people.  These changes included increases in the number of commercial service providers, and the new government initiative of “personal budgets” whereby service users would have more control over how money was spent.

Nick explained that the changing environment would lead to Age Concern Salisbury taking on more of a “brokering“ role, to facilitate services and provide information and advice to users.  Other ideas for future projects in Salisbury included increased use of technology and “e-contact”, in addition to a central “resource centre”, as a base for several local charities. 

The Chairman thanked Nick for his presentation and invited those present to discuss issues for older people, each group being facilitated by a Councillor.  The groups fed back the following responses to the questions asked:

1.                  What do you think are the issues for older people?

·        Lack of social contact (e.g. with neighbours)

·        Loneliness and isolation, leading to depression

·        Accessibility to public transport (e.g. patchy/inflexible bus services, barriers at Railway Station restrict assistance when getting on/off trains)

·        Insufficient benefit take-up

·        Desire to maintain independence

2.                  What can the community do to help?

·        Increased use of volunteers – need to identify potential volunteers (e.g. the active retired)

·        Being aware of older people (i.e. someone should notice when they are not around)

·        More inter-generational work – younger people helping with shopping/gardening/IT etc.  This could be done through schools, or “adopt a granny” schemes

·        Neighbourhood watch – possibly expand to cover  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Graeme Hay, Service Manager for Wiltshire Highways, will give a presentation on how the Council maintains pavements across the County, with specific reference to Salisbury.  Councillor Dick Tonge (Cabinet Representative for Highways and Transport) will also be in attendance to answer questions.

The Chairman invited Graeme Hay, Service Manager for Wiltshire Highways to give a presentation on how the Council maintains pavements in Salisbury.

As the local Highways Authority, Wiltshire Council had a duty to maintain the highways within the County.  To this end, roads and footways were inspected on a regular basis, and assessed against the criteria of safety, serviceability, and sustainability.  The frequency of the inspection depended on the status of the road, and some inspections were carried out by vehicle, some on foot.

Faults in the roads and footways could be identified through the inspection regime, or through CLARENCE (the Council’s public hotline for Highways Reporting – 0800 232323).  Such faults would be given a priority rating depending on the severity of the damage against the criteria, and repairs undertaken within a set deadline. 

A significant contributing factor to damage on footways (both Macadam tarmac, and those paved with concrete/stone slabs) was vehicles parking or driving on the surface.  This could be prevented by use of bollards, but this was not always possible in places with narrow, medieval street layouts, such as Salisbury. 

Another cause of defects was tree roots, which could cause cracks and uplift in the surface particularly on Macadam footways.  This was almost impossible to prevent, and expensive to repair, as new root growth would reopen the cracks within a year or two.

In terms of paved footways, cracked slabs would not usually constitute a high priority.  Although unsightly, they were rarely a safety issue and would be expensive to repair.  In contrast, a raised slab, although less of a visual problem, could be a serious safety hazard, and so would require a much higher priority.

Recent initiatives included the practice of replacing missing/loose slabs with matching slabs rather than macadam in order to maintain the visual appearance of the footway.  Another new initiative involved active engagement with utility companies, to remove, store and return slabs which were moved when accessing pipes/cables under the footway.

The Chairman thanked Graeme for his presentation, and welcomed Councillor Dick Tonge, Cabinet Representative for Highways and Transport, who was in attendance for this item.  Questions and comments were raised as follows:

• The Council welcomed assistance from the public in terms of reporting lorries parked illegally on pavements, as employing officers to enforce this was not cost effective.
• It was noted that, following the recent icy weather, a review was underway to consider the cost benefit of gritting pavements in the light of cost to the Primary Care Trust (PCT) in dealing with injuries from people slipping on ice.  This would involve consultation with Town/Parish Councils.   Councillor Tonge added that in addition to keeping roads clear during the cold weather, the Council had undertaken other, less visible, work to look after vulnerable residents.  This had included driving people to hospital and delivering hot meals.
• 11 miles of footways were surveyed on foot each month in Salisbury, in addition to footways in Amesbury, Wilton, Mere and other local towns. 
• The Chairman commented  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

An update from Marianna Dodd (Salisbury Community Area Manager).

The Chairman thanked those who had submitted issues through the system, and reiterated that the local Councillor should always be the first point of contact.

An update on current issues was included with the agenda packs.  Any questions on specific issues should be raised directly with Marianna Dodd (Salisbury Community Area Manager).

To consider community grants with the opportunity for questions from the public.

It was noted that the Area Board had around £17,000 left in the budget for Community Area Grants for 2009/10.

The Chairman invited a representative from each of the grant applicants to give a brief overview of their project to the Board. After each of the applicants had spoken, the Chairman invited questions and discussion, then asked for a show of hands from those present to reflect public opinion.  After having heard from all of the applicants, the Area Board members voted on each application.

In relation to the application from Bike Events Ltd, Members sought confirmation that the Board was able to award grant funding to a Limited Company.  It was considered that the event would bring substantial benefit to Salisbury, in particular the sponsorship money which would be raised for Salisbury Hospice.  As such, and on balance, Members supported the application subject to confirmation that grants could be awarded to commercial organisations.  (NOTE – subsequent to the meeting, it was confirmed that the grants criteria permit awards to commercial organisations under exceptional circumstances where the project is deemed to demonstrate a wide community benefit.)

It was also noted that the Cycling Opportunities Group for Salisbury (COGS) could be involved with preparation and support of this event in future years.

Decision

Bike Events Ltd was awarded £5,000 towards a one-day cycle ride events in the Salisbury Area, with participants raising money for the Salisbury Hospice through sponsorship.

Reason The application met the Community Area Grants criteria for 2009/10 and would permit this fundraising event to take place.

Decision

SuKosta was awarded £4,800 towards “Our Time” participatory theatre workshops for the elderly.

Reason The application met the Community Area Grants criteria for 2009/10 and would permit this project for older people to take place.

In relation to the application from “It’s on in the Field”, the applicant confirmed that this was not a profit-making event, and that all surplus funds would be donated to the Stars Appeal charity.

Decision

“It’s on in the Field” was awarded £5,000 towards a sports, music and business extravaganza held on 30 May 2010 to showcase Salisbury’s greatness.

Reason The application met the Community Area Grants criteria for 2009/10 and to support this event involving a wide selection of the community.

In relation to the application from U-too Community Business Ltd, it was noted that the funding requested for subscriptions related to start-up costs to allow the existing facilities to be retained and repaired.  It was emphasised that the Board would not be able to fund these in future years as they would constitute on-going revenue costs.

Decision

Subject to the submission of a revised application form, clarifying the project income/expenditure figures to the Chairman’s satisfaction, U-too Community Business Ltd was awarded £3,090 to provide IT facilities to teenage parents and previously homeless young people in Salisbury.

Reason The application met the Community Area Grants criteria for 2009/10 and would permit the young people and residents of the Foyer to benefit from up to date  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To consider whether the Area Board wishes to propose or support any bids to this scheme.

The Chairman explained that the Area Board’s support was sought to a bid for funding from the Local Performance Reward Grant scheme, which was administered by the Wiltshire Assembly.

Decision

The Area Board agreed to support the bid for funding towards “Money Talk”, a free service available to anyone with money worries in the Salisbury area.

To receive an update from Debrah Biggs (Chair of the Salisbury City Community Area Partnership).

The Chairman invited Debrah Biggs, Chairman of SCCAP, to give an update on the partnership.

Debrah reported that the partnership was currently producing the Community Plan, and that leaflets regarding the consultation were in the agenda packs and on the tables.  In addition a website was being set up on the South Wilts Community Web.  Responses to the consultation would be used to inform a questionnaire which would be sent to all households in the city.

The next meeting of SCCAP was next Tuesday 26 January 2010, 7pm at Sarum College, and would feature a guest speaker from the Chippenham Community Area Partnership to share ideas and best practice.

The date of the next meeting is 18 March, 7pm at Salisbury High School.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending and encouraged people to complete the evaluation forms. 

The next meeting of the Salisbury Area Board was on 18 March 2010, 7pm at Salisbury High School, Westwood Road, Salisbury.