Agenda and minutes

At 6.40pm, prior to the start of the meeting, a short film was shown.  This had been produced by Wiltshire Council to encourage people to get involved in helping to run their communities, either by standing for local election or by volunteering on a local community project.

The film is available for viewing on Youtube – via the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y_CvgVAgvY

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Salisbury Area Board and invited the members of the Board to introduce themselves.

Apologies for absence had been received from the following:

·         Cllr Mary Douglas

·         Cllr Paul Sample

·         Cllr Chris Cochrane

·         Stephanie Denovan – Service Director, Wiltshire Council

·         Bev Flanagan – Wiltshire College.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2011.

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

a)    Pilot Youth Advisory Groups – information on this new initiative was set out at page 21 of the agenda.  The Chairman asked those present to encourage young people to get involved by contacting Marianna.dodd@wiltshire.gov.uk or winnie.manning@wiltshire.gov.uk.

b)    Help to Live at Home – an update on this service was set out at page 23 of the agenda.

c)    The Localism Act 2011 – a briefing note on this was set out at page 25 of the agenda.

d)    Warm and Well – Wiltshire Council was promoting this scheme, whereby discounted or free loft cavity insulation was available to residents, depending on financial circumstances.  Door-to-door canvassing would be taking place on 10, 12, 17, 19, 24 and 26 January.  This was primarily to raise awareness of the scheme, and care would be taken to respect any “no cold calling” zones.  Local Councillors, Police and the local press had all been made aware of these dates and the proposed approach.

e)    Urgent Late Business - The Chairman announced that he had agreed to accept an item of urgent late business onto the agenda: “Wiltshire Celebration Event”.  The report had been made available and the item would be taken after item 7.

f)     Order of agenda items – The Chairman advised that item 10 (Update on Housing) had been deferred to the March meeting.  In addition, the applications for Community Area Grants (part of item 14 – Grants and Funding) would be considered after item 7, to allow the applicants to leave earlier.

The Chairman invited Debrah Biggs, Chairman of “Our Salisbury”, the Salisbury City Community Area Partnership (SCCAP), to give an update on the Community Plan, commenting that this item had been deferred from the 17 November Area Board meeting.

Debrah introduced the background to the Community Plan, explaining that the consultation for such a document meant that it was quite a lengthy process.  The consultation had been undertaken via questionnaires, a library event, and open meetings.

The final draft plan had now been produced, focussing on the following eight main themes:

·         Education and learning

·         Housing

·         Health and well-being

·         Transport and accessibility

·         Environment and sustainability

·         Culture and leisure

·         Tourism and economy

·         Community safety and crime.

The next stage of the process would be to consult on the draft plan.  An open event was being held on 26 January, to look at both the draft plan and also the Wiltshire Council household survey.

More volunteers were welcome, to help support the plan and to deliver its actions.  Anyone wishing to get involved could contact Debrah on 01722 421747.

Responding to a question, Debrah supported the suggestion of mapping all leisure facilities in the city, to facilitate the process of identifying gaps in provision.

It was also noted that the list of primary schools was incomplete.

On behalf of the Area Board and those present, the Chairman thanked Debrah and SCCAP for their hard work in preparing the draft Community Plan.

It was noted that the applications for Community Area Grants would be taken at the point in the meeting, to allow the applicants to leave early.  However, the bids for Area Board Projects would be taken at item 14 as planned.

The Chairman invited a representative from each of the grant applicants to give a brief overview of their project to the Area 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. The Area Board members then voted on each application.

In relation to the application from Burning Ambition, the Chairman advised that there was a technical issue as the Community Area Grants criteria required 3 quotes/estimates to be provided for projects with total costs of over £5,000.  As this project was for total costs of £14,750, but only one quote had been provided (by Toozalii), this would have to be addressed before any grant could be awarded.  It was noted that it may not be possible to get competitive quotes, due to the specific and unusual nature of the work; this could be taken into consideration if evidence could be provided to demonstrate this.

Although the application was generally supported by the Area Board and those present at the meeting, it was considered important to enforce the criteria to avoid setting a precedent for future applications.

It was noted that, if the Board was minded to approve the application, the provisional emergency funding commitment from the Wiltshire Council Arts Service of £2,000 would be withdrawn.

Decision

Salisbury Schools Consortium was awarded £5,000 towards Burning Ambition, subject to the following conditions:

a.    Provision of one of the following:

·Two further quotes for the delivery of the project (to comply with the Community Area Grants criteria 13); or

·Evidence demonstrating why it is not possible to obtain two further competitive quotes for delivery of the project.

b.    Confirmation from Salisbury City Council of its provisional award to the project of £1,600.

c.    Confirmation from Arts Council South West of its provisional award to the project of £2,500.

The final decision to approve the application following satisfaction of condition (a) above was delegated to the Salisbury Community Area Manager, in consultation with the Chairman of the Salisbury Area Board.

Reason – Subject to satisfaction of condition (a) above, the application would meet the Community Area Grants Criteria 2011/12 and would support this project to involve Salisbury’s primary school children, parents and siblings in welcoming the Olympic Torch to Salisbury on 11 July 2012.

Decision

The 3^rd Salisbury Scout Group was awarded £5,000 towards refurbishing the Scout Hut, subject to confirmation that the provision funding is in place, or, in the event that the provisional funding is not confirmed, to provision of an explanation of how the funding shortfall would be managed.

Reason – The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2011/12 and would support this community group to maintain its facility.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Chairman referred to the late report which set out plans for a large scale event in Salisbury Cathedral Close on 1 or 2 May (date to be confirmed) for the whole county to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.  It was proposed that the event, which was being organised by the Lord-Lieutenant of Wiltshire, would include a section for each Area Board to host a tent in which they could “showcase” their history and provide examples of community initiatives which makes their area unique.

It was noted that a working group was being put together to consider the event in Salisbury celebrating the Olympic Torch and it was proposed and agreed that consideration of the details of this matter would be delegated to that group.  A meeting of this group had already been arranged for 18 January.

In response to questions regarding the proposed “jousting” tents, the Chairman explained that the event would have a historical theme, due to the location in the cathedral close, and the history of the city, including the best preserved copy of the Magna Carta.

It was emphasised that this event would be open to all to attend.

The point was also made that the display by the Salisbury Area Board should stand out as the host community, and the only city in the County.

Decision

It was agreed that the detail of the Area Board’s contribution to this event should be discussed by the working group set up for the Olympic Torch event, and that the Salisbury Community Area Manager (in consultation with the Chairman of the Area Board) be given delegated responsibility to respond to the Lord-Lieutenant’s office in relation to the requirements for the Area Board’s tent.

ACTION: Marianna Dodd

To receive updates from representatives of the following partner organisations:

a)    Salisbury City Council

b)    Laverstock and Ford Parish Council

c)    Police – including a presentation from the new Sector Inspector, Andy Noble

d)    Fire

e)    NHS

Presentation on the development of this walking route over existing rights of way, which will run from Old Sarum, Salisbury to Barbury Castle, near Swindon.

Ian Ritchie, Chairman of the Friends of the Ridgeway, gave a presentation on the Great Stones Way, a proposed walking route on existing rights of way between Barbury Castle and Old Sarum.  Plans were well advanced and it was hoped that the route would open in 2012.

This was good news for communities along the route, as it would bring large economic benefits to the area, based on visitor projections comparable to those using the Hadrian’s Wall walking route.

Consultation had been undertaken with all Area Boards along the route and also with Parish Councils affected.  Anyone wishing to comment or get involved was encouraged to contact Jeff Goddard – details were available on page 36 of the agenda.

In response to questions, Ian explained that it was hoped that private enterprise would provide accommodation along the route (in pubs, B&Bs and campsites), as the Youth Hostel Association did not have the funding to do this.

Ian also confirmed that the route would cross the A303 at Ratfyn footbridge in Amesbury.

Glen Godwin of Pegasus Planning gave a short presentation on the next phase of the Fugglestone Red development. 

The site had been included within the Core Strategy for residential development, and this document would be going to the Council for approval on 7 February 2012.  Persimmon Homes was currently developing an outline planning application for 1250 new homes, 8 hectares of commercial development, a new school, strategic areas of public open space and a new cemetery.  It was anticipated that this application would be submitted in late spring 2012, following a period of consultation with the local community.

One of the key objectives for the development was to provide accommodation which would develop a sense of place and fit in with the existing community. 

A draft masterplan was being developed, and this would form the basis for the consultation in March 2012.  As part of this, there would be a more detailed presentation and display at the Area Board meeting on 15 March.

Following Glen’s presentation a number of questions and comments were raised as follows:

·         The proposed new homes would have to meet the Core Strategy requirements for energy efficiency as a minimum.  More precise details would be set out in the outline planning application.

·         The view was also put forward that the homes could include grey water recycling.

·         Public exhibitions at locations near the site would form part of the consultation.

·         Proposed vehicular access to the site would be from a new junction on the Devizes Road and an upgraded junction at the existing crossroads of the Devizes Road and The Avenue at the northern corner of the site.

In general, the meeting welcomed the benefits the development would bring to the community, and looked forward to seeing the detail of the proposal at the 15 March meeting.

To note the new process for agreeing the prioritisation of Speed Indicator Devices (SIDs) within the city.

The Chairman referred to page 37 of the agenda, which set out an extract from the minutes of the Community Area Transport Group (CATG) meeting on 12 January 2012.  This extract clarified that the CATG and the Area Board had discretion to allocate a Speed Indicator Device (SID) to a road, even when the 85^th percentile speed was below the recommended threshold of 38mph.

Update from the Chairman.

Marianna Dodd (Salisbury Community Area Manager) will report on the progress of the issues recently raised by local people.

Detailed information on the progress of individual issues is available on the council’s website.  Go to www.wiltshire.gov.uk/areaboards and click on “Track your community issues”.

To consider community grants and bids for Area Board funded projects with the opportunity for questions from the public.

The Chairman introduced the project, which sought to provide venue hire costs for the pilot Youth Advisory Group established following recent approval of the Commissioning Strategy for Services to 11-19 year olds.  It was envisaged that the Groups would play a key role in improving the coordination of positive activities for young people in local area.

Decision

The Salisbury Area Board agree to support the project for Youth Advisory Groups as set out in the report, and to allocate £500 towards venue hire costs for the Group.

Reason – To support the establishment and running of Youth Advisory Groups, providing an opportunity for young people to have a say, plan and shape local services for young people and to share their ideas, aspirations and hopes with others.

Referring to the streetwatch scheme, it was considered that this was a proven success with the Bemerton Heath Scheme having been set up in 2011. 

It was also noted that the figures for the Cathedral Close scheme (page 80 of the agenda) had been revised to £319.  This meant that the recommendation was for a total of £939 to be allocated to the two schemes (£620 for Bemerton Heath and £319 for the Cathedral Close).  The Community Area Manager also clarified that this resulted in a revised figure on page 41 (para 4.3) for the remaining budget for the Area Board of £22,144

Decision

The Salisbury Area Board agree to support the project for Street Watch as set out in the report, and to allocate £939 towards the two schemes (£620 for the Bemerton Heath scheme and £319 for the Cathedral Close scheme)

Reason – To support the establishment and running of Street Watch schemes.

ACTION: Marianna Dodd

To note the Board’s Forward Plan, including details of future agenda items.

The date of the next meeting is 15 March 2012, 7pm at Sarum Academy, Westwood Road, Salisbury, SP2 9HS.