Agenda and minutes

The Chairman, Councillor Richard Britton welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced the Board members, Cabinet Representative Councillor Fleur de Rhé-Philip and officers.

To receive announcements from the Chairman, including:

·         Local Transport Plan Car Parking Strategy

·         Community Payback – Call for ‘Grot Spots’

·         Consultation on Initial Site Options for the Aggregate Minerals Site Allocations

·         An Extraordinary Meeting of Southern Wiltshire Area Board will be held on 15 September 2010 at 7.00pm to discuss the proposed approach to developing housing requirements for Wiltshire since the Regional Spatial Strategy was revoked on 6 July 2010 (venue to be confirmed).

(papers attached)

The Chairman invited people to note the consultation papers attached to the agenda and advised them that due to the postponement of the regional spatial planning document, an extraordinary meeting may be scheduled to discuss the proposed approach to reviewing housing requirements for the draft South Wiltshire Core Strategy since the Regional Spatial Strategy was revoked on 6th July.

Note: Subsequently, this meeting would not now take place because officers felt that the consultation that had already been undertaken on the South Wiltshire Core Strategy to date had given the Council a good understanding of the views locally regarding housing growth in the Community Areas of South Wiltshire and this information would be used to inform the review.

An update would be provided at the next Board meeting on 14th October 2010.

There were no apologies for absence.

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

There were no declarations of interests.

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on 17 June 2010 (copy attached).

The minutes of the previous meeting on 17 June 2010 were approved and signed as a correct record by the Chairman.

An update from your Neighbourhood Policing Teams.

The Board received an update from the Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT), to raise awareness of the Neighbourhood Tasking Groups (NTG) as a mechanism for communicating with the police about crime and disorder in the community. The NTG was a forum whereby the Community Beat Manager could liaise with local representatives to discuss local priorities. These priorities were then monitored over the period between meetings and action, where possible, could be taken to address the priority.

Sergeant Dean Garvin, Community Beat Manager Henry Clissold and PCSO Kim Weston gave an introduction to the role of the teams and explained how issues could be brought to the NPT and the various methods in which those issues were then dealt with.

Every three months the officers would meet to discuss the issues recently brought to their attention, details of those requiring further investigation would be passed on to the Neighbourhood Task Force (NTF), so that the best officer for the job could be matched to each issue. The unit would bid for funds on a fortnightly basis, for resources to carry out further investigation in to chosen issues.

The Chairman thanked the Neighbourhood Policing team for their update.

In the response to the receipt of Winterslow’s Parish Plan digest, the Chairman will update the meeting on how the Board proposes to manage forthcoming Parish Plans.

The Chairman reminded the Board that some time ago, Winterslow Parish Plan Steering Group had presented a copy of their Parish Plan for the Board to respond with their views.

He went on to explain that at present no formal process for the endorsement of Parish Plans or Village Design Statements was in place, as had been carried out by an officer of Salisbury District Council. The Chairman had taken this matter up with Wiltshire Council.

In the meantime he suggested that as the Council no longer had the capacity to appoint a dedicated officer to carry out a review of the document, two members of the Area Board (the Chairman and one other) would review the document and the processes taken by the steering group before bringing it back to the Board for endorsement.

The Chairman hoped that further information on the Council’s policy regarding the process would be available in due course.

To receive a short presentation from GROW, Wiltshire’s newly funded support service for voluntary and community groups.

The Chairman welcomed the representatives from GROW Enhancing Community Support to give a presentation on Wiltshire’s newly funded support service for voluntary and community groups and to explain what services they could provide for the Southern Wiltshire community area.

Meryl Hecquet, Community Development Manager gave an insight into some of the services provided by GROW. Some of these included:

·         Online, email and telephone support

·         Resource and publication

·         Low cost printing

·         Funding advice

·         Training programme

·         Volunteer centre

·         Voluntary sector forum

·         Networking and information events

·         Bookkeeping, payroll and accounts

Meryl informed the Board that there would be four locally based Voluntary Sector Forum Networks across Wiltshire, in the North, South, East and West, fully supported by GROW to address issues that impact on local organisations. A series of start up meetings were planned around Wiltshire, each meeting would run from 10.00am to 12.30pm, details of these are:

·         6th October 2010, Devizes

·         24th November 2010, Salisbury

·         1st February 2011, Trowbridge

·         15th March 2011, Chippenham

Further information can be found online at: www.growwiltshire.org.uk

Vanessa Wells, Volunteer Centre Development Worker, spoke about the volunteer centre service of GROW where groups could access support to find volunteers. Volunteering opportunities could be posted on the do-it website (www.do-it.org.uk), so that potential volunteers could search for suitable opportunities.

Further details and to register contact: 0845 034 5250

or email: volunteercentre@growwiltshire.org.uk

Mark Castle-Woodhams, Service Manager for Equal Chances Better Lives (ECBL) spoke about how the service supported the empowerment of individuals and groups by encouraging self reliance, self governance and involvement in order to reduce and eliminate discrimination, promote equality of opportunity and good relations. ECBL was a single source of equality information and support for the public, private and voluntary sectors in Wiltshire to bring about a transformation in the way groups and individuals relate to one another within our community. ECBL recognise and acknowledge the seven strands of equality, Sexual Orientation, Transgender, Race, Faith, Gender, Age and Disability.

For further information on Equal Chances, Better Lives

please call 0845 872 5641 or email enquiries@ecbl.org.uk

To receive a presentation on the review of the Library Service, followed by a postcard exercise.

Officer: Chris Moore, Reading and Learning Services Manager.

Chris Moore, Reading and Learning Services Manager explained that the Library Service was currently undergoing a four stage review ending in September 2010, to establish ideas for future library services, what could potentially be on offer and how £500,000 of savings could be achieved within the next two years.

Chris gave a presentation to the Board and asked people to complete a card that had been circulated, for people to comment on what their top five priorities for the Library Service for the future would be.

Councillor Ian McLennan spoke about the importance of libraries in our communities, as it seemed the more educated people became, the less they thought about libraries. However, people from the least able backgrounds struggle to purchase anything, including books and would be at a disadvantage if they did not have access to a local library service.

To receive a presentation on the proposals for a new waste and recycling service.

Officer: Tracy Carter, Service Director for Waste Services

Tracy Carter, Service Director for Waste Management Services gave a presentation and explained that the Council aimed to engage as many communities as possible in the consultation and went on to explain why there was a need for change.

Following the formation of a unitary council, Wiltshire Council currently operated several different waste collection services across the county. It was felt that every resident of Wiltshire deserved the same service and the same opportunities for recycling, no matter where they lived in the county.

The proposed new service would be:

·         To maintain the existing black box recycling collection and the household rubbish collection on an alternative weekly basis (one week rubbish the next week recycling).

·         To implement a kerbside collection of plastic bottles and cardboard fortnightly.

·         To implement a non chargeable optional kerbside collection of garden waste fortnightly.

The above proposal should see a reduction in waste overall and an   increase in recycling to over 50%.

People were asked to take a handout which contained a cut out freepost questionnaire. Further information could be found online at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/waste or by visiting one of the planned road shows around the county.

Some of the points raised by the public included:

·         More information was needed detailing which items could be recycled

·         Residents asked if the Council could do something about  grade 5 plastic, as at present it could not be recycled

·         A review of the recycling facilities at Churchfields depot in Salisbury, as the site was not adequate

·         Provision of a battery recycling service was needed

Graph of interactive survey:

People were asked to vote in favour (yes) or against (no) the proposal as set out above, the result was:

The Area Board Members will consider an application by Redlynch Parish Council for the transfer of land at Redlynch Playing Field for community recreational use (report attached).

Officer: Tom Bray, Community Area Manager

The Board members considered a Community Asset Transfer application by Redlynch Parish Council for the transfer of land at Redlynch Playing Field for community recreational use. The Chairman explained that a small boundary issue was still to be resolved but that would not prevent the Board from making a decision on the application.

The local member Councillor Leo Randall spoke in support of the project, but proposed that a clause be added that prevented the land from being sold on at a later date.

Decision

The Southern Wiltshire Area Board approved the transfer subject to confirmation of the precise area in question with the Corporate Estates Manager and the Parish Council, with the understanding that the land be retained permanently and solely for community use.

To note the report of the Community Area Manager (attached).

The Board noted the attached Issues Update report attached to the agenda.

The Board will consider the grant applications received for funding under the Community Area Grant Scheme (report Attached).

The Board will also consider endorsing a bid for funding from the Performance Reward Grant Scheme (papers attached).

The Board considered five applications for funding through the Community Area Grants Scheme and one application to endorse an initiative for the Performance Reward Grant Scheme. Applicants were invited to speak in support of their application. The Board members asked questions and after discussion the Board voted on each application.

Decision

CoombeBissett Parish Council was awarded £4,711 towards the resurfacing of Shutts Lane.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria for 2010/11 and as 80% of the funds needed had already been raised by the community this showed that the project had real community support.

Decision

The application from the Winterslow Village Design Statement Steering Group was refused.

Reason

The Area Board invited the applicant to reapply for funding for a specific aspect of the overall project, such as the printing. 

Decision

Downton Junior Netball Club was awarded £300 to purchase balls and bibs and to print flyers.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria for 2010/11 and would make netball more accessible to 11 – 16 year olds in the area.

Decision

Landford Parish Council was awarded £600 towards the provision of a protective mesh to the toilet block and pavilion windows.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria for 2010/11 and would improve the facilities for community use.

Decision

The application from Wessex Community Action for recruitment and start up costs, to provide a bank of CRB checked Volunteers was deferred pending further information becoming available.

Reason

Further information was required on whether a similar service was available from GROW, who had recently received funding from the council.

NB: Subsequently this application was withdrawn, following discussion between WCA and GROW regarding options for future joint working.

Performance Reward Grant Scheme

Decision

The Southern Wiltshire Area Board supported the bid for funding from the Performance Reward Grant Scheme for Free of Charge Energy Monitors in all Libraries.

A copy of the Forward Plan is attached for information.

The Board noted the Forward Plan attached to the agenda.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting.