Agenda and minutes

The Chairman, Councillor Richard Britton welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Southern Wiltshire Area Board and introduced Councillor Lionel Grundy, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services.

Councillor Grundy then gave a brief overview of the three wings of Children’s Services, each of which had a portfolio holder to assist him, these were:

• Schools
• Vulnerable Children and Families
• Youth and Skills

Apologies for absence were received from:

·       Tracy Carter – Service Director

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

There were none.

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 3 February 2011.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 3 February 2011 were agreed a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive Chairman’s Announcements including:

·       Localism Event – 20^th April 2011

·       Code of Conduct – Proposed Changes

·       Library Service Review

·       Proposed Changes to Bus Services

·       Community Services Contract

·       Digital Inclusion

The Chairman announced that there would be a change to the order of items on the agenda. Item 7, Planning the Area Board Budget would follow Item 9. He welcomed contributions on all items throughout the meeting.

Localism Event – 20^th April 2011

People were reminded that a Big Society and Localism event had been scheduled for Wednesday 20^th April 2011, at Winterslow Village Hall, 6.00pm for a 6.30pm start. The Chairman urged people to attend this important event as the Localism Bill had huge implications for all tiers of local government.

Code of Conduct – Proposed Changes

Following the publication of the Governments Localism Bill in December 2010, significant changes to the current arrangements governing the code of conduct to councillors in Wiltshire. The paper attached to the agenda detailed some of the proposals listed in the Bill. The Chairman noted that the changes were not imminent and that there would be no changes within Wiltshire Council for the time being.

Library Service Review

The Chairman noted the paper attached to the agenda. An update regarding Downton Library would be received under Partner updates, from a representative from Downton Parish Council.

Proposed Changes to Bus Services

The Chairman noted the attached paper detailing the main changes affecting Southern Wiltshire Community Area. Consultation was open until 15^th April 2011, comments could be sent to Ian White by email ian.white@wiltshire.gov.uk the Chairman urged those interested to take part.

Councillor Chris Devine noted that he would contact the relevant officer regarding the changes to the Winterslow service.

Community Services Contract

An update from Great Western Hospitals had been attached to the agenda, detailing the service provision of community services for Wiltshire.

Digital Inclusion

Wiltshire Council had prioritised a number of areas for investment, one of these areas was Digital Inclusion and supporting the rollout of superfast broadband for both businesses and home users in key areas across Wiltshire.

A superfast broadband survey would be launched on 26^th April 2011 to establish existing coverage and the requirements for the future.

The Chairman urged everyone to take part in the survey, either online at:

www.wiltshire.gov.uk/digitalinclusion or by requesting a printed version by calling 0300 456 0100 and asking for the digital inclusion survey.

The survey would close on 3^rd June 2011, with results available in July via the same link.

There are currently no new briefing papers on open consultations for this meeting, however for further information and to take part in a consultation that is still running, click on the link: http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal

As there were no new consultations since the last meeting, the link to the consultation webpage had been provided on the agenda.

Current consultations on the Council’s website can be viewed by clicking on the link: http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal

A session to decide how we prioritise our recourses for the financial year ahead.

The Chairman informed everyone that the 2011/12 funding budget for the Southern Wiltshire Community area would be approximately £40,000.

The Board wanted to know people’s views on whether or not the Board should be thinking about setting a strategic approach to how the funds would be allocated. A table had been circulated to everyone in the room detailing 10 headings down one side, the first 4 headings had come from the JSNA, these were:

1. High rate of teenage pregnancy
2. Alcohol related issues
3. High rate of childhood obesity
4. Road traffic injuries

There were also 5 which were key areas from the community plan, these were:

5. Local Employment
6. Volunteering
7. Sport & leisure facilities
8. Environment
9. Community safety
10. Other

At the top of the table there were three questions. People were asked to discuss in small groups which three headings they would tick per question. The questions were:

• Affects the largest number of residents
• Has the greatest impact on our residents quality of life
• Is likely to become more significant in the future

Everyone was asked to use the electronic handsets to vote on each question by choosing three of the ten options listed above. Once this exercise had been completed, people were then asked to vote on whether or not they agreed with the Board setting aside a proportion of its funds to tackle one or two of the issues listed above, followed by questions on what percentage should the Board allocate of its funds. The results of this exercise would be presented to the next Area Board in June.

Tom Bray informed everyone that the exercise would be circulated to his entire distribution list as an electronic survey, so that the results from this evenings meeting and the electronic survey could be combined to provide a wider opinion.

The Chairman thanked everyone for taking part and informed them that once the figures had been put into a report the Board Members would use them when considering how best to allocate the Area Board funding for 2011/12.

To receive verbal updates from partners present and to note the attached paper updates.

·       Police - attached

·       Wiltshire Fire & Rescue - attached

Verbal updates to include:

·       Community Plan

·       Wiltshire Fire Authority – Cllr Chris Devine

·       Downton Parish Council – Downton Library

Police

Inspector David McMullin had provided the Crime statistics for inclusion with the agenda. A query regarding these statistics was raised Chris Hall of Downton Parish Council. He noted that the statistics did not seem to add up, and that some figures seemed to be missing from the overall total and percentages of crimes which had been reported.

Inspector McMullin explained that the actual figures produced for the Area Boards were done in the same way for all of the Boards across the county. They contained statistics for a set list of certain types of crimes as agreed by Wiltshire Council and the Police. The crime statistic reports only contained the figures which the police had been requested to report on.

The Chairman asked if future reports could include all of the statistics available, so that a fuller picture could be ascertained and to prevent the feeling that the bad news was being hidden.

Downton Parish Council

Parish Councillor Chris Hall gave an update on the current situation of Downton Library. The Head of the Library Service, Joan Davis had attended the last Downton Parish council meeting, and had provided information and for the meeting. However some further information had been requested by the parish council, they were yet to receive it.

The library was currently open 28 hours a week, in the new proposals; this would be reduced to 14 hours a week.

Councillor Grundy informed the Board that the council was currently seeking volunteers to assist in keeping libraries open. He agreed to contact the relevant officer to ask them to provide the required information to the parish council.

Action: Councillor Grundy

Cycle Route between Salisbury and Amesbury

Laverstock and Ford (L & F) Parish Councillor, Ron Champion provided information to the Board regarding the proposed implementation of a new cycle path from Amesbury to Salisbury. The Amesbury Area Board were involved in a project to create a cycle path which would pass through Ford, which fell inside the Southern Wiltshire Community Area and specifically in the Parish of L & F. Amesbury Area Board had contacted the parish to put forward their proposals for the route. The parish had studied the proposals and found that the suggested route would not be the safest option, so they had suggested an alternative route which would involve making use of the bridal path which was already in place. A problem with using the bridal path would be that other users such as dog walkers and pedestrians would need to stand aside to allow the cyclist to pass.

Ron Champion asked the Board if they would liaise with the Amesbury Area Board to schedule a meeting for all involved to discuss the matter further, and come to a joint agreement regarding the route. L & F Parish Council had concerns that it was likely the Amesbury Area Board may go ahead with their original proposal, and disregard the objection by the L & F parish Council, despite the land involved not being part of their  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To note the attached report detailing the progress of Local Issues in the Community Area.

Officer: Tom Bray, Community Area Manager

Councillor Julian Johnson raised an issue which involved the parking at Salisbury District Hospital. There were at least 20 cars a day parked down the main road on the approach to the hospital, causing congestion for general traffic and the number 44 bus. He proposed a need for the implementation of double yellow lines to prevent people from parking there. He also suggested that the other Area Boards involved with this location were included in further discussion.

Tom Bray, Community Area Manager agreed to liaise with Councillor Johnson so that they could add the issue to the online system.

Action: Tom Bray and Councillor Johnson.

Councillor Richard Britton noted that this was another issue where more than one Area Board was involved. He was not aware of any current procedure that Wiltshire Council had to deal with such situations. He agreed to take this matter up with the relevant officer to establish whether a procedure was in place or if not, one could be devised.

Action: Councillor Richard Britton

Michael Chandler of Downton Parish Council, raised an issue relating to speeding on A338 particularly near The Stag public house.

Tom Bray agreed to extend the current issue on the system to encompass the concern.

Action: Tom Bray, Community Area Manager

The Board will consider endorsing one bid for funding from the Performance Reward Grant Scheme.

Crime Detection Through Ultra Violet Scanning.

The Board considered a bid from Wiltshire Police, on behalf of Wiltshire’s Neighbourhood Watch Schemes, for central funding from the Performance Reward Grant Scheme, for a project to purchase UV scanning torches for issue to Police Officers on operational duties, with the aim of identifying stolen goods which had been marked with ‘Smartwater’ by Neighbourhood Watch schemes.

The Chairman asked for a show of hands to see how many people had heard of ‘smartwater’ and the majority of those in the room raised their hand. Then he asked them to raise their hand if anyone had marked their own property with ‘smartwater’ and only one person raised their hand. That person indicated that he had acted on behalf of his local church which had marked their property.

The Chairman noted that there seemed no point in issuing these torches to police officers until ‘smartwater’ was widely distributed and used throughout the community by residents to mark their personal belongings.

‘Smartwater’ would need publicity and promotion through the Neighbourhood Watch Schemes, as it currently seemed to have a wider application for businesses.

The Board members voted on the endorsement of this bid.

Decision

The Southern Wiltshire Area Board did not support the bid from Wiltshire Police, on behalf of Wiltshire’s Neighbourhood Watch Schemes, for central funding from the Performance Reward Grant Scheme, for a project to purchase UV scanning torches.

The Board will consider applications for funding from the Community Area Grant Scheme.

Officer: Tom Bray, Community Area Manager

The Board considered one application for funding from the Community Area Grant Scheme. The Chairman invited the applicant to speak in support of the project, after discussion the Board Members voted on the application.

Decision

The application from Pitton Village Tennis Club for the cleaning, refurbishment and repainting of the existing tennis court surface was refused.

Reason

The Board felt that the applicant had considerable funds in its reserves that it could use to fund this project.

A copy of the Forward Plan is attached for information.

The Chairman then asked people to take part in an evaluation of the meeting by using the handsets. A copy of the evaluation results is attached to the agenda.

The Chairman thanked everyone for coming and reminded them that the next meeting would be on Thursday 23^rd June at Coombe Bissett Village Hall at 7.00pm, where Councillor Jane Scott OBE, Leader of the Council was due to be the Cabinet representative attending.