Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chairman for the forthcoming year.

Councillor Julian Johnson sought nominations for Chairman of the Area Board for the forthcoming year.

Decision

To elect Councillor Richard Britton as Chairman of the Southern Wiltshire Area Board for the forthcoming year.

To elect the Vice Chairman for the forthcoming year.

The Chairman, Councillor Richard Britton sought nominations for Vice-Chairman of the Area Board for the forthcoming year.

Decision

To elect Councillor Leo Randall as Vice-Chairman of the Southern Wiltshire Area Board for the forthcoming year.

To note that appointments to outside bodies which were made by the Board last year along with any changes as detailed in the attached document will continue for 2011/12.

Decision

The nominations to Outside Bodies would be carried over for 2011/12 as per the table attached to the agenda.

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 7^th April 2011.

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive Chairman’s Announcements including:

·       Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge  

·       End of Life Care

·       Older People’s Accommodation Strategy

·       Invitation to comment on the final draft proposed new council-wide Street Trading Scheme

·       Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Volunteer Scheme

Current consultations running include:

·       Wiltshire Volunteering Strategy 2011-14

·       Proposed Submission Draft Waste Sites Allocations DPD

Information on the Core Strategy Consultation due to start shortly, will be available at the meeting.

For full details on all of the consultations currently running, click on the link: http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal

To consider the attached report regarding the outcome and potential actions resulting from the consultation.

Officer: Tom Bray, Community Area Manager

The Chairman informed the Board that there had been 136 responses to the consultation document that had been circulated by Tom Bray via the Community Area Network (CAN) list.

Views had been sought on what issues people had in their communities. The top two came back as:

1. Local Employment
2. Community Safety

The Board proposed that 10% of the grants budget was set aside to work on the above two areas. Any funds set aside which were not used within six months would be put back into the grants budget.

The Chairman explained that each year the Board was permitted to hold two additional extraordinary meetings in addition to the scheduled six meetings for the year. He proposed that, in response to the survey findings, the Board should dedicate one of these extraordinary meetings to look at Community Safety. The Board would invite representatives from organisations such as:

• Speed Watch
• Street Watch
• Fire and Rescue

with the aim of exploring how these groups could be brought together in order to maximise the effectiveness of their work on the community.

Decision

The Board approved the three proposals in the officers report as follows:

1.      That the Board sets aside 10% (£4,103) of its budget to work specifically on projects associated with improving local employment opportunities for its residents. All projects will require approval from the Southern Wiltshire Area Board. Unused funds will be returned to the Community Grant ‘pot’.

2.   In order to enable development of this work the Board delegates authority to the Community Area Manager, in consultation with Southern Wiltshire Area Board Councillors, to spend up to £250. All expenditure should be reported to the next Area Board meeting.

3.   That the Area Board holds a special meeting on Community Safety on 21 July 2011.

To consider the draft strategy consultation which will affect Youth Services in the area.

Officer: Jane Shuttleworth, Interim Head of Joint Commissioning

The Chairman informed the Board that a Young Persons Area Board had been held the previous day at Laverstock Community Farm. At that meeting the views of the young people present had been sought on what their priorities were for the future of the youth service.

Councillor Richard Clewer, Portfolio Holder for Youth and Skills gave a presentation outlining the plans for improving the services for the 13 – 19 age range. He explained that this was not a predetermined consultation, but one which was open to views and comments, with the key aim of improving the outcomes available for 13 – 19 year olds.

Wiltshire Children’s Trust draft commissioning strategy contained the following sections:

• An introduction including the purpose and scope.
• The national and local context for work with 13 to 19 year olds.
• Local needs and services.
• An analysis of the current position from the point of view of young people and the staff and managers who work with that age range.
• The commissioning priorities including some suggestions for the future delivery of youth work services in Wiltshire. These suggestions were developed with a range of stakeholders and wider views were now being sought.

A handout was circulated which contained a number of suggested commissioning priorities outlined below:

During the consultation feedback is being sought on whether the above are the right priorities and which, if any, should have higher priority.

The draft strategy is available to at: www.wiltshirepathways.org on the home page under ‘Latest News’.

Consultation was taking place for 12 weeks from 13^th May 2011 to 5^th August 2011. The final strategy would be presented to Wiltshire Council’s Cabinet in September 2011 along with a report making specific proposals on future plans for youth work.

Written responses to the consultation could be sent to pathways@wiltshire.gov.uk

Tony Nye – Youth Development Coordinator explained that two consultations had been undertaken, one with the CAYPIG and the other at the Young Peoples Area Board. He added that it had been interesting to see some year six pupils expressing their views on a service which would be available to them in a few years time.

One key issue which had come out of these consultation exercises was that the young people felt that there was a lack of transport, to and from the activities and clubs. Also given the choice between having a good quality building to hold youth sessions  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

To consider the attached report setting out plans to fund a series of activity days in Southern Wiltshire in August 2011.

Officer: Tom Bray, Community Area Manager

The Chairman informed the Board that there had been an application for funding from Winterslow Play day Voluntary Group, but as Tony Nye, the Youth Coordinator also provided activity days, the Board asked the two groups to work together to maximise the effectiveness of publicity.

The board then considered the attached officers report for the allocation of funding for a series of Activity Days in August 2011.

Decision

The Southern Wiltshire Area Board approved the recommendation of the Community Area Manager as follows:

1.       That the Board agrees to fund the 3 play/activity days from the Youth Funding Budget (£3115). The details of the expenditure on the 2 Activity Days are to be confirmed and the financial implications to be detailed with the Community Area Manager in conjunction with an Area Board Councillor. All 3 projects are to be promoted jointly using a shared communications budget from within the overall £3,115.  

2.       That the Board asks parish councils to consider assisting young people with transport arrangements though local transport schemes and opportunities.

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

·       Wiltshire Fire & Rescue

·       NHS

·       Police

Wiltshire Police – Sergeant Dean Garvin

The police team’s current three top priority issues were:

• Youth Engagement – Issues over the summer months with anti social behaviour was hoped to be tackled by working closely with the Area Board and the Youth Services coordinators.
• Morgans Vale and Redlynch- Anti Social Behaviour.
• Increased theft and burglaries at the Old Sarum estate.

 The crime statistics had been circulated in the room, however additional statistics were also provided, these were a break down of crimes in the ‘other’ category are as follows:

• Drug offences = 5 crimes or 0.76 percent
• Fraud = 20 crimes or 3.03 percent
• Other (admin) = 9 crimes or 1.36 percent
• Robbery = 1 crime or 0.15 percent (although actually this is a mistake and will be ‘no crimed shortly’)
• Sexual offences = 12 crimes or 1.82 percent
• Theft / Handling = 210 crimes or 31.77 percent

Questions and comments from the floor included:

• There had recently been a spate of incidents in Pitton where signs had been ripped up and turned around. Answer: Dean agreed to visit Pitton and monitor the issue.
• Regarding speeding through villages, some villages did not especially want to form a Community Speed Watch group, but would prefer to have a police presence once in a while. Answer: The police had been inclined to give more attention to the areas experiencing speeding issues where the CSW scheme was in operation. The Board is keen to encourage Community Speed Watch as a response.
• Fly tipping is always an issue, as once one area has been tackled, the problem just moves on to another site. Answer: If a particular area of concern has been identified, recourses could be made available to try and tackle the problem at that site, but yes it is difficult in rural areas, as the issue is actually catching the offender in the act.
• Laverstock and Ford PC – CSW was in operation in Ford which did work for a while, but seemed not to be as much of a deterrent now. Ford would like to put in for the use of the SID, as this proved to be effective the last time it was in the village. Answer: Cllr Britton agreed that SIDS did work well. A report produced by Cabinet member Councillor Dick Tonge had detailed that each Area Board would be allocated one of the 18 Speed Indicator Devices (SIDS) available. The Board would also be given a list of suitable sites where the SID could be placed.
• Downton PC had received an email from their PCSO, saying that the police wanted volunteers for a pilot scheme called ‘Streetwatch’. Downton felt that what was proposed may lead to vigilante type behaviour and would prefer to have trained police in full uniform patrolling their streets, not volunteers in yellow jackets. Answer: The term vigilantes has a negative image. The idea behind Streetwatch, is that trained volunteers would work in patrolling their neighbourhoods in groups of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

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

Officer: Tom Bray, Community Area Manager

The Community Area Transport Group is meeting again to consider the priorities on 21^st June 2011 after requesting further information. Therefore a report setting out the CATG’s recommendations for spending £27,022 on transport projects in the area will be tabled at the meeting.

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

Officer: Tom Bray, Community Area Manager

A copy of the Forward Plan is attached for information.

The Chairman announced that he and Tom Bray would be meeting informally with Parish Council Chairmen and Clerks to review how the Area Board is doing, since Parish Council involvement is the key to whether or not the Board is successful.

If anyone has any suggestions of issues the Board should include on a future agenda, please contact the Chairman or Tom Bray.

Richard.britton@wiltshire.gov.uk

Tom.bray@wiltshire.gov.uk  or by phone on: 01722 434252

The Chairman thanked everyone for coming and closed the meeting.