Agenda and minutes

The Chairman will welcome those present to the meeting.

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

There were no apologies.

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 14 November 2019.

Decision

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

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chairman will introduce the Announcements included in the agenda and invite any questions.

The Chairman made the following announcements:

Wiltshire Green Pledge

Wiltshire Council had pledged to be carbon neutral by 2030, and

its councillors agreed to seek to make Wiltshire carbon neutral by 2030.

The Green Pledge was launched to ask residents to commit to making small changes that could have a positive impact on the environment.

The pledge could be made here: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/green-economy-climateemergency.

Warm and Safe Wiltshire

Warm and Safe Wiltshire is a single point of contact cold homes and energy saving advice service set up to assist the health service in Wiltshire.

Warm and Safe Wiltshire were referral partners for the Wiltshire Community Foundation Surviving Winter grant of £300 per person to help vulnerable residents pay for winter costs. Unfortunately all of the grants had been allocated for the 1^st round although residents were urged to still apply and they would be included on the waiting list for round 2 applications which open on 13 January to 20 March.

Wiltshire Family and Community Learning

Wiltshire Family and Community Learning included a range of community based and outreach learning opportunities designed to help people of different

ages and backgrounds to learn new skills.

Courses would be funded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency. Learners must be 19+, have been resident in UK/EU for three or more years, have less than five GCSEs grades A-C and/or be a service family and/or in receipt of benefits. Residents could contact 01225 770478 to find out more about the service or email: familyandcommunitylearning@wiltshire.gov.uk

Motiv8 Children’s and Young People’s Service

Motiv8 provided support services in Wiltshire for children and young people, up to their 18th birthday, with problematic substance use, and for children, young people and families affected by parental substance use. Its primary objective was to improve the health, welfare and life chances of those vulnerable to, or experiencing, substance misuse.

There are a number of ways in which the service could help and the team could be contacted via: 0800 1696136 or info@dhimotiv8.org.uk

Flood Resilience in Your Local Area

Communities were able to hold a workshop to enable towns and parishes within the area to sit down and work through drafting up a flood plan with a colleague from the Environment Agency. Communities could find out if they were at risk of flooding via: https://www.gov.uk/check-flood-risk

Workshop could be held from January 2020. The best days to arrange

these were Tuesdays & Wednesdays. To find out more information residents could contact Renate Malton, Flood Resilience Officer at renate.malton@wiltshire.gov.uk

To receive updates from any of the following partners:

Ø  Wiltshire Police

Ø  Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

Ø  Warminster and Villages Community Partnership

Ø  Town and Parish Councils Nominated Representatives

Ø  CEM Update

Ø  Health Watch

Ø  CCG

Some written updates have been received and are included in this agenda.

Some written updates had been received before the meeting and were included in the agenda.

Wiltshire Police

Gill Hughes, the new Inspector covering the Warminster area, introduced herself and Kevin Harmsworth, Police Constable. Both gave an overview of their work experience.

The priorities of early intervention, which aimed to identify young people on the edge of criminal activity and their digital approach to reporting theft was briefly discussed. Officers were trying to engage with young people and implement ways to prevent criminal activity and officers would be visiting local businesses to explain the communication process to reporting crimes and explain the digital reporting process.

In response to some questions asked it was noted that: The theft of lead had taken place in many areas, not just Wiltshire. It usually happened in cycles by organised crime groups out of the county. Officers were attending meetings to learn more about successful prevention systems and hoped to educated the community; the local PSO should be contacted in regards to discarded drugs and fly tipping, if reports were made to the PSO a history could be built up. Also to inform PSO of the litter picking dates as this could be part of the punishment for those committing the crimes; Wiltshire Police had drones to assist in detecting crime and were also had use of the Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service drones.

An update was provided on the proposed transfer of Police premises. It was hoped the transfer would take place late summer of 2020 and the plans were currently out for consultation. The location was close to its current location although the new premises would enable the force to increase the number of senior roles and police officers meaning they could be more responsive. As part of their estate strategy, they were identifying ‘touch down points’ which were areas within communities where officers could touch down to do administration and be involved with communities.  

Warminster & Villages Community Partnership

The WCVP thanked the Area Board for their grant, noting that it had been used to purchase equipment for the Grovelands. A report would be produced detailing how the grant was spent.

Community Engagement Manager Update

A Warminster Community Area Climate Forum had taken place prior to the start of the Area Board meeting. The forum focused on actions that could be taken locally to reduce the areas impact on the environment. The forum had been well attended and helped to identify the areas most important issues. The next step was to form a voluntary group to coordinate the identified actions, a full report would be brought to a future meeting.

i.              Update

ii.            Grants

The CEM informed the Area Board that he was currently working to get a youth management group together. A youth survey had been launched to explore what young people in the area wanted to see.

To receive a presentation promoting the changes to waste and recycling collections planned to take effect in February 2020.

Tracy Carter, Interim Waste Transition and Carbon Reduction Lead Officer, gave a presentation detailing the changes to kerbside collections. Key points of the presentation focused on:

·         Blue lidded bins currently took plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays, cardboard boxes, food cartons and drink cartons. The changes to collections meant that the blue lidded bins would also be taking paper, food cans, drink cans, aerosols and foil.

·         Black boxes would continue to collect glass a textiles.

·         Implementing the changes meant that recycling would be easier for residents and reduce the number of collection vehicles as they could empty the black box and blue lidded bin at the same time.

·         A new materials recovery facility to sort through mixed recycling was currently being built.

·         The collections would remain fortnightly and residents could sign up online for email updates and order larger/ additional blue lidded bins here: www.wiltshire.gov.uk/rubbish-and-recycling-collection-changes   

·         If Town/ Parish Councils or community groups required more information in the form of an article, information for websites of social media pages, posters or for officers to attend local meetings, then they should email wasteandrecycling@wiltshire.gov.uk

·         Wiltshire Council was a signatory to the End Destination Charter and published an annual return on its website: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/what-happens-to-recycling

In response to questions asked it was noted that:

·         A sticker would be sent to every household confirming which materials could go into the blue lidded bins with notification of their new collection day.

·         Currently there were no plans to recycle plastic film, although once a viable solution was available it would be considered.

·         The councils approach to food waste was to focus on minimising and reducing amounts of food through planning portion sizes, freezing meals, composting etc. The government planned to pass a bill for all local authorities to collect food waste although a previous consultation suggested that residents did not want a separate food bin.

·         The council worked with national organisations to lobby central government to reduce packaging.

·         Recycling was a residents choice, although there was limited capacity for non-recycled waste which has resulted in the recycling rate being much higher.

·         The Council did not current collect compostable plastic for recycling due to the process used in order to compost the bags, although this was being kept under review.

The Government held a consultation, which had now closed, seeking evidence to help Defra develop standards for biodegradable, compostable and bio-based plastics, and an understanding of their environmental impacts. At present there was no date for publication of the results of the call for evidence. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/standards-for-biodegradable-compostable-and-bio-based-plastics-call-for-evidence

·         Replacement black bins would be 180l for non-recycling and 240l for the blue lidded bins.

The Chairman thanked Tracy for the presentation.

To receive an update on the PCC Precept consultation.

Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner, Jerry Herbert, gave a presentation on the current precept consultation, key points focused on:

·         The role of the PCC was to represent the residents of Wiltshire and Swindon, hold the Chief Constable and Force to account and to cut crime while delivering effective and efficient policing.

·         In 2019, 41 police officers had been recruited, it currently took 3 years to recruit, train and post new officers; the PCC has been working on building stronger links with communities; and, built a cyber-crime team to tackle the growing threat with particular focus on child sexual exploitation.

·         The proposed precept  increase was for residents to pay an extra £1 towards policing per month. This would maintain the current services, enable more officers to be recruited and to meet increased costs such as inflation.

·         The consultation could be accessed here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/8NQQJFW

·         It was noted that the PCC had not yet received notification of a policing grant from the Home Office and was not yet aware of what the increase cap would be. The proposed increase was a realistic approach based on the current situation.

In response to question the Deputy PCC noted that: One of Warminster’s main concerns was antisocial behaviour which was also one of the PCC’s priorities and prevention work was being carried out in the area; Out of the 20,000 new officers promised by the Government, Wiltshire was hoping to receive an extra 49, which was expected to be outlined within the police grant from the Home Office; Although fraud and CSE were national issues, cyber-crime effected all areas and local forces were required to investigate complex crimes and undertake prosecutions which needed investment and teams to deliver cyber prevention communications.

The Chairman thanks Jerry for the presentation.

To discuss anti-social behaviour in the Warminster area and discuss Wiltshire Council’s efforts to tackle it.

Rowena Lansdown, Anti-Social Behaviour Officer, gave a presentation on how anti-social behaviour (ABS) was tackled within Wiltshire. The key points focused on:

·         The ASB team sat within the vulnerable communities team within the public protection department. 

·         ASB was managed using a multi-agency approach and cases were only removed once all agencies were satisfied.

·         The Anti-Social Behaviour Risk Assessment Conference (ASBRAC) was a multi-agency forum for sharing information and assigning agreed, co-ordinated actions. Information is shared under Section 115 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

·         The ASBRAC were able to make referrals to services such as Substance Misuse service, Adult Social Care, GP, Mental Health, as and where appropriate. Issue ASB warning letters, Impose acceptable behaviour contracts, make referrals for restorative justice and make referrals for mediation (normally through Housing Association).

·         Legal enforcement options were: criminal behaviour orders, ASB injunctions; closure notices/orders, community protection warnings, community protection notices and absolute grounds for possession.

In response to questions it was noted that: Private tenants could be issued absolute grounds for possession; the police played an active role in the ASBRAC, although the police could only get involved once it became a criminal issue.

The Chairman thanked Rowena for the presentation.

To receive an update.

No meeting of the Community Area Transport Group had taken place.

      i.        General Update

    ii.        Carer’s Champion Update

   iii.        Grants

The Area Board considered the grant applications.

RESOLVED

To award Centre for Innovation in Voluntary Action £2000 for their project Sing UP Warminster.

To award Warminster Community Area Health and Wellbeing Group £2500 for a Health and Wellbeing Event and Festival. For the Health and Wellbeing Group to submit a report outlining the positive outcomes after the event.

To receive an update.

It was noted that a meeting took place on the 17 December which was well attended.

To consider applications for funding from the Community Area Grants Scheme (Report to follow).

There were no grant applications.

Any other items of business which the Chairman agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items.

The next meeting of the Warminster Area Board will be on:

5 March 2020 at the Warminster Civic Centre.

The next meeting of the Warminster Area Board would be the 5 March 2020.