Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Warminster Area Board. He then explained that a Chairman and Vice-Chairman for Warminster Area Board had to be elected for the forthcoming year.

To elect a Chairman for the 2011/12 municipal year.

The Vice-Chairman sought nominations for the position of Chairman of the Warminster Area Board for the forthcoming year.

Decision

Councillor Andrew Davis was elected Chairman of the Warminster

Area Board for the forthcoming year.

To elect a Vice-Chairman for the 2011/12 municipal year.

The Chairman sought nominations for the position of Vice-Chairman of the Warminster Area Board for the forthcoming year.

Decision

Councillor Fleur de Rhé-Philipe was elected Vice-Chairman of the Warminster Area Board for the forthcoming year.

To note the appointments to outside bodies which were made by the Area Board in 2010/11 and to confirm that these appointments will continue for 2011/12.

The board considered the appointments to outside bodies which were made by the Area Board in 2010/11.

Decision

The Warminster Area Board made the following appointments to outside bodies for 2011/12:

Councillor Andrew Davis - Warminster and Westbury CCTV Partnership

Councillor Keith Humphries - Warminster Town Plan Steering Group

Councillor Pip Ridout - Warminster Youth Issues Group (CAYPIGS)

Councillor Fleur de Rhé-Philipe - Community Area Partnership

Details were being checked for the following Outside Body Appointment however it should be noted that the appointment would stand until rescinded as detailed below:

Councillor Andrew Davis - Warminster Sports Centre Management Committee

Apologies for absence were received from:

Sue Fraser, Warminster Town Council.

Sarah Jeffries, clerk for Maiden Bradley with Yarnfield, Upper Deverills and Horningsham Parish Councils.

Councillor Francis Morland, Chapmanslade Parish Council.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 10 March 2011 (copy attached).

Decision

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

Councillor Fleur de Rhé-Philipe declared a personal and prejudicial interest as a director of the Warminster and Villages Community Partnership and explained that she would neither take part in the debate nor vote when the board considered the partnership’s request for funding.

The Chairman made the following announcements (full details of the announcements were contained in the agenda at pages 21 to 40):

The key points for libraries in this area were:

• All mobile library stops would continue to operate

• Warminster  library opening hours would be reduced from 46 to 43 hours a week

• New self service technology would be introduced to the library  to improve efficiency

The Chairman reminded all present that members of the community were invited to get involved in volunteering in their libraries and details were available in the agenda for those interested.

Wiltshire Council’s business plan for 2011-15 had prioritised a number of areas for investment, of which Digital Inclusion and supporting the rollout of superfast broadband for both business and home users was a key area. 

To help understand existing coverage and the requirements for the future, Wiltshire Council would be launching a superfast broadband survey for home and business users between 26 April and 3 June.

The survey was available on-line and also as a printed document on request. Further details were available from: www.wiltshire.gov.uk/digitalinclusion

 Results of the survey would be shared on the Council web site in July, via the same link.

Consultation on a Proposed Submission Draft – Waste Site Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD) would commence on 13 June 2011 and last for 8 weeks and would be available on .

Within the Warminster Community Area, the Sites DPD identified two proposed locations for future waste operations: Warminster Business Park and Chitterne Waste Management Facility.

Members of the board asked for the Consultation on Waste Sites to be an item on the agenda for a future meeting.

NHS Wiltshire, Wiltshire Council and local hospices were joining in with national events planned for ‘Dying Matters’ week 16-20 May. The aim being to raise awareness of how we can talk about planning for our future care and putting plans in place with our families.

Further advice and links to useful websites were included in the agenda.

Councillor Jemima Milton, Portfolio Holder for Adult Care, will introduce her portfolio and answer any questions at this time or throughout the meeting when relevant.

Councillor Jemima Milton attended the meeting to introduce her Portfolio. She explained that her role was to support the Cabinet member for Adult Care, Communities and Housing by focusing on Adult Care (people 18 years old and over).

She passionately described the many facets of her portfolio which included services for people with learning disability, mental health problems or physical impairment as well as services for older people.

She invited all those present to reflect on a few numbers:

-       There were currently 78,000 people over 65 years old in Wiltshire; 11,000 of which were 85 years old and over;

-       In 1970 Wiltshire (including Swindon) had a £661,000 budget for Adult Care; for 2011-12 Wiltshire Council had a £115M budget (including £26M in support for the Voluntary Sector).

Councillor Milton also spoke about some of areas of work the services were focusing on including:

-       Enabling people with learning disabilities to live and be integrated in the community;

-       Ensuring a proper diagnostic process and care was in place for people suffering from dementia;

-       Support carers as much as possible as they provided support for 10,000 people in their own home. She explained that she had been amazed to learn that the money saved thanks to unpaid carers was equivalent to Marks & Spencer’s profit!

-       Working to safely keep people in their own home whilst providing care.

Councillor Milton welcomed the item on the Older People’s Accommodation Strategy included on the agenda as she felt it was the closest to keeping people in their own home when that was not safely possible.

She offered to answer questions at this point or when the strategy was discussed, and no questions were asked at this point.

Great Western Hospital has been awarded the contract to run the community services currently run by the PCT (health clinics, community hospitals, maternity services and neighbourhood teams). Background papers have been included in this agenda.

The board will receive a short presentation followed by an opportunity to ask questions.

Sacha Bacco, Membership Officer, attended the networking event prior to the meeting and gave everyone the opportunity to join the Trust as members.

Dr Alf Troughton, Medical Director (who would become the Interim Chief Executive on the night of the area board meeting), attended the meeting.

He delivered a presentation explaining that Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust had been awarded the contract to manage the community services currently run by the PCT (health clinics, community hospitals, maternity services and neighbourhood teams) and outlined what this meant for people in Wiltshire. The presentation has been made available on the Wiltshire Council’s website as part of these minutes, hard copies can be obtained by contacting Marie Gondlach (contact details on the last page).

In response to questions raised at the meeting Dr Troughton explained that:

-       Great Western Hospital was a foundation trust and its membership was open to members of the public and members of staff who were represented by a board of governors;

-       It was possible that the name of the Trust could be changed in the future;

-       There was no intention to change the pathway of care for the Warminster area (e.g. patients and service users would not have to travel to Swindon);

-       One project was to improve ICT to help the delivery of services;

-       It was hoped that more use could be made of community hospital especially for specialist areas.

The main message Dr Troughton delivered was that people in the Warminster area should notice very little difference in accessing services as no big changes were planned.

The board will receive a presentation explaining the implications of the Older People’s Accommodation Strategy. Background papers have been included in this agenda. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions.

The development strategy is available on the following link:

http://cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=13971

Karen Jones, Senior Project Manager, delivered a presentation explaining the need to improve and modernise older people’s accommodation taking into account change in needs and legislation. She explained that the focus currently was on nursing care, specialist dementia care and extra care housing accommodation. The Senior Project Manager used a quick quiz to demonstrate the scale of the need for such accommodation; the answers surprised those attending by being as follows:

·         The Warminster community area older population (65+) was projected to grow by 25.8% between 2007 and 2026 (4,720 people to 7,210 people);

·         The 85+ category would be the Warminster age group projected to have the highest increase between 2007 and 2026 (set to increase by 78.1%);

·         The number of people aged 50+ with dementia within the Warminster community area was projected to increase by 59.3% (418 people to 666 people) between 2007 and 2026.

The presentation has been made available on the Wiltshire Council’s website as part of these minutes, hard copies can be obtained by contacting Marie Gondlach (contact details on the last page of these minutes).

During her presentation and in answer to questions raised at the meeting the Senior Project Manager informed the board that:

·         A site was being identified in Warminster to replace Woodmead as the building could no longer be modernised to meet standards;

·         Sheltered housing accommodation was being reviewed against a set of criterions, the team leading the review would look at 5 to 10 schemes in details to analyse the best way to meet needs;

·         If nothing changed the cost of care for the elderly would rise to £3.3 billion over the next 25 years, it was hoped that a cost avoidance of around £559M could be realised thanks to the accommodation strategy;

·         Some nursing or residential homes may be closed but full consultations would be run before any closure and the local community would be able to have a say.

Members of the board were concerned that properties that had been transferred to The Orders of St John Care Trust (OSJCT) because Wiltshire County Council was not able to maintain or modernise them were now being closed due to lack of modernisation. It was clarified that not all the properties that had been transferred to OSJCT would be closed and that closure was due to the buildings themselves not a lack of investment from OSJCT. It was recognised that OSJCT had invested a large amount of money in maintaining or modernising buildings but that some of the basic fabric of these buildings could not be modified (the most recent home built was in the 1980s) and the building could no longer meet modern needs and legislations.

Members of the board asked the officers to take the Warminster Town Plan into consideration and to involve the Town Council when reviewing accommodation of older people in the Warminster area.

The board will receive a presentation on the plans for the future. There will be an opportunity to ask questions as well as express view and opinions on the plans.

Mr Brian Stables, Chairman of the Trust Board, delivered a presentation on the RUH’s Foundation Trust Application.

The presentation has been made available on the Wiltshire Council’s website as part of these minutes, hard copies can be obtained by contacting Marie Gondlach (contact details on the last page).

Mr Stables explained that around four years ago the trust had inherited an enormous amount of debt but the trust was now on track to repay most of it over two years thanks to a lot of hard work. Being a foundation trust would help further as it would enable money to be borrowed against assets, money which could then be invested back in the trust.

He was pleased to announce that the RUH had been MRSA free for 170 days, with only 2 cases over the last financial year, and that the RUH had been ranked in the top 10% of acute hospitals.

He encouraged anyone to get involved in the public consultation and for those interested to become a member (further details are contained in the presentation). He stressed the trust’s aim to get the patients and families involved to help redesign and improve services. Following questions from members of the public Mr Stables confirmed that a significant number of people from the Warminster area used the RUH, mostly for non-planned care, which is why the trust was encouraging people from this area to get involved.

The Community Area Manager introduced her report which was included in the agenda and provided additional information including:

·         The Chitterne brook was being cleaned as a Community Payback project;

·         Dog Fouling: the pilot scheme would be reviewed at a future meeting;

·         Planning permission was being sought with regards to the Grovelands and Victoria Road junction.

A representative of Chapmanslade Parish Council explained that progress had been made with regards to the issue of speeding and road safety with the Parish Council working with the school and Wiltshire Council. At a packed meeting of the Parish Council different options and proposals from Wiltshire Council had been discussed. At present the Parish Council was waiting for even better proposals from Wiltshire Council.

To receive updates from any of the following partners:

Ø  Wiltshire Police

Ø  Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

Ø  NHS Wiltshire

Ø  Warminster and Villages Community Area Network

Ø  Town and Parish Councils Nominated Representatives

Ø  Warminster Community Area Young People’s Issues Group

Ø  The Warminster and District Chamber of Commerce

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.

Lindsey Winter, Area Inspector for Warminster, Westbury, Tisbury and Mere brought an update to the meeting (available on the Wiltshire Council’s website as part of these minutes) and highlighted some of the information contained including:

·         Overall performance figures were good;

·         The restructuration of the neighbouring teams which should not mean a reduction of the number of staff members but changes to the administrative processes.

Inspector Winter urged people to be careful as there was still a number of sheds, barns and outbuildings’ burglaries, she advised that safety measures could be put in place to avoid such.

Councillor Ricky Rogers attended the meeting as the Police Authority Representative and was delighted to announce that a £ 1m increase in central government funding had been awarded in return for the Police Authority freezing its council tax following an intervention from Eric Pickles.

To consider any applications for funding from the Community Area Grants Scheme.

A decision has been made in 2010/2011 that paper copies of funding applications no longer appear as part of the agenda in an attempt to reduce volume of paper used.  However, the application forms are available on the Wiltshire Council web site and hard copies are available on request.

The area board considered four applications seeking 2011/12 Community Area Grant funding as follows:

A request of £2,500 towards the refurbishment of the village hall.

A representative of Chapmanslade Village Hall committee conveyed the Chairman and Treasurer’s apologies as they had been unable to attend the meeting.

The area board congratulated the Chapmanslade Village Hall committee on the refurbishment work having already taken place and pointed out that the grant they had received from the Village Hall fund was of a considerable amount and not awarded often.

Decision:

To not award £2,500 towards the refurbishment of the village hall.

Reason:

The application does not meet the grant criteria 2011-12 as the applicant is already in receipt of Wiltshire Council Funding this year.

Following its decision and without prejudice to any future applications, the area board invited the Village Hall committee to consider submitting an application for 2012-13 funding as explained in the report within the agenda.

A request of £4,843 for the provision of play and fitness equipment for all ages at Heytesbury Playing field at Greenlands.

Niki Wagstaff and Vanessa Sturmey attended the meeting and presented their application.

They explained that over the past 18 months they had worked with the local community to find ways to improve the play area. The children of Heytesbury School had been invited to draw their own designs of what they would like to see, and the wider village had been consulted. The young members of HYPO had raised over £1000 through village events and had donated this to the project.

The Area Board Grant would cover just over 50% of the project costs which would meet the criteria for match funding from the Landfill Grant Scheme.

Subject to funding HYPO hoped to have the Play Area improvements completed for the summer holidays.

Members of the board sought and were offered assurance that the equipment to be provided would be covered by the Parish Council’s insurance.

Decision:

To award £4,843 for the provision of play and fitness equipment for all ages at Heytesbury Playing field at Greenlands.

Reason:

The application meets the grant criteria 2011/12.The application demonstrates a link to the Community Plan as there is a need for more facilities for young people in the villages and a wider range of leisure facilities.

The project aims will improve the health and well being of children and adults. There will be more social activities and this will decrease anti-social behaviour. 

A request of £4,950 for funding to modify the entrance steps into the building to comply with DDA requirements.

Mr Tony Nicklin introduced the trust’s application. He explained that the steps to the building, which had been built 90 years ago, were becoming increasingly dangerous. The trust was ever more concerned for the safety of people as they entered or exited the building, especially after a show or a meeting attended by a large number of people which exacerbated the issue.

Members of the board agreed that the tremendous work undertaken by the trust should be commended.

Decision:

To award £4,950 for funding to modify the entrance steps into the building to comply with DDA requirements.

Reason:

The application meets the grant criteria 2011-12. The work is part of the phases of the renovation of the building being undertaken by the Trust to provide a community building in Warminster which will help to build a strong and resilient community and enabling access to the building to all sections of the community.

The project requires a further £570 to cover Board meetings for the financial year 2011/12.

The Community Area Manager introduced the application. The funding would cover 6 Board meetings (at a cost of £95 for each meeting) which would include a meeting in the community; out and about in Warminster and a CD.  The funding would enable Warminster Community Radio to continue to record the meetings and comments when out and about and to produce a CD.

Decision:

To award £570 to cover Board meetings for the financial year 2011/12.

Reason:

An early review of the project found that the pilot phase has helped to raise awareness of topics and issues that affect local people in Warminster. The project is beginning to have an impact on supporting local people to participate in local decision-making.

To consider a request from Warminster and Villages Community Partnership to receive funding.

The Community Area Manager introduced the report.

Councillor Fleur de Rhé-Philpe did not take part in the debate or vote on the request, item 4 of these minutes refer.

Decision:

1. To approve the whole year’s core funding of £9,505

2. To release the 1^st tranche of £4,752.50 immediately

3. That the following conditions have to be met before the 2^nd tranche should be released:

Warminster and Villages Community Partnership will:

a.  provide a list of the community groups that have been fostered and supported (as per Workplan commitment: Partnership Development);

b.  have carried out the planned Health and Housing Consultation and to be working towards developing ‘model’ practice for future consultations (as per Workplan commitment: Consultation);

c.  have engaged the services of a Partnership Administrator (as per Workplan commitment: Communication);

d.  have begun to re-establish a quarterly newsletter promoting activities and news from WVCP (as per Workplan commitment: Communication);

e.  provide a 6-month report at the 10th November area board meeting detailing the activities of WVCP over the first half of 2011/12.

4. To consider the release of the 2^nd tranche at the November Area Board meeting providing that the conditions set by the Partnership Development Officer and agreed by the Board have been met. 

To note that the next meeting of the Warminster Area Board will take place on:

30 June 2011 – Corsley Centre (change of venue)

To note that future meetings of the Warminster Area Board will take place on:

01 September 2011 – Chapmanslade Village Hall

10 November 2011 – Christchurch Hall

12 January 2012 – Codford Village Hall

08 March 2012 – Corsley Reading Room

To note the Forward Plan for the Warminster Area Board as attached.

The Chairman asked all present to note a change of venue as the next meeting of the Warminster Area Board would take place on 30 June 2011 at the Corsley Centre.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending and brought the meeting to a close.