Agenda and minutes

To welcome those present to the meeting.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Amesbury Area Board.

At the Chairman’s invitation, the Councillors introduced themselves.

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Apologies for absence had been received from:

·         Neil MacDougall, Chairman, Berwick St James Parish Meeting

·         Neill Page, Army Basing Programme Delivery Lead

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 17 January 2019.

Resolved:

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 January 2019 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.

To receive the following announcements through the Chairman (written briefing notes are available in the full agenda pack, or online):

·         Children’s Centre Consultation

Consultation on new proposals to build on successful community model for children’s centre services. The consultation is available at http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council-democracyconsultations and will run from 23 January until 20 March 2019 with a report due to go to cabinet later this spring.

·         Electoral Review

The draft recommendations of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England are now available to be viewed online via their website and a consultation has been launched to receive comments. The consultation is open until 15 April 2019 and is the final opportunity for parties to comment.

The Chairman referred the meeting to the written reports contained in the agenda pack regarding:

Children’s Centre Consultation

There has been a consultation on new proposals to build on successful community model for children’s centre services. The consultation ended on 20 March 2019 with a report due to go to cabinet later this spring.

Electoral Review Consultation

The Chairman announced that the draft recommendations of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England were now available to be viewed online via their website at:

http://www.lgbce.org.uk/all-reviews/southwest/wiltshire/wiltshire-unitary-authority-ua and a consultation had been launched to receive comments. The consultation was open until 15 April 2019 and would be the final opportunity for parties to comment on the proposals.

Cllr Robert Yuill stated that the proposals suggested an extra division for Amesbury, called Amesbury South. Changes were required here due to the new developments of Archers Gate and Kings Gate. The area to the far East of the current Amesbury East division, encompassing Porton Road to Boscombe would become a division with Bulford, probably to be called Amesbury East and Bulford. There would also be changes in Shrewton. Shrewton would gain half the Woodfords, Great Wishford and South Newton, however it would lose Till. The name of the Bourne Valley had been going to be changed but would now remain as the Bourne Valley.

It was recommended that the meeting look at the proposals on the LGBCE website and comment on the consultation.

The changes were required to ensure that each division represented approximately the same population. Full Council would be voting on the proposals on 25 March 2019.

To receive updates from the Town and Parish Council Representatives, and from other partner organisations.

·         Police

o   Wiltshire Police

o   Military Defence Police

·         Fire and Rescue Service

·         Town and Parish Councils

·         Lovells – SFA and Army Rebasing

·         MOD

·         NHS Wiltshire CCG

·         HealthWatch Wiltshire

The Chairman referred to the updates set out in the agenda and invited further updates from Town/Parish Councils and other Partners.

·         Wiltshire Police

Inspector Peter Sparrow gave an update to the meeting. One year ago Inspector Sparrow had been announcing his arrival to the meeting. Now, due to boundary changes the police were having, he was announcing his departure. The Salisbury and Amesbury area as a policing hub was valid. However, due to all the Salisbury Recovery work it was felt that Amesbury would benefit from its own inspector. So an Amesbury Inspector was to be appointed. The Amesbury Community Policing Team would work out of Amesbury but cover the surrounding areas as well such as Ludgershall and Bulford etcetera. Police and PCSO numbers were due to increase in May.

The Inspector had been to a conference on County Lines. County Lines involved drug dealers coming into the area and using local young or vulnerable people to do the drug running. They take on a lot of the risk but can also make a lot of money. Eventually they may think to set up their own line which could cause conflict and violence. The Inspector encouraged parents to ask intrusive questions of their children if they noticed that they suddenly had a lot of unexplained wealth.

A member of the audience asked a question regarding whether sniffer dogs had gone into local schools to detect drugs as this had happened in other areas and been on the news recently. The inspector did not know if this had happened locally but would try to find out and would also promote the idea. He thought it would be interesting to see if local schools perceived an issue. The schools had good engagement with PCSO’s and they could feedback if there were issues perceived.

Nationally there had been a massive increase in knife crime, however it had gone down in Wiltshire by 18%.

There were 40 Specials (volunteer police officers) who had contributed over 1,800 hours to Wiltshire Police last year.

Wiltshire Police were undertaking rural crime intelligence sharing with Dorset and Hampshire to try to reduce crimes like shed burglaries or theft of tools. It was recommended that people mark items distinctively as this made them less attractive to thieves. 

The MOD police were now back policing the plain.

Cllr Robert Yuill stated that the increased resources were good news. He asked if the police station would stay at Amesbury or if a new one would be built. The Inspector stated that the building was not fit for purpose and the estate strategy developed by the OPCC stated that the station would close.

Cllr John Smale stated that he had been to a Neighbourhood Tasking meeting at the police station the evening before. This had been a very good meeting where lots of information on police work was received and the community had the opportunity to tell the police of any issues.

·         Town and Parish Councils

Bulford Parish Council reported that a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

To receive a presentation from Diane Ware, Principal Technical Officer, Highways.

To consider the report on Highways Schemes for the forthcoming year.

Diane Ware, Principal Technical Officer, Highways gave a presentation on the proposed Highways Schemes for 2019/2020.

The officer introduced herself and stated that she was involved in planning all major highways schemes. She was often out and about visiting areas and people so if you had a highways issue please feel free to contact her. Her contact details were:

Diane Ware, Principal Technical Officer, Highways

Telephone 01225 – 713298

Mobile – 07423 549984

Email: diane.ware@wiltshire.gov.uk

Wiltshire’s roads were in not too bad a condition in comparison to other places. Roads in the Amesbury community area ranked 7^th out of all 18 area boards on a worst to best scale.

Previously, when working out the 5 year plan and how much money to allocate each area they used the amount of road network in each area to calculate the budget. However, it had now been decided to allocate spend by need, so areas with the worst roads would get more money.

Over the next 5 years the budget would vary quite considerably, for example in 2019/2020 Amesbury was allocated nearly £940,000, then in 2020/2021 this would drop to £465,000, going up again the year after. Allocating the money in this way meant that big jobs could get done properly.

Approximately 35% of Amesbury’s roads were rated red and amber. However they did not yet have full network coverage on the state of the roads, with some roads still to be assessed. There were 2 specialist land rovers driving the network with lasers and cameras to assess the state of the roads. They could also use the help of the public. If aware of potholes or an urgent issue that needed fixing then please report it on the My Wiltshire website or App, for other issues, contact Diane herself.

Slides were shown of some of the proposed schemes for Amesbury, these could also be found in the agenda pack.

The Chair of Tilshead Parish Council queried why they kept getting told that some works that needed doing in their area would be on the plan for next year, but then kept being put back. The officer responded that the stretch of road he was referring to would have reactive patching this year to make it safe and was then in the plan for next year.

In response to questions regarding the different types of surfacing it was stated that micro-asphalt was a very thin type of surface dressing. Surfacing was different and involved scraping the road surface back and then resurfacing it.

In response to queries regarding other roads members of the audience wanted improving, the officer stated that this was Amesbury’s list. If there was a particular stretch of road that people really wanted to be worked on, then Highways could do that, however, there was only a finite amount of money so it would need to be swapped for one of the others on the list. The roads on the list had been graded by need, undertaking the worst  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

To receive any updates from the Local Youth Network.

To consider the following applications for youth grant funding:

·         Durrington Town Council, £6700.00, for Durrington youth services.

·         Buzz Action Foundation, £5000.00, for the Amesbury Youth Café.

·         Buzz Action Foundation, £1000.00, towards the Amesbury Festival of Youth.

Cllr Darren Henry gave an update on the Local Youth Network.

The Local Youth Network was planning a volunteers event, hopefully for the 1^st or 2^nd of July 2019. This would be an adult based event, aiming to bring together volunteers that work within the youth sector, enabling the volunteers to network. The aim was also to provide some training on mental health and child sexual exploitation. There would be a working group on 2 April to discuss this. The dates and venue for the event were to be confirmed although it was hoped they may be able to use Antrobus House.

There had been a LYN meeting of young people in October which was focused on mental health.

Cllr Henry introduced the applications for youth grant funding, all of which had been recommended for approval by the LYN. A representative from the Buzz Action foundation also spoke in support of their applications.

The applications for youth grant funding were considered by the board and it was;

Resolved:

·         To grant Durrington Town Council, £6700.00, for Durrington youth services;

·         To grant Buzz Action Foundation, £5000.00, for the Amesbury Youth Café;

·         To grant Buzz Action Foundation, £1000.00, towards the Amesbury Festival of Youth.

To receive an update from Cllr Graham Wright focusing on working as One Team and Army Rebasing -  especially the  implementation of the required infrastructure and community cohesion.

Cllr Graham Wright gave an update on Communities Together.

Communities Together were running an Easter Egg Hunt for families on Saturday 20^th April. Families could register at the Larkhill Space Station from 9.00am for the free Easter Egg Trail and Bunny Hunt. The trail would start at 10.00am and prizes would be awarded at 11.00am. People taking part could also get a 50% discount at the soft play area and could use the community café. The event was open to anybody.

Cllr Wright also thanked Durrington Town Council for help setting up a Communities Together Facebook page which was now live.

To receive any updates and consider any recommendations arising from the CATG.

The minutes of the CATG meeting on the 4 March 2019 are attached for information.

The Chairman referred the meeting to the minutes of the CATG meeting held on 4^th March 2019. It was;

Resolved

To note the minutes of the CATG meeting held on 4^th March 2019.

A representative of Durrington Town Council complained about an invoice they had received from Wiltshire Council for CATG work that had been carried out. The original issue had been raised by a Wiltshire Councillor and the Town Council had not received a quote from Wiltshire Council, which would have given them a chance to budget, or say whether they wanted the works to go ahead.

The Chair advised that the standard process was for the Town or Parish Council to raise an issue, then Wiltshire Council would get a quote for the works, which should be fed back to the Town/Parish Council as they would be liable for 25% of the cost of the works.

The Chair apologised as the quote should have been fed back to them, however staffing changes may have affected this. The Chair would ask the Amesbury Highways Officer to look at the situation.

To receive an update on the Amesbury Health and Wellbeing Group and consider any applications for Health and Wellbeing funding.

The notes of the last Health and Wellbeing Group are attached for information.

There had been a very proactive meeting of the Health and Wellbeing group on 25^th February 2019 and Cllr Graham Wright drew the meetings attention to the minutes of that meeting in the agenda pack.

Dementia  Action Week was in May and the group were hoping to hire a venue at Langford Lakes for a special event for this.

Cllr Wright was also using a Cllr Led Initiative to apply for Health and Wellbeing funding. There was £270 left of Health and Wellbeing funding for the financial year and no other grant applications. Therefore Cllr Wright applied for £270 to fund Health and Wellbeing initiatives. Some of this funding may be used towards the special event in Dementia Action Week.

The Board considered the application for Health and Wellbeing funding and it was;

Resolved:

·         To grant Cllr Graham Wright, Cllr Led Initative, £270.00 to fund Health and Wellbeing initiatives.

To receive any updates from Jacqui Abbott (Community Engagement Manager).

The new Amesbury Community Engagement Manager introduced herself to the meeting. She had started coming out to meet groups and was hoping to meet many more.

The role of the CEM included:

·         Helping deliver the vision to strengthen local communities and help them to do more for themselves?

·         Encouraging and working with volunteers – there were fantastic volunteers working in many areas already

·         Connecting communities and maximising opportunities? - encouraging joined up working, networking, sharing, synergies

·         Assisting the area board to deliver its local priorities? e.g. from JSA events

·         Identifying possible gaps in provision around our priorities and encouraging joint working to plug these gaps e.g. Men’s / Community shed

·         Encouraging grant applications and undertaking administration of these?

·         Supporting the various groups of the area board; Community Area Transport Grants (CATG), Health and Wellbeing Group, Local Youth Network (LYN)?

·         Maximising the involvement and engagement in council services and decisions; particularly those that affect our local area?

·         Identifying opportunities for the devolution of services

·         Facilitating & publicising community events and activities? that are helping to meet our priorities

·         Encouraging use of local facilities – leisure centres, libraries, hubs etc.

·         Army Basing / A303 – engagement / joined up working

·         Communicating what’s happening / digital engagement for example by the Our Community Matters website.

The CEM encouraged people and groups to register on the Our Community Matters website. There was lots of useful information on there and it would be great if groups that had been funded by the Area Board could update on there. A newsletter with information from the site was sent out every Friday to over 1000 people.

Dates for the Diary included:

·         Great British Spring Clean – 22 March – 23 April, shared resources

·         Men’s Shed / Community Shed meeting – April 29, 12 noon Redworth Centre

·         Beat the Street – coming to Amesbury soon!

·         Big Pledge Challenge – registration 7 May; starts 3 June for 6 weeks

·         Carers Week 10 – 16 June  – various events, watch this space!

·         NAFD 28 – 30 June (coaches from Amesbury 30 June)

·         Local Youth Network event this year 1 or 2 July

·         Family Learning Festival – October half term 2019

·         Next JSA coming soon!

Cllr Wright thanked Jacqui for her hard work and thought that she had started in her new area really well.

To determine the applications for Community Area Grant funding:

·         Shrewton Silver Band, £1000.00 towards tuba cases.

·         Figheldean Parish Council, £774.00, towards a defibrillator for Figheldean Village.

·         Durrington Town Council, £2820.84, towards an upgrade to Durrington Play Park.

Cllr Fred Westmoreland, introduced the applications to the Community Area Grant Scheme as detailed in the agenda.

Representatives of the Shrewton Silver Band and Durrington Town Council spoke in support of their applications. Cllr John Smale as a former Chairman of Figheldean Parish Council spoke in support of their application.

The board considered the applications for Community Area Grant funding and it was;

Resolved:

·         To grant Shrewton Silver Band, £1000.00 towards tuba cases.

·         To grant Figheldean Parish Council, £774.00, towards a defibrillator for Figheldean Village.

·         To grant Durrington Town Council, £2820.84, towards an upgrade to Durrington Play Park.

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 Amesbury Area Board will be held on Thursday 23 May 2019, 7pm at Woodford Village Hall, Middle Woodford, Wiltshire, SP4 6NR.

The Chairman announced the recent opening of Evergreen Court and advised that the café was open to everyone, not just residents.

The next meeting of the Amesbury Area Board will be held on Thursday 23 May 2019, 7pm at Woodford Village Hall, Middle Woodford, Wiltshire, SP4 6NR.

Cllr John Smale gave his apologies for the next meeting.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending.