Agenda and minutes

To welcome those present to the meeting.

Cllr Mike Hewitt, Vice Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Amesbury Area Board and invited Cllrs to introduce themselves.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence had been received from:

·       Neill Page (DIO Army Basing Programme Lead)

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 19 November 2020.

The minutes of the meeting on 19 November 2020 were presented for consideration and it was;

Resolved:

To approve the minutes as a correct record.

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:

·       Healthy Us Weight Management Programme

Healthy Us is a free 12 week course open to anyone living in Wiltshire, aged 18 or over, with a BMI of 28 or above. Referrals for the virtual courses starting in January 2021 are now being taken. Please see https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/public-health-weight-adults for more information or email health.coaches@wiltshire.gov.uk.

·       COVID-19 Community Packs

Wiltshire Council has created an updated community pack of information to help support communities during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it contains information and advice on issues such as restrictions, testing and support. Find the pack online here: www.wiltshire.gov.uk/public-health-coronavirus#community-pack

·       Census 2021

Census day will be on March 21, but households across the country will receive letters with online codes allowing them to take part from early March. The census is a once-in-a-decade survey that gives us the most accurate estimate of all the people and households in England and Wales. We encourage everyone to take part. See  https://census.gov.uk/ for more information.

·       Local Plan Review Consultation

As part of the Local Plan Review consultation, taking place from Wednesday 13 January to Tuesday 9 March 2021, Wiltshire Council are planning to host a series of live online consultation events for communities and other stakeholders. The Amesbury event will be held online at 7.00pm, Thursday 21 January. For more information or to book your place please go to https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planning-policy-local-plan-review.

The Chairman gave the following announcements:

·       Healthy Us Weight Management Programme

The written update on the Healthy Us Weight Programme was noted.

·       COVID-19 Community Packs

The latest COVID-19 figures were shown to the meeting, and the stay at home message reiterated. Details regarding the updated community pack were given and the pack could be found here www.wiltshire.gov.uk/public-health-coronavirus#community-pack.

·       Census 2021

The written update on the 2021 Census was noted.

·       Local Plan Review Consultation

Attendees were encouraged to take part in the Local Plan Review consultation and the Gypsy and Traveller Consultation which were running until 9 March 2021. Further information could be found in the agenda supplement or online here: https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planning-policy-local-plan-review.

To receive updates from the following partners:

·       Wiltshire Police

·       Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

·       MOD/Military Civilian Integration

·       A303 – Highways England

·       Healthwatch Wiltshire

·       NHS Wiltshire

·       Town and Parish Councils

Updates were received from the following partners:

·       Wiltshire Police

Dean Knight, Amesbury Inspector was in attendance and gave an update to the meeting. It was stated that crime figures were down. Several warrants had been executed resulting in the seizure of drugs and locating a vulnerable missing person. A joint operation with the Royal Military Police had been undertaking in order to combat 4x4’s driving on Salisbury Plain. Dog thefts were raised as there had been a lots of reports on social media regarding this. It was explained that there had been 17 reports of dog thefts in the whole of Wiltshire in the last year. Therefore, whilst not diminishing the issue dog thefts were not thought to be as prevalent as one would think from social media.

In response to questions it was stated that the money raised from COVID-19 fixed penalty notices did not go back to local forces directly but went into a national pot. So, there was no financial incentive to issue the notices. Regarding increased traffic levels compared to the first lock down and whether people were stopped to ask where they were coming from or going to, it was explained that all forces were moving from education to enforcement. There were patrols focusing on the issue, but these were currently intelligence led rather than patrolling certain routes.

·       Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner

Jerry Herbert, deputy PCC gave details regarding the role of the PCC and what had been delivered by the PCC in the last year, including increased numbers of officers, a new rural crime team and investing in resources to counter cyber-crime.  The PCC was proposing a raise in police precept. It was explained that the maximum increase that was allowed to the police precept was £15 a year for a band D property, which was what the PCC was asking for. This equated to a band D property seeing an increase of £1.25 a month. It was highlighted that Wiltshire Police were the third lowest nationally funded force in the country. The extra £15 a year would help to fund an increase in officers and bolster community policing teams. The PCC was consulting on the proposals. More information could be found at www.wiltshire-pcc.gov.uk  and the survey was located at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/PNHBKSG  and was open until 2 February 2021. It was confirmed that these details would be sent out in the weekly newsletter from the Community Engagement Manager.

Cllr Wright stated that the Police offered very good value for money and felt that the PCC should do more to promote their successes. Mr Herbert agreed and stated that if any Members had thoughts on how better they should communicate they should let the PCC know. Likewise, if any parishes had newsletters and they would like the PCC to input updates for, then they should get in touch.  

·       MOD/Military Civilian Integration

Lt Col Nick Turner gave an update. Some local units had been deployed to other locations to help with testing. Stringent rules  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.

To receive an update from Jacqui Abbott, Community Engagement Manager on the Community Status Report. The report aims to identify issues and priorities for the community for 2021.

Jacqui Abbott (Amesbury Community Engagement Manager) gave an update to the meeting. It was explained that the Community Status Report was a way to refresh local priorities so that the board concentrated their efforts on projects relevant to local residents. The officer had undertaken many discussion with local organisations and groups and combined this with data from various sources and partners, such as public health data in order to identify priorities.

The top five emerging issues were:

·       Anti-social behaviour

·       Highway infrastructure and maintenance

·       Accessible, positive activities for all ages – building these back up after Covid-19

·       Environment and carbon reduction / Waste and recycling / fly-tipping

·       Mental Health and Wellbeing support all ages

It was suggested that having five top priority issues to concentrate on may be a good way forward, and an action plan would be developed. The report was to be a fluid document that could be updated regularly and would be brought back to future area boards for discussion.

To discuss the re-naming of Amesbury Area Board.

Details were given regarding a survey that was taking place in order to gather views on the whether the Area Board should change its name. The survey would close on 31 January and residents and parishes were encouraged to take part.

It was stated that as of 13 January, 14 responses had been received, which were summarised as:

·       10 responses favoured renaming to Stonehenge Area Board

·       1 favoured not changing the name from Amesbury Area Board

·       3 other name suggestions were received:

o   Salisbury Plain South Area Board

o   Stonehenge Community Area Board

o   Avon and Till Valleys Area Board

Once the survey has closed the issue would need to come back to a future area board meeting to be discussed and for a formal recommendation to be made. Once that had occurred the proposal would then need go to the Electoral Review Committee and on to Full Council for approval.

To consider any updates from the Community Area Transport Group (CATG).

Cllr Hewitt stated that there had not been a meeting of the CATG since the last area board. Parishes should register any issues so that they could be raised at the next meeting, which was taking pace on 26 February 2021.

To receive any updates on the Amesbury Health and Wellbeing Group and to note the following applications for Health and Wellbeing funding which have already been awarded via the delegated authority of the CEM:

·       Figheldean Parish Council. £300.00 towards helping the vulnerable.

·       Winterbourne Stoke Village Preservation Society, £313.30 towards their Elderly Parishioner Welfare Package.

·       Durrington Over Sixties, £300.00 towards their Durrington Over Sixties Post COVID Celebration.

·       Durrington and District Day Centre, £300.00 towards their Gifts for members at Christmas project.

Further details can be found in the grant report at item 11.

Cllr Wright gave a brief update and gave the dates for the next four HWBG meetings as:

·       Thursday 4 February 10am – 11.30am

·       Tuesday 4 May 10am – 11.30am

·       Wednesday 4 August 10am – 11.30am

·       Thursday 4 November 10am – 11.30am

Several small grants had been awarded under the delegated authority of the CEM over the Christmas period to enable some very worthwhile projects to take place. Future applications were encouraged.

It was,

Resolved:

To note that the following grants had been awarded under the delegated authority of the Community Engagement Manager.

·       Figheldean Parish Council. £300.00 towards helping the vulnerable.

·       Winterbourne Stoke Village Preservation Society, £313.30 towards their Elderly Parishioner Welfare Package.

·       Durrington Over Sixties, £300.00 towards their Durrington Over Sixties Post COVID Celebration.

·       Durrington and District Day Centre, £300.00 towards their Gifts for members at Christmas project.

·       Support for Vulnerable and Lonely in the Winterbournes, £300 towards food parcels for lonely, isolated and vulnerable villagers

To determine the following application for Community Area Grant funding:

·       Shrewton Cricket Club, £1,500.00 towards a Ride on Outfield Triple Mower.

To determine the following application for Youth Grant funding:

·       Army Welfare Service, £2,000.00 towards School Holiday Activities and Trips.

Cllr Fred Westmoreland introduced the grant applications as detailed in the agenda.

Representatives of the organisations applying for grants spoke in support of their applications.

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

Resolved:

Community area Grants

·       To award Shrewton Cricket Club, £5,000.00 towards a Ride on Outfield Triple Mower.

Youth Grants

·       To award the Army Welfare Service, £2,000.00 towards School Holiday Activities and Trips.

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 18 March 2021 at 6.30pm.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending and announced that the next meeting of the area board would be held on 18 March 2021 at 6.30pm.