Agenda and minutes

St Margaret’s Hall maps

The Chairman welcomed everyone to St Margaret’s Hall, the Wiltshire councillors who made up the board were introduced, including Dick Tonge, (Wiltshire Council cabinet member) who was in attendance for this meeting.

The Community Area Manager, Democratic Services Officer and Service Director were also introduced.

All town, parish and partner representatives in attendance were welcomed by the Chairman.

Chairman’s Announcements

Improving the Bradford on Avon Area Board - the Chairman advised that following feedback from the last meeting re improving the Bradford on Avon Area Board, it was apparent that many attendees thought that the agendas had too many presentations on them.

To try and cut down on the number of presentations at this and future meetings several display boards had been sited at the rear of the venue with information on various topics, this would free up time on agendas for other matters and help keep meetings close to their two hour planned duration.

Information on these display boards included:

• The Friends of Barton Farm Play Area Group.

• Bradford on Avon Town Council – proposed Woolley Street roundabout.

• Local Development Framework – feedback on the Bradford on Avon community area.

• Community area manager’s issues updates.

Eight Parish Councillors resigned from Winsley Parish Council on the 30th March. As the Parish Council was left inquorate (without enough members to take formal decisions), Wiltshire Council was requested to facilitate temporary governance arrangements until an election could be held. Two temporary appointments are now being made and local Parish Council elections will take place in Winsley  on the 24th June.

British Waterways mooring strategy – a meeting to discuss the proposed mooring strategy changes would be held at the Corn Exchange, Devizes on the 1 June 2010.

Apologies were received from Cllr Trevor Carbin who would be arriving later after attending a Parish Council meeting.

Councillors are requested to declare any personal or prejudicial interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2010.

Decision

The minutes of the meeting on 17 March 2010 were approved and signed as a correct record with the following amendments.

In attendance: Westwood Parish Council was solely represented by Councillor Terry Biles, and not Terry Biles and Chris Humphries.

Item 16 on p4:  The Historic Core Zone workshop was planned for July 2010 (not September).

Questions raised during the public participation session at the Bradford on Avon Area Board on the 17^th March 2010

Question 1:

At the Bradford-on-Avon Area Board meeting in January 2010 the residents of Bradford-on-Avon voted increasing funding for the care of older people as a priority. As Britain has a population with an increasingly higher proportion of older people this funding area will increase over the foreseeable future.

 Despite this, as shown in the Wiltshire Council’s Council Tax leaflet issued to residents, Wiltshire Council has decreased expenditure on front line services, not only for older people and the physically impaired, but also for those with learning difficulties and mental health problems, whilst increasing expenditure on central and core service which includes items such as Chief Executive costs, procurement and HR.

I am deeply concerned that the views of Bradford-on-Avon residents have been ignored in the budget calculations, but further would appreciate detailed justification for a) the cuts in the front line services mentioned above and b) the Council’s willingness to increase core and central services costs at a time when its budget is showing a reduction in the amount spent on care for older people, which is an area which will grow over the years due to the shift in demographics.”

Wiltshire Council Response:

The 2010-11 budget contains growth of nearly £19 million. Whilst some of this is being used to support corporate services such as essential ICT infrastructure, the majority of this relates to front line services. Adult care services including the elderly have had growth of over £4million.

Efficiency savings of nearly £25 million have all been achieved from back office functions from measures such as continuation of the One Council for Wiltshire savings as the second year of the business case, further efficiencies arising from the Business Management Programme, procurement efficiencies and a range of other measures to reduce management and administration costs. 

Diane Teale request for further clarification:

Regarding the other question on the budget, the response does not appear to address the points raised.

Regarding the other question on the budget, the response does not appear to address the points raised.

Whilst overall adult services may have increased - it is not possible to establish this based on the numbers I have received - nevertheless, my question specifically related to older people, those with the physically impaired and those with learning difficulties and mental health problems where the booklet supplied by Wiltshire Council shows expenditure has decreased.

Furthermore, whilst the budget does indeed show an increase in ICT, I did not raise a question on that increase - instead I queried the increase in Core and Central Services: ICT costs are shown separately.

Wiltshire Council Response:

The budget for 2010/11 was prepared to allow for some growth in Adult Care Services, in the region of £4m, for example to help manage the increase in the population of Older People. 

However, like the whole of the Council, Adult Care Services have also developed plans to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

• 20mph Speed Limit Campaigns in Limpley Stoke and Westwood.
• Priority for People Update.

20mph Speed limit campaigns in Limpley Stoke and Westwood.

Cllr Simon Coombe gave an update on the 20mph Speed limit campaign in Limpley Stoke.

Points made included:

• The original objective of the 20mph Speed Limit Campaign, led by the Parish Council, was to make the village lanes of Limpley Stoke safer to walk in.

• Progress had now been made; Limpley Stoke was now looking at solutions to the traffic issues and good partnership working had been established with Wiltshire Council Highways and the Bradford on Avon Area Board.

• Limpley Stoke Parish Council asked if it would be possible to have more information about the timing of the implementation of a trial 20mph site to assist other Parish Councils who were interested in 20mph speed limits.

David Bullock, (Highways Department, Wiltshire Council) gave an update on the 20mph Speed limit campaigns in Limpley Stokeand Westwood.

Points made included:

·        20mph speed limits were to be trialled at six locations across the county to determine the most effective locations for 20mph speed limits across Wiltshire. Westwood and Limpley Stoke had been provisionally selected as two of the six trial sites.

·        Wiltshire Council highways officers would now be talking to both parish councils about the speeding problems in their villages with a view to introducing a trial speed limit for up to 18 months.  A detailed analysis of the current speed of vehicles in both parishes will also be carried out in preparation for the trial. 

·        Once the current situation had been surveyed, the two parish councils would be encouraged to canvas local residents. The trial speed limits should be in place by October 2010.

·        Once in place, monitoring will be carried out over the following 18 months.  The success of the schemes will be judged on whether the new speed limits effectively reduce the speed of motorists. Evaluation of the trials will lead to the development of a detailed policy regarding 20mph limits early in 2012.

·        Westwood Parish Council asked if it would be possible to consider other traffic calming measures as part of this process. Dave Bullock confirmed that the project aimed to look specifically at 20mph trials and that other traffic calming measures would have to be raised separately.

·        Cllr Brown raised the issue of road safety on Ashley Road, where residents had also made enquiries about 20mph limits and the possibility of using 20mph stickers to warn motorists to slow down. Dave Bullock advised that a new black and yellow 20mph sticker had been agreed and would be available to residents through their neighbourhood policing team. It was also suggested that St Laurence may have a school travel plan which was already looking at the issue.

Agreed that the community area manager would speak to local residents about the problem in Ashley Road in more detail.

• Westwood Parish Council advised that there was not the same level of consensus in the village on the necessity of a 20mph speed limit as in Limpley Stoke but that they  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

Does the upcoming plan reflect current issues in the community?

Are there other issues you would like to see on the agenda?

The Chairman had requested that attendees spent five minutes thinking about whether the upcoming forward work plan reflected current issues in the community, and whether there were any other issues attendees would like to see on the future agendas.

The following topics were put forward as future agenda items:

·        Youth Funding.

·        Allocation Updates.

·        Services provided by English Landscapes and the quality of work provided.

·        Adult Health & Social Care.

Report on where the money was allocated this year.

Discussion: How we can allocate grants better in the future?

The Chairman posed the question, “Does the Bradford on Avon Area Board want a grants working group”?

Points made included:

• More scrutiny of grants was needed.

• More competition for grant funding would be beneficial to grants process.

• Insufficient time was currently given to the applications at meetings.

Decision

The Community Area Manager would continue to carry out criteria assessments for the eligibility of grant applications.

A group would be set up, comprising Wiltshire Council board members and Parish representatives to review and comment on grant applications before they were passed on to the Area Board members to consider at the Area board meeting.

Wednesday 21 July 2010 – Westwood Social Club

Wednesday 22 September 2010 – Bradford on Avon Social Club

Wednesday 24 November 2010 – venue TBC

Wednesday 21 July 2010 – Westwood Social Club

Wednesday 22 September 2010 – Bradford on Avon Social Club

Wednesday 24 November 2010 – venue TBC

Attendees were asked to complete the evaluation sheets that were included in their agenda packs.

Attendees were asked to complete the evaluation sheets that

were included in their agenda packs.