Agenda and draft minutes

Nominations were sought for Chairman

Cllr Gavin Grant, seconded by Cllr Toby Sturgis, moved that Cllr John Thomson be elected as Chairman of Malmesbury Area Board for the municipal year 2018/2019

There being no other nominations, it was

Resolved:

To elect John Thomson as the Chairman of Malmesbury Area Board for the municipal year 2018/2019

Nominations were sought for Vice-Chairman

Cllr Gavin Grant, seconded by Cllr Chuck Berry, moved that Cllr Toby Sturgis be elected as Vice-Chairman of Malmesbury Area Board for the municipal year 2018/2019

There being no other nominations, it was

Resolved:

To elect Toby Sturgis as the Vice-Chairman of Malmesbury Area Board for the municipal year 2018/2019

The Chairman welcomed all those in attendance and introduced the members.

There were no apologies

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 2 May 2018.

The meeting considered the minutes of the previous meeting.

Resolved

To approve as a correct record for signing by the Chair the minutes of the meeting from the 2^nd May 2018.

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

Councillor Gavin Grant stated that as he was Chair of trustees for the HEALS charity he would leave the room during the consideration of their application for youth funding and would therefore not participate in the debate or vote on that item.

·         Special School Consultation

·         Youth Parliament

The Chairman drew the meeting’s attention to the announcements printed in the agenda pack.

To receive an update on the Local Youth Network (LYN) and for the Area Board to consider five Youth Grant(s):

1.    CMAS Malmesbury After school drop in - £2,500

2.    CMAS Malmesbury Targeted / Drop in - £2,500

3.    CMAS -LGTB Support (Delegated authority) - £1,900

4.    HEALS summer programme - £1,500

5.    Thrive / Mind Reset - £1,355

The meeting considered the report which gave an update on activities and asked the Area Board to consider making awards.

Matters raised included: the number of young people catered for by schemes including those from the village communities; the partnership working with the local PCSO; how work is targeted at vulnerable groups and children;  and that almost all groups have reached up to 50% contributions from other sources.

Resolved

1.    HEALS summer programme - £1,500

2.    CMAS Malmesbury After school drop in - £2,500

3.    CMAS Malmesbury Targeted / Drop in - £2,500

4.    CMAS -LGTB Support (Delegated authority) - £1,900

5.    Thrive / Mind Reset - £1,355

Admin Note: Having previously declared an interest, Councillor Grant left the room for the discussion and the vote on the HEALS application but was present and participated on the votes for the remaining applications.

To receive a presentation on the changes to waste collection.

The Area Board received a presentation from Martin Litherland, Head of Waste Management about changes in the Waste Management Service from the end of July 2018.

Issues highlighted in the course of the presentation included: the increased range of materials, including waxed cartoons, would be recyclable from 30th July 2018; the reminders to rinse and squash waste to fit it into the receptacles; that additional bins are available on request; that recycling saved energy, costs less and frees up space in the household waste bin; the decrease in waste going to landfill; the plans, for next year, to be able to co-mingle materials, but that this would require further work; that some plastics were best to avoid as they were harder to recycle; that the changes would help to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill and achieve recycling rates of at least 50%; that there will be no changes currently to the timing and frequency of collections; the importance of getting information out about the importance of recycling the right plastics and the need to encourage reuse.

Councillors, Town and Parish Councils and Community Groups were encouraged to work with Waste Services to spread the message about the changes, and all people are encouraged to sign up for email updates from the service. https://services.wiltshire.gov.uk/WiltsForms/WasteRegistration

In response to a question by representatives from Malmesbury Against Plastics Groups, it was noted that: the Council was keen to promote ways that people can reduce the use of single use plastics and wanted to promote this; that black box size wont change but households can request additional boxes if they are needed; that the Council’s strategy is to move forward in 2019 with a comingled service and that at that point the black box could be left for glass only;

Councillor John Thomson stated in response to a question that Council had made a decision to reduce the hours of operation at Household Recycling Centres across the county as a way to achieve cost savings as this was deemed preferable to closing some sites, and was done so after site usage was monitored to identify times of peak demand. It was also noted that HRCs had extended openings during summer months.

The Chair thanked the officer for the update.

To receive an update on the Town Team project.

Sarah, from the Malmesbury Town Team, gave a presentation on their project to encourage residents and visitors to discover  more about what Malemsbury had to offer:

Matters raised in the course of the presentation and discussion included: that the group had been created as part of the s106 agreement that had funded some research and then a plan to enhance the vitality of the town centre; the work to promote and support more visitors; the five priority areas for work including branding and events; that there isn’t a chamber of commerce for the town but work is underway; that a website www.discovermalmesbury.life had been set up; that a free town guide was developed; the marketing and advertising activity undertaken; the efforts to support a Friday market; that parking is often an issue and agreement had been reached for pilot for 2 hours free parking; that usage of that car park had increased threefold want to do further research on who uses and why; the work with town council and Wiltshire council; the late night shopping event, the current projects working on coach friendly status and the Vale action bid; the academic partnerships going in to research history, and efforts made to make history more accessible; improving signing from the long-stay car park to the town centre; and the project to have a gift card.

The Chairman thanked Sarah for the update.

An opportunity to hear from Inspector Mark Luffman giving an  overview of the Community Policing Team model which was introduced in October 2016.

There will also be an opportunity for questions.

Inspector Mark Luffman, Community Policing Team Inspector, gave a presentation regarding the development of the policing model in the area, and gave an honest picture of the demand on police and the resources available to officers.

Matters highlighted in the course of the presentation and discussion included: that there is 1 officer for every 800 people; the level of crime in Wiltshire including the average daily instances; that there had been a reduction of 350 officers since 2008 following reductions in funding; that around 1,000 families in the county had been identified as being on the Troubled Families Programme; how the force was responding to organised crime in the county; how increased reporting following greater awareness of issues such as child sexual exploitation has increased demand; that a cyber-crime unit has been set up to address new forms of criminality; how the risk of missing people is assessed; how people with mental health needs can be taken to a place of safety, and that police now have some mental health nursing staff available in police control rooms to help staff on the ground deal better with issues; that Wiltshire remains a very safe place; that there were no plans to recruit detectives from civilians, but that the force was encouraging uniformed officers to move into CID; the priority areas for action, and how police are using the public to assist them in minor crimes; how local initiatives, working together in partnership, create diversionary activities and develop outreach projects to try and prevent vulnerable younger people from being preyed upon; the changes made under the community policing team model around two years ago, and how the teams are split geographically; the value placed on PCSOs by the local community; the work being done to reinvigorate neighbourhood watch groups; the call on resources such as the visit from the American president, counter-terrorism and the ongoing investigations in Salisbury and Amesbury.

The Chairman thanked the officer for the presentation; and the Area Board recorded formally its gratitude to the Wiltshire Police, and commend the partnership work which has been shown in response to recent events.

To receive updates from the following partners:

a.    Wiltshire Police

b.    Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

c.    Healthwatch Wiltshire

d.    Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)

e.    Malmesbury and the Villages Community Area Partnership (MVCAP)

f.     Riverside Centre

g.    Health & Wellbeing Champion

h.    Town and Parish Councils

The meeting noted the written updates submitted and had the opportunity to ask questions on the issues raised therein.

Additional verbal updates included:

·         Riverside Centre – A new group had started to support people with issues around bereavement which would meet 2-4pm every Tuesday.

·         Malmesbury Town Council – There would be a stand at WOMAD staffed by volunteers to help promote Malmesbury and encourage visitors.

To consider appointments to Outside Bodies and Groups

The meeting considered the report which enabled the Area Board to make appointments to outside bodies and groups.

Resolved

To make the following appointments:

1.    Malmesbury Community Trust – Councillor John Thomson

2.    Malmesbury LYN – Councillor Gavin Grant

3.    CATG as set out in the report

4.    LYNMG as set out in the report

5.    Health and Wellbeing Champion – Ellen Blacker

6.    Health and Wellbeing Group – Councillor Chuck Berry

Councillors will be asked to consider the Community Area Grants report and make recommendations on the applications received:

1.    Sherston Scout Hut Refurbishment Seed Fund - £750

2.    Ashton Keynes Village Hall Improvements - £640

The meeting considered the report which asked the Area Board to consider funding applications.

The meeting had to opportunity to hear from applicants and to ask questions.

At the conclusion of the item, the meeting;

Resolved

To make the following awards:

1.  Sherston Scout Hut Refurbishment Seed Fund - £750

2.  Ashton Keynes Village Hall Improvements - £640

The Area Board will be asked to consider the recommendations from the 12 June 2018 Malmesbury Community Area Transport Group (CATG) meeting outlined in the report.

The Area Board will be asked to consider the recommendations from the 12 June 2018 Malmesbury Community Area Transport Group (CATG) meeting outlined in the report.

Resolved

To adopt the recommendations of the Community Area Transport Group as outlined in their report.

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

There were no urgent items, but the Chairman mentioned that the Council had approved a motion that banned the release of helium balloons and sky lanterns on council owned land and would be encouraging parish and town council’s to do the same.

The next meeting of the Malmesbury Area Board will be held on Tuesday, 18^th September 2018, 7.00 pm.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Malmesbury Area Board would be held on Tuesday, 18th September 2018, 7.00 pm.