Agenda item

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the Melksham Oak Community School and then introduced the Wiltshire councillors who made up the area board, supporting Wiltshire Council officers and Cllr Stuart Wheeler, (cabinet member for Campus Development & Culture), who was attending the meeting.

The Chairman thanked the various stake holders and parish representatives in attendance as well as the Community Area Partnership and the Melksham Skate Park representatives for their respective displays which were viewed before the meeting.

The following Chairman’s announcements contained in the pack were noted:

Core Strategy

The core strategy now moves into a consultation period which starts on the 20 February and will run for six weeks.

Copies of the consultation document can be viewed at local libraries as well as Wiltshire Council offices.

Localism Act 2011

The Localism Act received Royal Assent on 15 November 2011.

The Act contains a number of enabling provisions.  These give the Secretary of State power to introduce regulations and guidance that will make the measures ‘live.’  We anticipate that the key areas will come into force from April 2012 onwards.

We will provide a more detailed briefing on the implications for Wiltshire early in 2012. Although the Act is 497 pages long, the implications of some of the key measures will not be clear until the Secretary of State has introduced regulations and guidance. We will keep you updated on major developments.

Youth Advisory Group (Melksham Pilot)

Melksham is one of four pilot areas trialling a new way in involving young people in decision making in Wiltshire by setting up Youth Advisory Groups (YAG).

Each pilot is focusing on a different aspect of involvement and trying out a different number of members.

The Melksham YAG will focus on understanding local needs, capabilities and identifying the gaps. The Melksham YAG is working with eight people - 50% of the group are under 19.  It is important to remember that the YAG is young people led.

After 3 months we will review all the YAG pilots and see what is working and what could be improved before YAGs are rolled out across the county. The aim is to have a selection of people who represent young people who use both council and voluntary youth services and representatives from Melksham Oak School.  The group will meet once a month during the pilot.

The first YAG meeting was held on Tues 31 January 2012.  The current membership for the Melksham YAG is:

• Louise Deer (Young Person)
• Carl Houghton (Young Person)
• Tim Webb (Young Person)
• Cllr Jon Hubbard (Area Board representative)
• Wendy McMahon (Atworth Youth Club)
• Abbi Gutierrez (Community Area Manager – Melksham, Wiltshire Council)

The group is inviting the following people to the next meeting on Tuesday 14 February, 12.30pm – 2pm, Kings Arms, Melksham.

• Representation from Melksham Oak School
• Atworth youth club young person

The YAG is being supported by the following members of staff:

• Siobainn Chaplin (Locality Team Leader, Wiltshire Council)
• Christina Gregory (Voice and Influence Team, Wiltshire Council)

The YAG will be chaired by a young person - the group agreed that this would be Carl Houghton for the trial, with Louise Deer as Vice Chair. It was highlighted that the adults on the YAG would be there to support them and Cllr Hubbard has offered to mentor the chair of the group. 

For more information contact Siobainn Chaplin at Canberra youth centre.

Help to Live at Home update

The council are continuing to work with the NHS, selected providers and residents of Wiltshire to implement the ‘Help to live at Home’ service. This service will, upon full implementation improve the experiences of people and their carers who require support, whilst ensuring that the changes are sustainable in the future.

The main priority at this stage is managing the movement of customers from existing providers to the new Help to Live at Home providers: Enara Complete Care, Ridgeway Care (now re-named Aster Living), Somerset Care at Home and Leonard Cheshire Disability. This is being managed on an individual basis to ensure that customer requirements are taken into account.  It is important that these changes are undertaken with as little disruption as possible to the customer concerned.

Service to the Community Awards, Wiltshire Police Authority

The Wiltshire Police Authority (WPA) Service to the Community Award recognises the exceptional service made by individuals within a Neighbourhood Policing Team.

They could be a Police Officer, Police Community Support Officer, Special Constable, or a volunteer - the only criteria is that you believe their service to the Neighbourhood Policing Team has been outstanding.

We are now seeking nominations from the public for this Award. So if you know someone from your Neighbourhood Policing Team who has ‘gone that extra mile’ or provided a service that you believe is second to none, then we want to hear about it.

The Judging Panel will then consider all Nominations and invite the short listed nominees to attend a lunchtime presentation on Tuesday 27^th March 2012.