Agenda item

To note the written reports and receive updates from any partners who wish to contribute:

      i.        Parish and Town Councils

    ii.        Wiltshire Police

   iii.        Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

   iv.        NHS Wiltshire

    v.        Chippenham and Villages Area Partnership (ChAP)

   vi.        Chippenham Vision

  vii.        Chippenham Shadow Community Operations Board

viii.        Community Area Young People’s Issues Group (CAYPIG)

   ix.        Youth Strategy Update

    x.        Lyneham Steering Group

   xi.        Chippenham Partnership of Schools.

Updates from partners were received as follows:

      i.        Parish and Town Councils

Kington Langley Parish Council

Further to concern raised at the previous Area Board meeting regarding the calling-in process of planning applications, a constructive meeting had been held with planning officers and it was agreed that effective communication was the key factor. However, the Parish Council still felt that current procedures were lacking and that a 2-week notice period of a planning decision should be issues to the parish/town council and the local member to enable it to be called in if required.

Action: the Chairman undertook to feed this into the Development Services review.

Christian Malford Parish Council

The HGV issue on the B4069 was ongoing, and a recent incident had occurred on Lyneham Banks with a lorry overturning on a sharp bend. It was noted that the Council had recently produced a report on this issue, which was actually a countywide issue, and that the issues were being taken forward. It was also noticed that some hauliers had agreed not to use the B4069 route which was a positive start to further potential negotiations.

Seagry Parish Council

The new village hall was complete and ready to be hired out.

Chippenham Town Council

Following the recent Streetpride audit that had been undertaken, 31 signs had been identified as requiring replacing or improving. The Town Council would be considering funding the new signage at its next Planning & Environment Committee.

Biddestone & Slaughterford Parish Council

The Parish Council issued a plea for Chinese Lanterns to be used responsibly as they were still being found in land across the parish and could present various health and safety issues.

    ii.        Wiltshire Police

A full report from Wiltshire Police was contained within the agenda pack. In response to some concern regarding drug use in the town, Inspector Martin Schorah reported that drug offences in Chippenham had decreased from 133 to 123 over the past 12 months, and these were largely cautions for cannabis possession. Dwelling burglaries had also decreased which were often linked to drug offences, so overall the statistics did not support the view that Chippenham had problems with drug use.

Concern was expressed regarding the level of graffiti in the town; particularly as some of the graffiti was on the route that the Olympic Torch runners were due to take. Inspector Schorah reported that overall criminal damage in the Chippenham area had not risen, but that the Police could try to patrol the Torch route. Inspector Schorah did agree that the success of the spray art wall needed reviewing in order to determine its effectiveness.

Bill Parks, Head of Highways and Streetscene, reported that all of the Olympic Torch routes across the county were being looked at, which included graffiti.

   iii.        Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service

It was reported that there had been no fatal fires in Wiltshire in the last financial year, however there had recently been a serious but non-fatal fire at a house in Chippenham which proved how fast fires could spread.

   iv.        NHS Wiltshire

A report from NHS Wiltshire was included within the agenda pack; there were no further updates.

Action: It was agreed that NHS Wiltshire should be invited to a future meeting to discuss the various changes that were taking place.

    v.        Chippenham and Villages Area Partnership (ChAP)

It was announced that Jane Clark, who had successfully chaired the partnership for several years, had retired from the position and had been succeeded by Dave Purton.

Dave took the opportunity to thank Jane, on behalf of the partnership, for her unstinting commitment of both time and expertise, and to offer her the partnership’s very best wishes in her future endeavours.

The Chairman of the Area Board and the Leader of the Town Council also took the opportunity to thank and congratulate Jane for her commitment and achievements over the years and also wished her well.

Some of the key headlines and projects of ChAP at present included:

·         The establishment of ChAP Projects Ltd to run funded projects

·         The Parish Forum to be held in Biddestone Village Hall on 23 May

·         The Chippenham River Festival taking place on 25 and 26 August

·         The continuation of the river clear-up

·         A Chippenham Volunteering Event on 15 September

·         The ChAP AGM in the Jubilee Building on 14 May at 6.30pm.

   vi.        Chippenham Vision

The work on the Masterplan was progressing well and Aceon had been appointed as consultants for this project and was working with DTZ to undertake financial assessments. A stakeholder consultation meeting was being arranged to ensure everyone was happy with everything before the design work commenced.

It was also reported that Wiltshire Council had undertaken a review of the functions of the Vision. Chippenham, Trowbridge and Salisbury all had a Vision and an individual Vision Director but these posts were set to change. Tim Martienssen, as Vision Director for Chippenham, would remain in post but would be taking on additional responsibilities within the Council.

The Terms of Reference for the Vision would be revised following a meeting with the Area Board members, in order to ensure all appropriate teams were working efficiently together.

  vii.        Chippenham Shadow Community Operations Board (Shadow COB)

The Shadow COB had completed an extensive exercise of creating a baseline report on the Chippenham area in order to collate essential information that would support the Campus project.

The notes of the meetings of the Shadow COB were available on the Wiltshire Council website at: 

 http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityandliving/communitycampuses/chippenhamcommunitycampus.htm

It was noted that the Shadow COB currently had two vacancies for deputy members of the Shadow COB.

Decision

The Area Board made the following appointments of deputy members of the Chippenham Shadow Community Operations Board:

·         Andy Inkpen, representing the Wider Community

·         Sarah Flack, representing Education and Young People

viii.        Community Area Young Peoples’ Issues Group

The Wiltshire Youth Strategy was ongoing and a Task Group was in place. There was a strong need for a cohesive strategy that enabled links in the right places. Despite recent budget reductions the service was faring well but was being looked at to see if services could be delivered in other ways.

   ix.        Chippenham Partnership of Schools

It was noted that Claire Brooks, who had been previously nominated as the Head Teacher to represent schools at the Area Board, had recently moved on from her role. There were also new Head Teachers at Sheldon, Langley Fitzurse and Stanton St Quinton schools.

It was also reported that the Chippenham Multi-Agency Forum had formed a working party to look at deliberate self-harm in children.