Agenda item

·         Gypsies and Travellers Sites Consultation (attached)

·         Services for Children with Special Educational Needs Consultation (attached)

·         Contaminated Land Strategy for Wiltshire (attached)

·         Air Quality Strategy for Wiltshire (attached)

·         Reducing Unnecessary Street Lighting

The Chairman informed the Board that at the end of the financial year, Jane Scott, the Leader of the Council, had announced that extra funds had been made available for distribution through Area Boards. The total amounts of funding to be divided among the eighteen Area Boards are detailed below:

·         £100,000 – to help young people access services available to them

·         £250,000 – for improvements to local highways

·         £100,000 - for improvements to street lighting

The funds available to the South West Wiltshire Area Board would be based on there being three community areas.

The Chairman drew attention to the consultation papers which were attached to the agenda and urged anyone who had a particular interest in any of them to participate in the consultation exercises. The consultation papers were:

·         Gypsy and Traveller Consultation

Wiltshire Council was in the early stages of finding land for gypsy and traveller sites.  Information would be available from the end of April on the Council’s website (www.wiltshire.gov.uk) and in libraries and Council offices.  A number of drop in events were also planned – details were available on page 15 of the agenda.

·         Consultation on Services to Children with Special Educational Needs The Council was in the process of consulting on the provision of services to Children with Special Educational Needs.  Details were available on page 17 of the agenda and on the Council’s website.

·         Contaminated Land Strategy for Wiltshire

The Council was in the process of consulting on the above document. Details were available on page 19 of the agenda and on the Council’s website.

·         Air Quality Strategy for Wiltshire

The Council was in the process of consulting on the above strategy. Details were available on page 21 of the agenda and on the Council’s website.

Councillor Toby Sturgis explained the process behind the Gypsy and Traveller consultation, and urged anyone who was interested to attend the meeting due to be held on Thursday 13 May 2010, from 4.00pm – 8.00pm at City Hall, Salisbury.

A discussion then ensued; one of the points raised was that half a mile outside of Wiltshire, Dorset County Council were planning a Gypsy and Traveller site which had not been detailed on the map (on display at the meeting). Councillor Sturgis informed the Board that Wiltshire Council had written to neighbouring authorities, and that sites planned around the boarders of Wiltshire would be taken into account.

Reducing Street Lighting

Also discussed was the public consultation on whether to dim or turn off certain street lights within the community. Richard Munro, Community Area Manager agreed to write to parish councils and relevant stakeholders to invite comments.

Decision

The Board agreed that Richard Munro would liaise with all concerned to produce a list of street lights for consideration in the dimming/switching-off project.

Wilton Middle School Update

Councillor Richard Beattie gave an update on recent developments at the Wilton Middle School site, informing the Board that part of the site had recently been sold to the Plymouth Brethren, whilst the southern part of the site would be used for a youth centre.

Benefits of the move would include:

·         The vandalism to the empty building in Wilton would stop.

·         Wilton would have a youth centre.

·         Minor road improvements would take place.

The consequence of the Plymouth Brethren relocating to Wilton was that they would move out of the school at Tisbury, leaving the building vacant. The Chairman informed the Board that she had been asked by Councillor Jane Scott (Leader) and the Planning Department to put together a scheme for the development of the building.

Youth Worker Staffing Allocations

Kevin Sweeny, Senior Manager – Operations and Staffing (Youth Services), explained that Wiltshire Council had recently looked at how youth work was funded, and ascertained that some areas were receiving more than others, but that rural areas were receiving less.

It had been established that for every community area there should be a set entitlement to core funding. From 1 April 2010, budgets had been set which would fund additional hours of youth development work/support. The combined three community areas within the South West Wiltshire Area Board would receive 75 additional hours per week.

Although funds were available, changes would not take effect immediately, as it would take time to arrange people to cover the additional hours.

Jaki Farrell, Youth and Community Worker for the areas informed the Board that as a result of the forthcoming extra hours of support, she had begun to work in the more rural areas to drum up interest amongst the young people. Some consultation work for the young people had been planned to establish how best to use the additional support.