Agenda item

The Chairman made the following announcements:

Gypsy and Traveller Consultation

Wiltshire Council was preparing a plan that would identify land for gypsy and traveller sites and include a policy for assessing the suitability of other sites the Council was asked to consider through the planning application process.

Wiltshire Council had a responsibility to plan for the housing needs of everyone in the Wiltshire community. This included the accommodation needs of gypsies, travellers and travelling show people.

An eight week consultation on the issues and general approach to identifying land for new gypsy, traveller and show people sites was to start on Tuesday 6 April and would run until 5pm on Friday 4 June 2010.

All information that related to the consultation was to be available from the end of March on the Wiltshire Council website, in the main Council offices and available at local libraries.

To discuss the issues involved in this consultation in more detail, drop in events were being held.  The nearest event would be held at the Neeld Hall, Chippenham between 4pm and 8pm on Wednesday 5 May 2010.  Other events were also being held in Devizes and Salisbury.

The Review of Special Educational Needs Provision

Over recent months Wiltshire Council officers had worked with schools, parent representatives and other people to review Special Educational Needs (SEN) provision in the county.

The review considers:

·                special school provision

·                specialist provision that was part of mainstream primary and secondary schools and

·                SEN support services for schools of which there were many in this area.

A document had been written that set out what the review had shown and what the Council would like to do in the future. This would now be shared with a wide range of people who were invited to respond to say what they think about the Council’s proposals.  As soon as the document became available it would be circulated to Parish Councils, through the Area Boards network, and it would also be available on the Wiltshire Council website.

Waste Collection Consultation

A planned public consultation into possible changes to Wiltshire's waste and recycling service which was due to start shortly, would now not take place until after the General Election.

The reason for this decision was that there appeared to be differing national policies regarding future waste and recycling services emerging from Whitehall which had caused confusion and uncertainty. It would, therefore, be inappropriate to hold a consultation until the council had a clear steer on the national policy following the General Election.

In the meantime, our waste and recycling services would continue to operate as currently provided.

Regarding the waste site review, consultation on a plan for civic waste sites over the next 15/20 years would go to Area Boards in summer 2010. The consultation would be put to Cabinet in July for authorization and consultation would follow. The consultation would not necessarily go to all Area Boards, but to those in which sites fell.

Flood Fairs

As part of a county-wide flood survey, flood fairs for town and parish councils were to be held, the first of which was at the Olympiad Leisure Centre, Chippenham on 14 April, 10.00am to 2.00pm.  Refreshments and a buffet lunch would be provided. 

The purpose of the flood fair was to raise awareness of flooding and drainage issues and to encourage local communities to consider how flooding affected their area.

Speakers from the Environment Agency, Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service, National Flood Forum, the Met Office and Wiltshire Council Emergency Planning Team were to undertake presentations. The event was also to include displays of flooding related equipment used by the various agencies to deal with drainage and flooding, Wessex Water PLC & 365 (Drainage Company) were also to be in attendance.

Provision of Out Of Hours Medical/Dental Services

NHS Wiltshire wished to inform people about the new Wiltshire-wide service for out of hours urgent medical and dental treatment. From 1 April 2010, Wiltshire Medical Services was to provide a single service across the county.

Further information was available at the meeting and in libraries.

Mother’s Day Bike Ride for Afghan Heroes

Sara Brown described the recent event that raised money for Afghan Heroes and she wished to thank all those involved in co-ordinating the event particularly Wiltshire Police and Wiltshire fire and Rescue Service.