Issue - meetings

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

a) Wiltshire Police

b) Wiltshire Fire and Rescue

c) Wiltshire NHS

d) Town and Parish Councils

e) Marlborough and Villages Community Area Partnership (MaVCAP)

Wiltshire Police

Inspector Andy Noble – requested that the written update distributed with the agenda be noted.

That it was unclear at the moment as to how the spending review would impact on policing in Wiltshire, Inspector Noble advised that he would be happy to update the board at a future board meeting as to any Wiltshire Police re-modelling that came out of the review.

Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

The written update distributed with the agenda was noted.

NHS Wiltshire

The written update distributed with the agenda was noted.

Town or Parish updates

Sheila Glass – (Ramsbury & Axford Parish council) raised the issue of the  community area grant application from Ramsbury Allotment Association for £831 to install a water pipe to supply water to the field edge of recently acquired allotments.  The application was granted with the condition that each allotment holder paid £5 towards the scheme.

Sheila Glass then requested that the area board revoke the condition and resolve that in future meetings the feeling of the meeting should guide Councillors’ votes.

The Chairman advised that the area board had looked at this application as it does any other, the method used to come to the board’s decision was the method used on all applications and that area board meetings were a learning curve for everybody.

Julia Densham, the new community area manager advised that she would be visiting all the parishes to get a feel of how the parishes felt about the area board structure and the input that they had at the meetings they attended.

Points made by the area board members and the floor included:

• Each parish should have a voice at the area board meetings.

• Only four out of sixteen parishes were in attendance at this meeting.

• Wiltshire councillors should listen to the feeling of the meeting when making decisions.

• It was incorrect to think that the area board meetings were pro-Marlborough in the decisions made.

• It was a parish representative who had tabled the grant condition.

The Chairman thanked everybody for their input and advised that everybody should now move forward and not look back at past decisions.

Marlborough and Villages Community Area Partnership (MaVCAP)

Michael Edmonds, (MaVCAP Vice-chairman) briefly outlined the written update distributed with the agenda.

The Chairman thanked everybody for their updates.