Agenda and minutes

To welcome those present to the meeting.

The Chairman welcomed those present to the meeting and to the newly opened Needham House.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Laura Mayes, Cllr Sue Evans, Cllr Peter Evans, Ian Rose and Inspector Nick Mawson.

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 5 June 2017.  

Resolved:

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 5 June 2017.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

Cllr Simon Jacobs declared an interest in the Cllr-led initiative from Richard Gamble in respect of Devizes Outdoor Celebratory Arts, for this item Cllr Jacobs left the meeting in his capacity as a councillor and Cllr Philip Whitehead took the Chair.

To receive the following announcements through the Chairman:

·         Wiltshire Housing Site Allocations

For information a list of the proposed housing sites is provided to accompany this announcement.  When the consultation starts, all the supporting evidence will be on the following webpage - http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/wiltshsgsiteallocationsplan. This will include a topic paper for each community area specifically explaining how the proposals in the Plan have been developed.

The Chairman drew attention to details in the agenda pack and on the tables about the Wiltshire Housing Site Allocations Draft Plan which was out to consultation until 22^nd September. Details were also provided of a meeting planned for 28^th September to be led by Trust for Devizes and Claire Perry MP to discuss housing and planning strategy for the area.

The Board were pleased to hear from Worton and Marston Parish Council that refurbishment of the village hall was complete. Members were also thanked for their previous funding towards path repairs to a property used by the Tuesday Club at Market Lavington and were presented with a book to celebrate the project.

The meeting will be updated on the development of the newly opened Needham House.

Tours of the building will be available before the meeting from 6-6:30pm, everyone is welcome to join.

Niki Townshend welcomed those present to Needham House which had recently been opened and offered an ‘Extra Care’ facility. The offering of extra care was accommodation for the over 50s with the option of care to support them to live independently, the centre also had facilities open to wider the public. There were 47 apartments available at Needham House, either to rent or purchase, the cost of rent (including service charge) was £200 per week. In response to questions from the audience, it was confirmed that residents who required care could either bring in their own care providers or use those available onsite.

The Board thanked Niki for her presentation and for the tours of the building which were run earlier in the evening.

Students from Lavington School will present on and show photos from their recent 3 Peaks Challenge to scale Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon.

Lisa Adams and three students from Lavington School presented on their recent success at the Three Peaks Challenge, which had been supported by the Local Youth Network and Area Board which had granted £6,103 to support the event. The students from the school had also undertaken a significant amount of fundraising to allow them to purchase equipment to support their challenge. The students explained the training they had done to prepare for the challenge and then described the weekend of the challenge and shared photographs. Teacher Lisa Adams commended the young people for their hard work and dedication to the challenge and highlighted the group now held national records for the challenge as the largest and youngest school group to complete it, in the quickest time.

The Board thanked the students for their presentation and were delighted to hear the challenge had been a success.

Officers to present a proposed Public Space Protection Order for the meeting’s consideration.

A PSPO for Devizes  would be designed to prevent nuisance and/or anti-social behaviour by individuals or groups.

Rowena Lansdown (Public Protection Officer) introduced a proposed Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) for the Devizes area, the existing order was to expire in October and therefore required a review. Officers had engaged with relevant stakeholders in the local area and sought a mandate from the Area Board to begin work on evidence gathering to inform a new PSPO. Once a proposal had been produced it was to be publicised for consultation and it was suggested this could take place at a future Area Board meeting. Examples of the type of conditions that could be applied to a PSPO were provided.

Councillors commented that a PSPO would very much be welcomed by local people and it would also be beneficial if the working group could investigate evidence of nuisance and antisocial behaviour in the villages. An example of recent antisocial behaviour in Potterne was provided. In response to questions about enforcement of the Order, it was confirmed the Police had requested an Order be developed and were keen to enforce it.

Resolved:

To support the progression of the working group and development of a PSPO for Devizes.

To hear an update from the Devizes Dementia Action Alliance.

Graeme Morrison, Community Engagement Manager, updated on the progress of Devizes Dementia Action Alliance on behalf of Sheila Ashley. Thanks were given to Sheila for all her hard work in driving the Alliance forward. It was explained that the group’s purpose was to promote Dementia awareness in Devizes and make it a Dementia-friendly town. Examples were given of Dementia Friends sessions and the Safe Places project which supported this aim. Local businesses and community groups were encouraged to join the Alliance and examples of the things they could do to support Dementia awareness were highlighted.

Following questions on the ‘Safe Places’ scheme, it was acknowledged that people with Dementia may not be aware of, or be able to remember, how the initiative worked. The Alliance was working on a marketing campaign to promote Safe Places so local people without Dementia were also aware of it and could assist vulnerable people to make use of them.

The Chairman updated that Age UK would soon have a presence in the new ‘Devizes Hub’ in the former library building. The Community Engagement Manager updated there would be meeting rooms available in the Hub for community to book, and the Area Board hoped to meet there for its September meeting.

The Board thanked Graeme Morrison for his update.

To receive updates from the following partners:

a.    Wiltshire Polie

b.    Fire and Rescue Service

c.    Health Services

d.    Devizes Community Area Partnership

e.    Schools updates

f.      Town and Parish Councils

g.    Devizes Community Area Wellbeing Group

There were written updates available in the pack from Wiltshire Police and health services. It was noted the Fire and Rescue Service had not sent a representative to the meeting and this would be followed up.

Judy Rose, Devizes Community Area Partnership advised the group had met recently and was working on issues, but would provide a more substantial update to a future meeting.

Philip Bevan, Headteacher at Devizes School, introduced the meeting to a new logo for the school which had been re-designed to promote a fresh direction for the school and its place in the Devizes Community. Students and members of the community had previously been presented with various options for the logo and had voted on their favourite.

Sarah Loowkis, Headteacher at Lavington School, updated that the school was working closely with local army cadets to promote leadership amongst its students and invited residents to attend the school fete which was to be held on Thursday 20 July. Lisa Adams, explained the school had recently worked with SEND children across the county and been part of a ‘Rainbow Shower’ event exclusively for SEND young people. The event had been captured on GoPros and was shown to the Area Board.

Cllr Cuthbert thanked both local schools for their excellent work over the last 12 months and great community engagement.

Mike Challinor told the meeting that the Devizes Community Area Wellbeing Group hoped to host a day-long event in the summer of 2018 to raise the profile of older peoples issues in the area. Albert Wooldridge from the Men’s Shed project advised that volunteers were ready to move into the Shed at Needham House, however delays had been experienced in receiving the lease from the Council’s legal team. The Chairman advised he would contact the Council to try and progress the matter.

Residents are invited to ask questions of their local councillors.

Residents were invited to ask questions of their local councillors. Simon Fisher, Devizes Town Council, commented that the council had recently become responsible for Belvadere Woods and in the future hoped to improve the area and link it to the town centre. The council was also trying to produce a ‘What’s On’ Guide that covered the whole of Devizes. It was noted that Wilthsire Council and the Devizes Rotary Club were hoping to do some tree planting and perhaps this could link to the Belvadere Woods project.

It was highlighted that antisocial behaviour continued in the vicinity of West Lavington Village Hall, CCTV had been removed from the area, and the wait time for reporting to the Police via 101 was increasing. The Chairman advised he would raise this issue at a meeting about the Public Space Protection Order for Devizes area which was to be held the next day.

Thanks were provided to Lavington School for their help in fundraising for the path improvements for the Tuesday Club.

To receive any updates from the Devizes Air Quality and Transport Strategy Group.

The Board agreed to bring forward the Air Quality item.

Cllr Anna Cuthbert announced two new members had joined the Air Quality and Transport Strategy Group which had met recently. The group had been discussing the impact of air quality laws in the context of Britain’s exit from the EU. The councillor also advised works proposed for Windsor Drive were on schedule and funding was still available from developer contributions for air quality projects.

A written report from the group was to be provided to the next meeting.

Resolved:

To note the update from the Air Quality and Transport Strategy Group.

The Board agreed to bring forward determination of the councillor-led initiative to fund DOCA. Cllr Simon Jacobs left the meeting in his capacity as a councillor and Cllr Whitehead took the Chair.

Cllr Gamble introduced the funding application which would allow DOCA to continue running events such as the Street Arts Festival and Devizes Carnival which tens of thousands of local people enjoyed. It was explained DOCA had not been able to obtain sufficient funding from the Arts Council and needed to provide some match funding locally to allow a total £80,000 to be granted. Cllr Philip Whitehead expressed support of the funding on the condition that traffic cones purchased by DOCA be available for wider community use  as they were difficult and costly to obtain.

In response to questions from the floor it was explained that councillor-initiatives could grant more than £5,000 on the condition that it was an exception circumstance. The Board considered  this to warrant an exception since without it DOCA would not be able to achieve other funding, the £6,000 invested would generate much larger amounts of funding and the events DOCA organised were hugely important to the town. It was confirmed by a representative from DOCA that the Arts Council had granted the organisation approximately £10,000 less than they had applied for.

Resolved:

To grant £6,000 towards DOCA projects, on the condition that traffic cones purchased be available for other community groups to use for their events.

To receive an update from the Local Youth Network and consider the following applications for youth grant funding:

·        Alabare- £899.83 for a variety of activities for young people including sports and crafts.

Damian Haasjes , Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, will update the Area Board on a Forest School held during school holiday period.

Helen Bradley, Locality Youth Facilitator, advised that Alabare had applied for funding from the Local Youth Network however were not in attendance to answer questions from the Board.

Resolved:

To defer consideration of the application from Alabare to allow representatives to respond to questions about the project.

Damian Haasjes, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, reported back on a Forest School which the Area Board had granted funding towards. The Forest School had been run over the Easter holidays for five days, with six young people involved. The activities the young people had participated in were described and it was explained the idea was to push young people out of their comfort zone to improve confidence and wellbeing. The project had received excellent feedback and had proven to improve the wellbeing of the young people. The Trust hoped to run the Forest School again in the future and could take up to 12 young people per week.

The Board thanked Damien Haasjes for his presentation and were pleased the project had been such a success. 

To consider the update and any recommendations arising from the Community Area Transport Group (CATG) meeting held on 14 June 2017.

Cllr Whitehead welcomed new members to the CATG following the May elections and advised the group had approximately £15,000 available for schemes over the next 12 months. Updates were provided on work that was complete and views of the meeting were sought on the removal of a sleeping policemen at the cost of £10,000. The feedback from the meeting was that it was a lot of money to remove the sleeping policemen for the benefit of only one neighbouring property which had noise concerns, furthermore it was commented that future homeowners in the locality may wish to see such traffic calming measures introduced to reduce speeding.

The Chairman updated the CATG would soon have funding available to invest in footpath repairs in the area.  Comments from the floor included that bushes needed to be taken back along the A360 to open up the path, in response to which it was confirmed this should be undertaken at the same time as road repairs so as to limit road closures.

Cllr Whitehead advised he would liaise with Devizes Town Council to confirm information the CATG required from them.

Resolved:

To grant funding towards a 20mph limit at Little Cheverell (Low Rd), subject to a £2,500 contribution from the Parish Council. Total project cost £4,000.

To grant £2,500 towards a 20mph limit at All Cannings, subject to confirmation of the parish council contribution.

To consider applications for Community Area Grant funding:

·        The Lions Club of Devizes - £1,000 towards a public access defibrillator;

·        Wharf Theatre- £5,000 towards a renovation project.

To consider a Councillor-led initiative from Cllr Richard Gamble:

·        DOCA project works- £6,000

The Board considered applications for Community Area Grant funding. A representative from the Lions Club spoke in support of their application for £1,000 towards a public access defibrillator which would be the fifth they had organised for the town. The Chairman of the Wharf Theatre Committee spoke in support of the application for £5,000 towards building refurbishments to bring the theatre up to modern standards. Councillors spoke in favour of both applications.

Resolved:

To grant the Lions Club £1,000 towards a public access defibrillator.

To grant the Wharf Theatre £5,000 towards a renovation project.

Any other items of business which the Chairman agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items.

The next ordinary meeting of the Area Board will be held on 18 September 2017.

The next meeting was to be held on 18 September 2017 at the Community Hub.