Agenda and minutes

To welcome those present to the meeting.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and invited the Councillors

present to introduce themselves.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from:

·         Cllr Anna Cuthbert – Wiltshire Council

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 19 November 2019.

Resolved:

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 19 November 2018.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive the following announcements through the Chairman (written briefing notes are available in the full agenda pack, or online):

·         Polling District and Polling Place Review

The Chairman made the following announcements:

·         Polling District and Polling Place Review

The Chairman announced that there would be a review of polling districts and polling places, to ensure that all electors had reasonably practicable facilities for voting. A written update was available in the agenda pack with more information.

·         Special Schools Notice

The Chairman announced that a statutory consultation had opened on Wiltshire Councils vision for special schools. The consultation would end on 1 March 2019. The meeting was advised that further details could be found in agenda supplement 3 and online. Comments from the public via the Councils Consultation website would be welcome.

To receive updates from the following partners:

a.    Wiltshire Police

b.    Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner – priorities and precept consultation

c.    Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

d.    Health Services

e.    Schools updates

f.     Town and Parish Councils

Written updates were available in the agenda pack from Wiltshire Police, The OPCC, Healthwatch Wiltshire and the Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group.

In addition to the written updates, the following verbal updates were given by

partners present:

·         Wiltshire Police

Inspector Chris Martin stated that there had been some positive prevention work undertaken involving targeting drink and drug drivers and preventing drug deals. Purse chains had been handed out to help prevent theft. The board queried negative media coverage of a police Tweet and Facebook post, which had allegedly asked users to let them know which village they should patrol. This was perceived negatively by the public as it was felt that everywhere should be patrolled and that if a village was identified as the one being patrolled criminal activity would move to other locations. The Inspector was unaware of the posts but accepted the point. PCSO’s would patrol all villages. He felt possibly the posts had been worded badly, however the intention was for people to  report any issues in particular locations so that they could be addressed.

·         Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner – priorities and precept consultation

A video from the OPCC was shown to the meeting explaining the reasoning behind proposed increased to the PCC precept. This would mean that for an average household the precept would increase by around £2.00 per month. The extra funds raised were to be spent on increasing community policing and tackling cyber-crime. The consultation deadline was midday on 31 January 2019. The Police and Crime Commissioner, Angus Macpherson then invited questions.

The board pointed out that using the figures provided this was an increase of 13% which seemed excessive in today’s difficult financial environment. The PCC confirmed that it was 13%, however this equated to £2 per month for an average household. The board queried the large numbers of non-operational staff employed by the PCC and whether the PCC were looking at ways to reduce their non-operational spend. The PCC responded, stating that the tax payers alliance had named his office as one of the cheapest in the country. Funds raised from the increased precept would go to frontline services, for example new cyber-crime teams. The board also questioned the property estate of the police. There were particular concerns regarding the Devizes estate as there was an opportunity for the whole community to work together to redevelop the area and the police station would be a very important part of this. The PCC stated that they were working through the estate, with some facilities being closed and others redeveloped. However this was a long process that would take time.

Cllr Richard Slack of Worton Parish Council stated that Worton Parish Council were unhappy with the increase in precept and that some OPCC non-frontline staff salaries had gone up by 11% or even 13%, which were very large increases and against the public norm. He queried what assurances the PCC could give that the precept increases would go to frontline services and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To receive an update on the Devizes Health and Wellbeing Group.

The Chairman congratulated Care Home Volunteers, who beat off strong opposition to be crowned the Volunteer Team of the Year at the second annual Caring UK Awards.

Cliff Evans, Chair of the Health and Wellbeing group gave an update. Following “The Big Conversation” five key projects had been identified. It was hoped these would be ratified at the next HWBG meeting. These included good neighbours week and holding a HWB day similar to last years, this was due to take place on Saturday 22 June 2019. They were also looking at holding an event where volunteers could meet and discuss projects, it was hoped that the Mayor would sponsor this. A club toolkit would be created, which would simply outline how people could start a club or group. It was also hoped that a local services index could be created which could point people in the right direction when looking for services. 

The Chairman thanked Cliff for his hard work.

To consider any updates and recommendations arising from the Community Area Transport Group (CATG).

There had not been a CATG meeting since the last area board.

Cllr Philip Whitehead gave a brief presentation on the live roadworks map that was available to view on the Wiltshire Council website. (Found under highways, road closures at http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/highways-road-closures). Wiltshire Council road works and planned utility works were shown on the map, with a colour coding system to indicate severity (red being severe, green being slight). Emergency utilities works may not be on the map but would be added as soon as Wiltshire Council was aware of them. The map results could be filtered around dates and locations to make it more relevant to the user.  

The Chairman thanked Cllr Whitehead.

To receive an update from Cllr Laura Mayes on Assize Court.

Cllr Laura Mayes gave a presentation on developments at Assize Court. Cllr Mayes confirmed that after five years of negotiation Assize Court had been purchased by the Devizes Assize Court Trust, of which she was a trustee. The trust now needed to fundraise £10 million to restore the building and bring it back into use. The hope was that Assize Court may be the home of the new Devizes Museum. Cllr Mayes wished to be the community voice on the project, making sure that the building was for the people of Devizes and included community spaces. The trust were hoping to hold community events to get people’s views on the project. Sadly it may take up to 8 – 10 years until the building was usable as it was in such a terrible state of disrepair at present. The trust would apply for various grants but also hoped that people would donate funds if possible.

Residents are invited to ask questions of their local councillors.

Albert Wooldridge of the Devizes Men’s Shed agreed that the PCC needed more money. However he was concerned that this would set a precedent for Wiltshire Council and Devizes Town Council to raise their precepts as well. Cllr Whitehead stated that Wiltshire Council was proposing a 2.99% increase in precept but that this figure would not be confirmed until later in the year when the proposal went to Council.

In response to questions put to Cllr Mayes regarding an update on the London Road and Windsor Drive works, Cllr Mayes asked Cllr Whitehead to respond. Cllr Whitehead stated that the original estimated cost of the works was £380,000, however the overrun had cost a further £270,000. This was paid for by Wiltshire Council. An investigation had been held, the results of which were stated as follows. There had been too great a reliance on there not being any problems once the ground on site was broken, unfortunately however two problems were found which resulted in the overrun. This overrun took the works out of the summer holidays and works had to be restricted to non-peak hours. Other issues identified were the project management system used and that communications between Wiltshire Council and the contractor were not as good as they should have been once the project had overrun. Matters were further complicated by some utilities works which took place at the same time making congestion worse. Lessons had been learnt. A new management protocol had been established involving there being one project lead from whom the contractor would take instruction. It was also felt that public communications could have been better for example by using social media to update people.

Presentation on National Armed Forces Day 2019, by the Community Engagement Manager (CEM), to generate discussion about how the community can become involved on the day and in legacy projects.

To receive an update from the Community Engagement Manager.

The Community Engagement Manager gave a presentation on National Armed Forces Day 2019.

National Armed Forces Day was to be held in Salisbury in 2019 and would in fact run over 3 days Friday 28 June to Sunday 20 June. It would be a national event likely to attract 250,000 people over the 3 days. The event would be free to attend!

Friday 28 June was to be an Armed Forces Personnel and family event, with children’s activities and entertainment, a celebrity chef BBQ, live entertainment and a gala dinner. Saturday 29 June was to be themed a community day, where there would be VVIPs in attendance, armed forces parades, fly pasts, arenas and marquees as well as an evening concert and fireworks. Sunday 30 June was to be themed Veterans’ and youth day with more live entertainment, an afternoon tea for veterans, a world record breaking attempt to create the largest human poppy, a commemoration service, fly past and wartime singalong.

There would be the opportunity for all Wiltshire Community Areas to be involved via three creative projects: A social media and NAFD photograph competition; a commemorative tapestry and the human poppy world record attempt.

The Chairman was talking to the Devizes British Legion who were keen to lead the effort from Devizes. Many ideas were surfacing about how to involve the community, including the possibility of a walk from Devizes to Hudson’s Field or a staged walk. Cllr Mayes would contact her staff to see if looked after children could be involved.  

To consider the following application to the Community Area Grants Scheme:

·         NAFD projects, £1,500, towards the costs of the local elements of the project.

To consider any other applications for grant funding from the Community Area Grants Scheme.

To note the following grant applications awarded under the delegated authority of the Community Engagement Manager:

·         The Old School day Centre, Market Lavington Tuesday Club, £1,200.00, towards chairs and tables to allow the lunch club to start meeting in the community centre again.

·         Potterne Parish Council, £1500.00, towards educational events to commemorate the centenary of the end of WW1. (£1000.00 from Youth Grant Funding and £500.00 from Community Area Grant Funding).

·         Devizes Town Band, Devizes Children’s Choir and St Johns Church Choir, £2000.00, towards the Devizes Commemoration of end of WW1 Concert. (Awarded £1,000.00 from Health and Wellbeing funding and £1000.00 from Community Area Grant funding).

The Board considered the applications to the Community Area Grants Scheme as detailed in the agenda. It was;

Resolved:

·         To grant National Armed Forces Day projects, £1,500.00 towards local elements of the projects.

·         To grant the Clock Inn Park Residents Association, £410.00, towards a defibrillator for the Clock Inn Park.

·         To grant All Cannings CE Primary School, £3,000.00 towards their school radio project.

o   To note that although the board would award the full £3,000, it was hoped that £1,000 could be recouped from Pewsey Area Board as the project would also benefit the Pewsey Area.

To note the following grant applications already awarded under the delegated authority of the Community Engagement Manager:

·         The Old School day Centre, Market Lavington Tuesday Club, £1,200.00, towards chairs and tables to allow the lunch club to start meeting in the community centre again.

·         Potterne Parish Council, £1500.00, towards educational events to commemorate the centenary of the end of WW1. (£1000.00 from Youth Grant Funding and £500.00 from Community Area Grant Funding).

·         Devizes Town Band, Devizes Children’s Choir and St Johns Church Choir, £2000.00, towards the Devizes Commemoration of end of WW1 Concert. (Awarded £1,000.00 from Health and Wellbeing funding and £1000.00 from Community Area Grant funding).

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 March 2019 at the Devizes Hub and Library, Sheep Street, Devizes, Wiltshire, SN10 1DJ.

The next ordinary meeting of the Area Board would be held on Monday 18 March 2019 at Devizes Hub and Library, Sheep Street, Devizes, Wiltshire SN10 1DJ.