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:

·         Nigel Carter, Devizes Town Council

·         Acting Inspector Pete Foster, Wiltshire Police

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 18 March 2019.

Resolved:

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 18 March 2019.

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

Cllr Anna Cuthbert declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 11, the youth grant application from Devizes School, as her children went to the school. She declared she would consider the application with an open mind and would still vote on the item.

To receive the following announcements through the Chairman:

·         Community Led Housing Project

Community led housing is about local people playing a leading and lasting role in solving local housing problems, creating genuinely affordable homes and strong communities in ways that are difficult to achieve through mainstream housing.

Wiltshire Council, in partnership with Community First and Wiltshire Community Land Trust, has set up a partnership project to advise and support communities to address their housing needs.

·         Homelessness Strategy Consultation

A consultation has been launched on how we can prevent homelessness and help those who are homeless to find a home.

Wiltshire Council is asking for views on its new strategy which sets out priorities and actions to work with those who are homeless or threatened with homelessness, to help them secure and keep a good home. The consultation can be accessed at: https://surveys.wiltshire.gov.uk/snapwebhost/s.asp?k=155240979642

·         The Extended Consultation on Vision for Special School Provision has finished

You can find details of this (alongside a briefing paper) here: http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal/education/special_schools_consultation_extension   

·         The Big Pledge 2019

To promote the challenge that will run 3 June- 14 July.

·         The Maltings and Central Car Park Masterplan Consultation

Wiltshire Council is consulting on a draft masterplan for the redevelopment of The Maltings and Central Car Park, Salisbury. Once the masterplan has been endorsed by Wiltshire Council it will provide a clear approach for how the site is to be redeveloped over the coming years. The documents are available on the Wiltshire Council website at: www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planning-policy.  Comments are invited on the draft masterplan until 5:00pm Friday 24th May 2019. Comments can be made: Online via the council’s consultation portal: http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal  or by email to majorprojects@wiltshire.gov.uk.

The Chairman made the following announcements:

·         Community Led Housing Project

Wiltshire Council, in partnership with Community First and Wiltshire Community Land Trust, had set up a partnership project to advise and support communities to address their housing needs.

It was stated that community led housing was about local people playing a leading and lasting role in solving local housing problems, creating genuinely affordable homes and strong communities in ways that are difficult to achieve through mainstream housing.

·         Homeless Strategy Consultation

The Chair announced that a consultation had been launched on how we can prevent homelessness and help those who are homeless to find a home.

Wiltshire Council was asking for views on its new strategy which set out priorities and actions to work with those who are homeless or threatened with homelessness, to help them secure and keep a good home. The consultation could be accessed at: https://surveys.wiltshire.gov.uk/snapwebhost/s.asp?k=155240979642. The meeting was encouraged to take part.

·         The Extended Consultation on Vision for Special School Provision

The Chair announced that this consultation had now finished. However, details of this (alongside a briefing paper) could still be accessed online at: http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal/education/special_schools_consultation_extension.

·         The Big Pledge 2019

The Chair announced that the Big Pledge challenge would be running again this year from 3 June - 14 July. A short video was shown to the meeting with details on the challenge.

Cllr Simon Jacobs and Cllr Philip Whitehead stated that they would be signing up and the meeting was encouraged to sign up.

·         The Maltings and Central Car Park Masterplan Consultation

The Chair stated that Wiltshire Council was consulting on a draft masterplan for the redevelopment of The Maltings and Central Car Park, Salisbury. Once the masterplan had been endorsed by Wiltshire Council it would provide a clear approach for how the site is to be redeveloped over the coming years.

The documents were available on the Wiltshire Council website at: www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planning-policy.  Comments were invited on the draft masterplan until 5:00pm on Friday 24th May 2019. Comments could be made online via the council’s consultation portal: http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal or by email to majorprojects@wiltshire.gov.uk.

·         North Wessex Downs Walking Festival

The Chair announced the first North Wessex Downs Walking Festival. Which would run from 8th to 23rd June, many of the walks would be free of charge and ranged from a pushchair-friendly stroll to a navigation skills workshop.

To receive updates from the following partners:

·         Wiltshire Police

·         Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

·         Schools Update

·         Health Services

·         Town and Parish Councils

Written updates were available in the agenda pack from 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

Sgt Rob Milne responded to a question from the Chair regarding drug dealing in Devizes and whether county lines, which had been in the press a lot of late, was an issue in Devizes.

Sgt Milne stated that the issue of county lines caused a lot of confusion. County lines drug dealing was far more organised than normal drug dealing and generally involved much higher levels of violence. It was often assumed that as there were drug users in a community that there must be an issue with county lines. However, the current intelligence in Devizes was that this was not the case. There were vulnerable people and drug users in Devizes who may be susceptible to ‘cuckooing’, (where dealers from county lines gangs may set up in their property), however, there was no evidence to support that this was happening currently. There were hot spots in Devizes that the police were aware of and there were often warrants and operations undertaken that did not get publicised.

In response to a question from the Board it was stated that people who had served their prison sentence had paid their debt to society and therefore were entitled to move back to the area.

Cllr Cuthbert thanked the police for their work in schools, as it was positive that children could be confident of the police and not afraid of them.

Sgt Milne stated that due to a slight raise in the police precept there was

a new community coordinator, who had better oversight and that education and outreach was now working more effectively.

The Board mentioned an evening that had been held at Potterne Youth Club with the police firearms team, around 20 young people had been in attendance and the event was a success, raising the awareness of the dangers of weapons.

In response to a question from the audience regarding a group of youths hanging around a car park near Stanford Court and being noisy, it was stated that the police do try to minimise anti-social behaviour by patrolling. There had to be a balance, young people had to go somewhere and teenagers had been doing this sort of thing for years. However, if their behaviour tipped over into true anti-social behaviour or criminal activity then the police would act. The Chair stated that this was a Wiltshire Council car park and that actions had previously been taken by the council to try to minimise problems. He offered to try to find out more to see if any actions could be taken.

The Chair thanked Sgt Milne for his report and hard work.

·         Health Services

The Chairman read a written statement from the CCG updating on the urgent care centre in Devizes.

The design and build contractor had been appointed and design work was underway.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

To receive a presentation from Sheree Whorlow, a Trustee from HomeStart Kennet who will talk about how the organisation supports families from the Devizes area

Sheree Whorlow, a Trustee from HomeStart Kennet gave a presentation about how the organisation supports families from the Devizes area.

HomeStart Kennet provide practical and emotional support to families with children under 5 who are struggling. Challenges to parents could be isolation, being new to the area, having no support network, separation, domestic violence, post-natal depression amongst many others. They promoted family resilience during difficult times and build the families ability to cope, preventing family stress becoming a family crisis.

Examples of the support provided were weekly non-judgemental support sessions in the home, presentations, talks and group sessions for military families.

HomeStart Kennet was founded in 1987 and was part of HomeStart UK which had 250 independent branches across the UK. They did not receive any government funding so relied on raising their own funds. As well as supporting  Devizes, HomeStart Kennet also supported Calne, Chippenham, Devizes, Marlborough and Tidworth.

The support provided to families was free, and families could self-refer or be referred by partners such as Doctors and Healthcare visitors.

The home visiting team delivered support to families in their homes for 2-3 hours a week, for about 6 months (depending on the situation). Parents were supported as they learned to cope.

Last year in Wiltshire HomeStart Kennet helped 107 families (116 children) and 90% reported a positive outcome.

Volunteers were very important to HomeStart Kennet. Volunteers needed empathy, a caring nature, good listening skills, parenting skills or relevant life skills/experience, to be non-judgemental and the ability to commit 2 hours a week. Volunteers would receive 40 hours training including safeguarding, listening skills and confidentiality. They would also have an enhanced DBS check. The next training course in Devizes would be running in October 2019.

The meeting was encouraged to spread the word about HomeStart Kennet to families and healthcare professionals and also to those who may volunteer.

Sheree thanked the Board for the opportunity to speak.

The Chairman thanked Sheree and was congratulated on their good work.

To receive a presentation from Trading Standards on their Buy with Confidence Scheme.

Please note that after the publication of the agenda this item was cancelled.

The Chairman announced that agenda item had been cancelled.

Cllr Gamble stated that the buy with confidence scheme was shared with other local authorities and included a directory of approved traders, however there were hardly any traders from Devizes in there. He urged those with local business connections to sign up for the directory.

Residents are invited to ask questions of their local councillors.

The Chairman invited residents to ask questions.

An audience member stated that they were delighted to see that Wiltshire Council had passed the climate emergency bill and hoped to hear a presentation in the future on what the council proposed to do about it. The fact that some area boards were banning the use of single use plastics was mentioned.

The Chairman stated that once the current cups were used up we would be changing to recyclable cups and people would also be encouraged to bring their own “keep cup” to the meeting. He also encouraged anyone with green initiatives to bring these to the attention of the board.

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

The minutes of the CATG were noted.

Cllr Philip Whitehead stated that there was continuing good attendance at the CATG and they received good ideas from the parishes. The CATG achieved as much as any other area board in Wiltshire in terms of completed, successful plans.

Cllr Whitehead advised that there had been a spate of accidents on Cain Hill, and therefore a design review was underway. The designs would be modelled for impact on surrounding roads and areas. Funding had not yet been allocated and would have to found. It would probably be at least 2 years before any works were undertaken.

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

Paul Wickens, representing Devizes School, spoke in support of their application.

The application for Youth Grant Funding were considered by the Board and it was:

Resolved:

To grant Devizes School, £1,800.00 towards their Camp Xtra 2019 project.

To receive an update on the Devizes Health and Wellbeing Group and consider any applications for Health and Wellbeing funding.

Members of the Health and Wellbeing group gave an update to the meeting. The Health and Wellbeing day on 15 June 2019, at 11.00am was promoted to the meeting. Last year it had been aimed at the over 55’s, this year it was aimed at all over the age of 18. Around 40 different groups would be represented there. The meeting was encouraged to attend the Health and wellbeing meetings. Once the Health and Wellbeing day had passed, the group would focus on volunteering.

The Board considered the application for Health and Wellbeing funding and it was:

Resolved:

To grant Devizes Rotary, £1,680 towards Devizes Community Area Health and Well Being Day 2019.

To receive any updates from Andrew Jack, Community Engagement Manager.

Andrew Jack, Community Engagement Manager gave an update to the meeting.

As he was fairly new to the area Andrew gave the meeting his contact details: tel -  01225 713109; mobile - 07769 917270 and email: andrew.jack@wiltshire.gov.uk  and invited people to contact him.

Details were given regarding National Armed Forces Day which would be taking place in Salisbury on 28, 29 and 30 of June 2019 in Salisbury. It would be a ticket event however the tickets would be free and could be obtained online.

Devizes Royal British Legion would be taking part and were hoping to visit as many war memorials as possible between Devizes and Hudson’s Field in Salisbury. At each memorial there would be a small act of remembrance.

Mr  Jack gave details regarding the different types of grant funding available to community groups and encouraged people to contact him regarding any grant applications.

Details were given regarding the Our Community Matters website, http://ourcommunitymatters.org.uk/. The website had been revamped and was now a lot more user friendly. It was a really valuable resource for the community and community groups and people were encouraged to register. A newsletter would be sent every Friday with information from the site and reached over 1000 people.

A representative of the Men’s Shed stated that Wiltshire Council used to run a first aid course for volunteers and that it would be really useful if they could start running it again. Mr Jack said that he would look into this for them.

Cllr Anna Cuthbert left the meeting due to a prior engagement.

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

Representatives of Devizes Park Run, Devizes Town Youth Football Club, Market Lavington Parish Council, the Devizes Canoe Club and All Canning Village Hall spoke in support of their applications for community area grant funding. Cllr Richard Gamble spoke in support of the West Lavington Parish Council application.

It was also explained that West Lavington Parish Council had reduced the amount of funding applied for to £1,200.00 as opposed to £2,064.00, as they had received a lower quote for the works.

The All Cannings Village Hall application was considered during the Chairman’s Announcements as their representative had to leave the meeting early.

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

Resolved:

·         To grant Devizes Park Run, £2,500.00, towards a new parkrun for the Devizes area.

·         To grant Devizes Town Youth FC, £750.00, towards a defibrillator for the Club.

·         To grant Market Lavington Parish Council, £1358.00, towards CCTV for Old School Community Building.

·         To grant West Lavington Parish Hall, £1,200.00, towards a new integrated P.A. system for the hall.

·         To grant Devizes Canoe Club, £3818.62, towards strength and conditioning training equipment.

·         To grant All Cannings Village Hall, £1,900.00, towards new Audio-Visual equipment.

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

·         Air Quality Update – was not available at the time of publishing agenda, the details are published as a supplement.

The following item was considered as an urgent item:

Air Quality Update

The minutes of the last Air Quality Group Update had been published online as an agenda supplement.

Cllr Peter Evans updated the meeting. The amount of cars left idle in the town centre and outside schools was raised as an issue. The pollution caused was an issue and it set a bad example to children. Therefore the air quality group were going to ask heads to remind parents to turn off engines when picking up their children. The group had also spoken to bus companies who had stated that drivers were meant to switch off engines when stopped.

Cllr Philip Whitehead requested that details of the HomeRun App also be passed on to the schools as this would help to improve air quality. Cllr Evans confirmed that they could do that.

Cllr Evans stated that there had been a slight improvement to air quality at Shane’s Castle. However, at the nursery levels were still high and the cause was trying to be established. 

The next ordinary meeting of the Area Board will be held on 15 July 2019 at the Devizes Hub and Library.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending the meeting and announced that the next ordinary meeting of the Area Board would be held on 15 July 2019 at 6.30pm at The Shambles in Devizes.