Agenda and minutes

To include the following:

a)    Core Strategy

b)    Community Area JSA

c)    Railway Bridge - Panns Lane

The Chairman opened the meeting by thanking Malcolm Irons, Headteacher of Devizes School, for the use of the premises for this evenings meeting.

Each member of the board was asked to provide a brief introduction of themselves before the Chairman drew attention to the announcements as provided within the agenda.

These included:

a)    Core Strategy

The consultation would be running from Tuesday 27 August to Wednesday 8 October.

b)    Community Area JSA

These were expected to be published early in 2014.  The likely date for the Devizes area event, where it was hoped local priorities and actions would be identified, was 4 March 2014. 

c)    Railway Bridge – Panns Lane

Plans were underway to fill the railway arch at Panns Lane.  The works were expected to take approximately 2 weeks to complete and were likely to cause disruption during this time.  The Chairman of the Area Board would write to Town Council seeking their support, following which an action plan would be developed to allow officers to begin work.

d)    Departure of Service Director, Mandy Bradley

Although not in attendance, the Board asked that thanks were noted to Mandy Bradley for all her help as the appointed Service Director to the Area Board and wished her well for the future. 

e)    Orchard Lane

Orchard Lane had now been successfully transferred to the Wiltshire Wildlife Fund for the community to enjoy.  The Board was pleased to see this come to a successful conclusion having been fully involved in the project.

f)     Recognising local volunteering

The Board were keen to recognise and celebrate the work and achievements of volunteers in the Devizes community area, noting how incredibly hard they worked for the benefit of local people, the town and surrounding villages. To ensure they were recognised and commended for their efforts and contribution nominations were being sought in the following 3 categories:

Individual

Youth (under 18)

Team or Group

Forms and information would be available on the Wiltshire Council website and community blog later in the week.  Nominations would need to be received by 16 December for a short awards ceremony at the January 2014 area board meeting.

No apologies were received.

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 22 July 2013.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 22 July 2013 were approved and signed as a correct record.

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

No declarations of interest were received.

To receive updates from the following partners:

a.    Wiltshire Police

b.    Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

c.    Health Services

d.    Devizes Community Area Partnership (DCAP)

e.    Devizes Campus Team

f.     Town and Parish Councils

a)    Wiltshire Police

Vincent Logue presented the update on behalf of Inspector Matthew Armstrong who was on annual leave.

Following questions received Vincent Logue confirmed that he would seek clarification on whether Peter Lawson was expected to return to his post following his secondment.

Thanks were extended to the police for the additional patrols around Stamford Court which had reduced anti social behaviour as a result.

b)   Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

Mike Franklin referred to the report and clarified that although 7 fires had been responded to in August there had not been any injuries. 

Attendees were also reminded that a national strike was planned for Wednesday 25 September which would result in a reduced service.  A statement in relation to the strike could be found on:

www.wiltshire.gov.uk

c)    Health Services

No update was provided.

d)   Devizes Community Area Partnership (DCAP)

The update provided within the agenda was noted.  In addition Tony Sedwick confirmed the following:

The Sustainable Devizes Network would be holding a conference on low energy in November.

The Transport Group were involved in the town bus survey which was being undertaken by professional consultants.  Volunteers were being sought to help conduct the survey and would be used to seek the views of passengers on some of the bus routes themselves.

On 29 October the quarterly meeting of DCAP would focus on rural issues.  The meeting would take place at Market Lavington Village Hall at 5:30pm.

e)    Devizes Campus Team

Cllr Peter Evans presented the update and confirmed that, following the resignation of 3 of its representatives, the Team were now looking to fill the following voluntary positions:

·         Education & Young People representative

·         User and Community Group representative

·         Wider Community representative

Anyone interested in volunteering for the above positions were encouraged to contact either the Community Area Manager, Richard Rogers, or Senior Democratic Services Officer, Sharon Smith whose contact details could be found on the council website and on the front of the agenda.

To ensure the views of the community as a whole were taken into account and not just those within the Town, the team would be looking to contact those outside of the town in the outer lying community to ensure a fair representation was considered.

The Board will be asked to approve the recommendations arising from the CATG meeting held on 9 September 2013.  Details of which are contained in the attached report.

Cllr Richard Gamble presented the update from the CATG meeting held on Monday 9 September 2013 and highlighted the following information:

·         The substantive bid for £50k towards the cycling path across the Green had been successful.  Together with S106 funding, it was hoped that works could now commence which should be completed by Easter 2014.

·         The CATG proposed that a speed limit review on the C249 and C50 should continue and would be seeking formal approval from the board.

·         Coach parking had been raised at many forums.  In order to address this it had been proposed that a designated coach drop off point be agreed at a central location.  The CATG, having considered two options but unable to fully support one or the other, proposed that final choice should be given to the Town Council of which they would fully support.

The Board were asked to consider the recommendations contained within the report.

Decision:

The two routes chosen by the speed limit review during 2013/14 (C249 and C50) should continue to be reviewed as previously agreed; and

That the area board support the completion of temporary arrangements as soon as possible for a coach dropping off place and would support the option chose by the Town Council.

Cllr Simon Killane will be in attendance to speak on Malmesbury community area’s experiences in relation to their Neighbourhood Plan. 

Parish Councils within the Devizes community area will also share their experiences of their own Neighbour Plans which will include Devizes/ Roundway/Bishops Cannings.

Questions and discussion will follow.

Cllr Simon Killane was in attendance to provide information on the Malmesbury community area’s experiences in relation to their Neighbourhood Plan.

In making his presentation the following information was provided:

·         The land around Malmesbury Town was valued at approximately £10m.  Development in general was predominantly driven by money and this was a key element to be taken into consideration.  This was often in contrast to the wants of a community.

·         Malmesbury Area Board was a government initiative front-runner of the neighbourhood plans.

·         The Board established a steering group with set terms of reference and a good range of members.  The group was not a decision making body but had been established to fact find and make proposals for the Board’s consideration.

·         The group in conducting its work understood that development would always take place and that there were certainties as outlined within the council’s Core Strategy.  The group therefore understood and accepted that it would be required to work within a set descriptive at a local level.

·         The group had established a website and several task groups to focus their attention on specific areas such as infrastructure, education, business (including employment needs), extra care and housing.

·         Research undertaken had revealed:

o   2.7% unemployment in town (which was one of the lowest in the country).

o   A great need for affordable housing (including meeting the needs of both older people and young families).

o   Preferred sites had already been identified by the previous District Council.  These were more likely to get development approval as a result.

·         A map was shown highlighting the sites identified and graded in terms of preference following a set scoring system.

·         Wiltshire Council Spatial Planning and Planning Aid were regularly consulted at each stage of developing the Plan to ensure it was proceeding well.

·         In understanding that the Group had no or little planning expertise workshops had been established to help design the best lay out for the town. 

·         Guidance from the Princes Trust was used to help shape the neighbourhood plan.  The Group also undertook a tour of the area to ensure an understanding all were aware of the areas being discussed.

·         Neighbouring areas outside of Wiltshire were also considered (such as Tetbury and Gloucester) as it was recognised that services from these areas could have a bearing on what might be required.

·         A draft Neighbourhood Plan and design guide had now been created, which included developments on both sides of the Town.

·         Some developers had been pushing to overturn the plan with Government granting approval for a development to be built on the outskirt of the town.  On 7 October, following judicial review, this approval was withdrawn and the team now awaited further details.

Rick Rowland, Vice Chairman of Roundway Parish Council and a member of the Devizes Area Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group was also in attendance to help answer any questions arising from the floor.

Information arising included:

·         That the cost of producing a Neighbourhood plan was estimated to be in the region of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Martin Aldam, Senior Transport Planning Assistant, will give a presentation from the Transport Strategy Task and Finish Group which will include recommendations for the Board’s consideration.

The Board will be asked to approve new arrangements to take forward the air quality work and Transport Strategy (paper to follow).

Martin Aldam, Senior Transport Planner, was in attendance to give a presentation from the Transport Strategy Task and Finish Group.

To provide a greater understanding of the work of the Group, the background, why the strategy was needed and the work undertaken by the Group over the past 12 months was given.  This included consideration of the following:

·         Wiltshire Core Strategy

·         Housing and employment growth

·         Traffic growth

·         Model forecasts

·         Mitigation

·         Transport strategy

Noting that the Core Strategy had a certain amount of growth and the likely increased traffic levels as a result, a mitigation strategy had been developed which in turn had resulted in the Transport Strategy.

In making the presentation Martin confirmed the key components of the Transport Strategy, which were:

·         Walking

·         Cycling

·         Passenger transport

·         Travel planning

·         Traffic flow and air quality

·         Demand management and parking

The Board were reminded that the Transport Strategy itself had been presented to the Board the previous year.  As a result a Start and Finish Group had been established whose purpose was to discuss the implementation plan and whose work had now reached completion.

Influences affecting the implementation plan included:

·         Funding (i.e. what funds were available and how these would be spent)

This included for example S106 contributions which the council already had via developments.  It was noted that some of this funding was specifically allocated, i.e. it had to be used towards cycling or walking projects for example.  Other less prescriptive funding had also been taken into consideration, including that from CATG.

·         Priorities

Priorities for the Devizes area were also identified including air quality and how this could be addressed in the short term.  An Air Quality Steering Group was established to consider the affects where 2 sets of modelling works were undertaken, including travel planning. 

In modelling in a 5% and 20% reduction in traffic both had little impact on reaching acceptable levels of air quality as set as a UK national objective.

The short term implementation plan therefore included the following:

·         Walking: Quakers Walk to town and access to Roundway Hill

·         Cycling: The Green; Quakers Walk to town and signing strategy

·         Public Transport: Town Service Review for new tender in 2015

·         Travel Planning: Business Travel Planning (BTP)

·         Highways Improvements: Shane’s Castle Signalisation

·         Demand Management: BTP, Parking Review not until 2014

In the longer term it was proposed that the Air Quality and Transport Groups be combined to allow further work to be undertaken in terms of the Transport Strategy, noting that the respective work of both were clearly linked.

Cllr Richard Gamble confirmed that only 4 areas in Wiltshire had developed transport strategies.  These included Salisbury, Trowbridge and Chippenham in addition to Devizes. 

An outline proposal for the establishment of this new Task Group was provided seeking the Board’s approval for it to commence immediately with its terms of reference being presented at the Board’s next meeting in November.

Cllr Gamble proposed that the Chairman of the Group would be appointed at its first meeting, proposing that Cllr Philip  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Councillors will be asked to consider the application made to the Community Area Grants Scheme, as follows:

·         3^rd Devizes Scout Groupare seeking £2,294 towards replacing tents and camping equipment

The application meets the criteria and is recommended for consideration for approval.

The Area Board considered an application for community area grant funding from the 3^rd Devizes Scout Group.

Decision:

To award £2,294 to 3^rd Devizes Scout Group towards replacing tents and camping equipment.

Reason for Decision: The application meets grant criteria 2013/14 and helps young people to enjoy new adventures, to experience the outdoors, interact with others, gain confidence and have the opportunity to reach their full potential. 

The next meeting of the Devizes Area Board will take place on Monday 25 November 2013 at Devizes Sports Club, London Road, Devizes SN10 2DL.