Agenda and minutes

To welcome those present to the meeting.  

Cllr Philip Whitehead acted as Chairman and welcomed those present to the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Simon Jacobs, Laura Mayes and Anna Cuthbert and Community Youth Officer, Sally Willox.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 18 May 2015.

Resolved:

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 18 May 2015.

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

Cllr Sue Evans declared an interest in a funding application from Devizes and District Association for the Disabled, she would not debate or vote on this item.

To receive the following Chairman’s Announcements:

·         School organisation planning

·         LEADER funding

The Chairman drew attention to the written announcements in the agenda pack. Cllr Richard Gamble highlighted workshop dates to find out more about the School Place Planning Strategy. The Chairman encouraged members of the public who may have benefitted from LEADER funding to apply.

To receive updates from the following partners:

a.    Wiltshire Police

b.    Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

c.    Health Services

d.    Devizes Community Area Partnership

e.    Schools updates

f.     Town and Parish Councils

Written updates from partners were available in the agenda pack. A further update from the Fire Service was provided which detailed an event for Senior citizens in September. Representatives from Potterne Parish Council commented they would have liked more information about the location of the Fire Service’s Headquarters, the Chairman agreed to feed this back to the Fire Service.

To note petitions submitted to Wiltshire Council that relate to Devizes community area:

·       Petitions to support superfast broadband in Rowde

·       Petition on verge cutting and tree felling.

The Area Board considered two petitions submitted to Wiltshire Council that called for superfast broadband in Rowde. The Chairman advised that Rowde was technically considered in the Devizes network and therefore the Council could not prioritise funding to install fibre optic broadband in this location. The local members had been lobbying BT to install the service here and the petition would support their case.

The Area Board considered a petition asking the council to only cut and prune trees and verges carefully. The Chairman advised that trees were only cut when unsafe and that verges were cut as infrequently as possible to support wildlife corridors.

Resolved:

To note the petitions submitted and organise written responses.   

The Area Board will receive an update from Sally Willox, Community Youth Officer, and is requested:

To consider the following applications for youth grant funding:

·          Bromham Parish Council, £2795.71 to set up a village youth club in Bromham;

·         Devizes Young Farmers, £725 for an outdoor education residential weekend;

·         Devizes School, £1000 to support Elevate Education Motivational workshops;

·         Community First, £4962.50 towards a social action project for young carers.

To consider recommendations from the LYN management group on the following procurement purchases:

·         Splashdown, £402.90, to access swimming activities;

·         Pewsey Vale Coaches, £400, to support access to swimming activities;

·         Climbing wall at Corsham Campus, £154 for participation in indoor climbing;

·         Braeside outdoor education centre, £399 to support involvement in extreme sports.

The Area Board received the minutes from the last LYN Management Group meeting and considered applications for youth grant funding.

A representative from Bromham Parish Council spoke in support of their application to help fund a village youth club. The club had previously been successful but struggled to find volunteers and had since been restarted by the parish council.

Councillors commented that the application from Devizes Young Farmers was a great idea to reduce rural isolation for young people.  Councillors also supported the Elevate project at Devizes School and requested feedback from the session. The Area Board confirmed that the LYN had recommended in part to fund a project by Community First starting in July 2015 support young carers.

Resolved:

To grant Bromham Parish Council £2795.71 to set up a village youth club;

To grant Devizes Young Farmers £725 for an outdoor education residential weekend;

To grant Devizes School £500 to support Elevate Education motivational workshops;

To grant Community First £3462.50 towards a social action project for young carers.

Applications from the LYN management group for procuring services were then considered.

Cllrs Sue Evans and Richard Gamble declared an interest in Braeside Outdoor Education Centre and did not vote on this item.

Resolved:

To fund £402.90 for Splashdown

To fund £400 to Pewsey Vale Coaches to support access to swimming activities

To fund £154 for participation at an indoor climbing wall in Corsham

To delegate authority to the Community Youth Officer to determine the application for procurement to support involvement in extreme sports at Braeside outdoor education centre.

Reason:

Due to declarations of interest,  the meeting was no longer quorate for this item.

To determine applications for community area grant funding.

A report is to follow.

Applications for Community Area Grants were considered and a question was raised over whether it was the Devizes and District Association for the Disabled’s responsibility to provide emergency lighting and fire alarms for the Nursteed centre. The Community Engagement Manager advised that it was not a statutory duty for the Association to provide these and therefore the application met the grant criteria. The Chairman advised that the Community Engagement Manager was available outside of the meeting to explain questions posed about the grants criteria.

Rowde Community Youth Club advised they had applied through the Area Grants process for a replacement shed as this was capital funding and could not be raised through the precept. A representative from St James Church, Devizes Food and Drink Festival and Worton and Marston Village Hall spoke to their applications.

Resolved:

To grant Devizes and District Association for the Disabled £1,911 towards emergency lighting and fire alarms;

To grant Rowde and Local Community Youth Club £479.95 for a replacement shed;

To grant St James Church £3,100 towards equipment for a volunteering project;

To grant Devizes Food and Drink Festival £1000 towards new banners and flags.

To grant Worton and Marston Village Hall £5000 towards refurbishments

In addition to the applications which appeared on the agenda, the Chairman requested that an application from Victoria Park community mowing project be considered as a matter of urgency. The application had been submitted in time however an IT problem had caused it to be omitted from the published agenda. It was confirmed that the application met the grants criteria and implications had been considered by officers. The grant application can be viewed on the following link:  http://services.wiltshire.gov.uk/AreaboardGrants/grant_detail.php?gid=1406

Resolved:

To grant Victoria Park community mowing project £2,274 to purchase grass cutting and maintenance equipment to enable the community to take ownership of the maintenance of the grassed environment around Victoria Park.

To receive the notes from the last CATG meeting held on 23 July 2015 and consider any recommendations arising.

A report is to follow.

There were no recommendations arising from the last CATG meeting and the Chairman confirmed the notes of that meeting would shortly be circulated.

A question was raised over whether a bus shelter on London Rd would be restored; Cllr Whitehead advised that there was no budget to replace shelters and the funding would have to come from the local council.  The Councillor also confirmed that the issue of a crossing in Potterne would be added to the agenda for the next CATG meeting

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

There were no items of urgency.

The next ordinary meeting of Devizes Area Board is to be held on 28^th September 2015.

The next ordinary meeting of Devizes Area Board was to be held on 28^th September 2015.