Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and invited the Councillors and Officers present introduce themselves.

The Chairman explained that the Local Youth Network update and applications for youth funding would be taken after the partner items in order to accommodate the young people who would be speaking to it.

Apologies for absence had been received from the following:

Cllr Nick Fogg

Cllr Stewart Dobson

Shelley Parker

Noel Barrett-Morton

The Chairman explained that due to the apologies received, the meeting was not quorate and that any formal decision-making (including the determination of grants) would be deferred to an extraordinary meeting of the board on 31 January 2017.

To recommend that the minutes of the meeting held on 22 November 2016 be approved and signed as a correct record.

There were no changes or additions requested to the minutes of the meeting on 22 November 2017.

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

To receive the following announcements through the Chairman:

a.     “Our Community Matters” JSA consultation event: 7pm, 21 February, Marlborough Town Hall

b.     Rural Crime Partnership for Wiltshire and Swindon

c.     Meeting of “Making Changes”, Marlborough’s Health & Wellbeing group: 3.30pm 25 January – Marlborough Bowls Club

The chairman brought to the meeting’s attention two upcoming community events; the JSA consultation event on 21 February 2017, and the next meeting of Marlborough’s Health and Wellbeing group on 25 January 2017.

He also brought the meeting’s attention to the information in their packs about the Rural Crime Partnership for Wiltshire and Swindon.

To note the attached Partner updates and receive any further information partners wish to share:

1. Wiltshire Police
2. Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue
3. Healthwatch Wiltshire
4. Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
5. MADT (Marlborough Area Development Trust)
6. Transition Marlborough
7. Town / Parish Councils

The Chairman brought to the attention of members the written partner updates in their packs and invited partners to make any verbal additions that they wished to.

To receive an update on the Local Youth Network (LYN) and for the Area Board to consider four Youth Grants as follows, and make recommendations for ratification:

The Local Youth Facilitator presented the applications for following four youth grants and members of each group were invited to present further information on their applications.

·        £3457.00 to Savernake Scouts for purchase of outdoor equipment and minibus training.

·        £1000.00 to Savernake Scouts towards a trip to Tanzania and follow up presentations to local groups.

·        £4000 to St John’s School to run pilot Mental Health programmes and to conduct an evaluation (the LYN recommended funding £3500 of this)

·        £4049.98 to Innov8 Sportz CiC to run a Sports Leaders programme. (The LYN recommended funding £3449.98 of this)

The members then had the opportunity to ask questions of the applicants and it was confirmed that the Innov8 sports leaders courses were due to commence in the summer and it was agreed that both they and the Savernake Scouts would attend a future Area Board to provide a report of their projects.

The Chairman reminded all the groups that the determination of all grants would take place at the extraordinary meeting of the board on 31 January 2017 and that they would not be required to attend this meeting but that they would be welcome to do so if they wished.

Margaret Rose, the chair of the LYN gave an update of the LYN’s work and thanked Helen Bradley and Andrew Jack for their work in making the network bigger and encouraging parishes to get involved.

A film from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner will be shown regarding the Precept Consultation

The meeting was played a short film from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner about the Precept Consultation.

Sgt Mark Andrews introduced the video and reminded members that the consultation period would finish on 27 January 2017.

The Community Engagement Manager presented a video on the `Legacy for Wiltshire’ and explained a nation-wide project entitled the Great British Spring Clean which Wiltshire was taking part in. The Spring Clean encouraged local communities to take part in a litter-pick on weekend of 3-5 March 2017. Anyone interested in taking part should contact the CEM on the details below who could offer some support in the form of tools for cleaning and co-ordination of rubbish collection.

Other projects included: the `Big Pledge’ project for 2017 that was focused around the World Athletics Championships taking place in London and would encourage more people to get active through participating in local groups; and plans for ways to commemorate the centenary of the end of the Second World War in 2018.

The Chairman thanked the CEM for his update and ongoing work in the Marlborough area, and reported that he knew of a lot of local residents and groups who regularly took part in litter picking throughout the year.

Cllr Jemima Milton requested a presentation for the March meeting of the Area Board about what had been achieved in the Marlborough Area in the last four years.

Andrew Jack, the Community Engagement Manager, could be contacted at Andrew.jack@wiltshire.gov.uk or on 01225 713109

Betty Dobson will deliver a presentation on the group’s background and current work

Rachel Rosedale and Betty Dobson, from Marlborough Area Poverty Action Group (MAPAG) delivered the first of three presentations on poverty in the Marlborough Area.

They spoke about the group’s background and current work and presented lots of information about households living in poverty and the impact this had on many aspects of social life including housing, nutrition, education, and leisure time.

The presentation included a case study of one family who had been supported by MAPAG to refurbish their house and garden, engage with summer holiday programmes, and receive food parcels and stockings for the children at Christmas.

The presenters also highlighted the problems of in-work poverty and rural isolation including difficulty with accessing services, experiences of poor quality and expensive public transport options, and a lack of nearby affordable retail outlets.

Members of the public were invited to attend MPAG’s month meetings which took place on the first Monday of each month at 7.30pm at the Friends’ meeting house in Marlborough.

Philip Morris, from the centre for sustainable energy, will deliver a presentation on fuel poverty in the Marlborough area.

Philip Morris, from the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE), delivered a presentation on fuel poverty in the Marlborough area. He explained that CSE was a Bristol-based organisation working in partnership with Wiltshire Council to deliver support to anyone having difficulty with heating their homes.

The officer explained the problems with cold homes, including the associated health risks putting pressure on the NHS. It was highlighted that 25% of the excess winter deaths each year were related to cold housing and provided information about the level of fuel poverty in Wiltshire which was particularly affected by the number of rural properties in the county.

The officer explained that the Centre for Sustainable Energy provided a free phone-based service offering advice about insulation, setting heating controls, and signposting people to grants including winter fuel allowance. The service was focused on vulnerable groups but it was open to anyone regardless of household income or personal circumstance.

The Warm and Safe Wiltshire team could be contacted by phone on 0300 003 4575 or by email on warmandsafe@wiltshire.gov.uk and more information on the project could be found on www.cse.org.uk/patient-referral.

Nick Helps, manager at Tesco in Marlborough, will talk about the supermarket’s Foodcloud programme.

Samara Heel, from Tesco’s south west regional team, delivered a presentation on Tesco’s FoodCloud programme. The programme provided surplus food to charitable groups. It was delivered nationwide and in the last year had donated 5.1million meals via 3600 charitable groups. The representative explained that the programme operated in the Marlborough store and that there were three slots available on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Groups who wanted to sign up did not need to be registered charities but did need to be working with people (not animals) and have the appropriate kitchen facilities and food hygiene procedures in place. Once signed up, they would receive a text message at around 7.15pm on the appropriate evening to inform them what food was available and that they could come and collect it from the Marlborough store.

Young people from Aldbourne youth centre spoke in support of the programme and explained how they used the donated food for providing snacks at the youth club, for cooking projects, and for providing packed lunched for volunteers working in their charity shop.

More information could be accessed at the following website or by asking for Nick Helps at the Marlborough branch of Tesco.

http://www.tesco.com/community-food-connection/

The meeting will be invited to take part in a broad discussion about poverty in Marlborough and to ask questions of the panel

The Chairman thanked all the speakers for their presentations and invited questions and comments from the floor.

The discussion that followed covered: the contribution that solar panels made to the cost of energy in the county and the impact of historic grants; the range of groups supported by the FoodCloud programme including school breakfast clubs and pre-schools; the ways of managing poorly insulated housing association housing stock and local schemes; and the role of the Area Board in raising awareness of both the issues of fuel poverty and the support services available.

The members expressed their gratitude for the work being done by all three organisations who had presented, and encouraged those at the meeting to promote their work to anyone who could benefit.

The Area Board will be asked to recommend for ratification, the recommendations from the Marlborough Community Area Transport Group (CATG) meeting of the 15 December 2016.

The minutes of the CATG meeting of 15 December 2016 were presented and the recommendations for discussion were to be formally agreed at the Board meeting on 31 January 2017.

In response to questions, it was explained that the change of speed limit in Lockeridge was being implemented after consultation with a highways engineer and had been conditional on the previous average speed being 24mph (in line with Department for Transport policy); and that CATG funding was allocated each year so, although the 2016/17 funds had been used, new funding would be available for the May meeting.

The Wiltshire Councillors will consider 1 new application to the Councillor-Led Initiative Grants Scheme, as follows:

Installation of new 20mph limit through Lockeridge: £8250

– Cllr Jemima Milton

The CEM presented the Councillor-Led Initiative application for £8250 which was for the installation of the 20mph speed limit in Lockeridge.

Cllr Jemima Milton, who had proposed the project explained that it had come from an issue raised at that CATG and that it was hoped that this would prevent future road accidents from occurring.

The application was to be determined at the Board meeting on 31 January 2017.

The Chairman invited members of the public to ask any questions they had. In response to these, the following issues were covered:

The chairman agreed to source details of the number of social housing units in Marlborough, and encouraged anyone sent a survey relating the housing needs survey to complete and return them.

A petition was received in reference to Marlborough Jazz Festival and it was noted that a response to the matter had already been sent by officers.

The CEM reported that he had not yet had news of when the air quality programme would be up and running, but that he would continue to check on this.

It was common for some developers to take advantage of a legal loophole for Section 106 funding agreements that enabled them to avoid funding community projects as part of their planning permission. This had been out of the control of Local Authorities which led to local frustrations. The loophole had since been closed.

The chairman agreed to consult the Showman’s Guild with regards to making their portable toilets available for Marlborough Mop, an annual festival that often attracts upwards of 2000 attendees.

Issues with streetlights should in the first instance be taken up with Marlborough Town Council.

The Chairman thanked everyone for their questions.

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

There were no urgent items

A special meeting of the Marlborough Area Board is scheduled for 31 January, 10am at Marlborough Town Hall. The next ordinary meeting of the Area Board will be held on 14 March 2017, 7.00pm at Marlborough Town Hall

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending and reminded members of the Extraordinary meeting of Marlborough Area Board at 10am on 31 January 2017 which would take place in the council chamber at Marlborough Town Hall.

The next ordinary meeting of Marlborough Area Board would be on Wednesday 14 March 2017 in Marlborough Town Hall. Members were asked to note that this was an alternative date to what had been previously advertised.