Agenda and minutes

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

Apologies for absence had been received from Cllr Nick Fogg, Jason Underwood (DWFRS), Shelley Parker (Marlborough Town Council) and Richard Allan.

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 18 July 2017.

The minutes of the previous meeting were received and Cllr Stewart Dobson, seconded by Cllr Jane Davies, moved that they be approved and signed as a correct record.

Resolved:

To approve and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting of Marlborough Area Board held on 18 July 2017.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

To note the following items for information

·         Draft Housing Allocations Consultation

·         Community Resilience – Emergency Planning

·         Interactive Public Meetings – Considering challenges ahead

·         Household Recycling Centre changes

The Chairman made the following announcements:

Draft Housing Allocations Consultation

The consultation for the Draft Housing Site Allocations Plan would close at 5pm on Friday 22 September, and comments could be submitted online, by email or by post.

Emergency Planning

Parish Councils were encouraged to create or update their Emergency Community Plans which should include the identification of (and suggested responses to) emergences that might happen in their communities. Parishes needing support with their plans could contact Sarah Kelly at Wiltshire Council for a template and general advice

Interactive Public Meetings

Four public meetings had been organised to discuss the current and future challenges facing the council and to invite public views and suggestions on how these could be managed.

Household Recycling Centre changes

The site layouts of nine Household Recycling Centres were being reviewed, including improvements for vehicular access. It was reported that in order to make the required changes, Marlborough recycling centre would be closed between 2 and 14 October.

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 Service
3. Healthwatch Wiltshire
4. Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
5. Marlborough Area Development Trust (MADT)
6. Transition Marlborough
7. Town / Parish Councils

The Chairman drew the meeting’s attention to the written updates in the pack and invited partners to speak to their reports.

Wiltshire Police

Inspector Nick Mawson presented his report and highlighted the following points: that the Force were aware of issues with the 101 non-emergency number and were working to resolve them; that arrests had been made in relation to a spate of burglaries in Ramsbury and a number of vehicle thefts; and that the safety notices for popular beauty spots, funded by the Area Board, would be in place within the next few months. In response to a question it was reported that noting down the security/serial numbers of their bikes could aid owners to reclaim them should they be lost or stolen.

Inspector Mawson then provided further information on recent press coverage of Wiltshire Police’s estates strategy and its potential implications for the future of Marlborough police station. It was reported that policing of Marlborough was currently co-ordinated from the Devizes hub and that response times had reduced under this model suggesting that it had been effective. The review of buildings was ongoing but an alternative base for touch-down in Marlborough was being sought and should one be found it was predicted that the loss of the police station would have minimal impact on the way policing was conducted in the town and community area.

In response to questions it was explained that while the police station building was a highly visible police presence in the town, the way in which people communicated with the police had changed and the building was very under-utilised. Work was being done to improve the 101 service and communication with the police more generally. Members of the public who wished to comment on the police and crime strategy could get in touch with the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Ramsbury Parish Council

Sheila Glass raised her concerns regarding dog fouling in the parish, and invited comments on the possibility of a local bylaw to make carrying bags compulsory for dog walkers. It was suggested that the parish council could get in touch with Wiltshire Association of Local Councils (WALC) to seek advice on pursing this course of action.

Marlborough Town Council

Mervyn Hall, Mayor of Marlborough, reported that work had commenced on the refurbishing the old youth centre. A project manager had been appointed and support was being sought from local businesses to help with furnishing it. A poster campaign had been launched in partnership with a local vet to reduce dog fouling, and a new footpath had been built on The Green to improve access from Silverless street. The Town Council was also supporting the promotion of the new Great West Way running through Wiltshire along the corridor of the A4: a tourism route being promoted by Visit Wiltshire amongst others.

Marlborough Area Neighbourhood Planning Group

Two studies had been completed on housing and parking needs in Marlborough: raising concerns about retention of young families and an insufficient level of parking spaces  ...  view the full minutes text for item 86.

To receive presentations from Marlborough Explorer Scouts and Innov8 Sportz CIC on the outcomes of their projects which received funding from the Area Board.

Two groups who had received youth grants from the Area Board were in attendance to provide feedback on their projects.

Marlborough Explorer Scouts

Four young people attended to talk about the month-long trip they had made to Tanzania during the summer to take part in community projects. These had included building a medical centre and doctors residence and renovating the scouting campsite. Before the trip the group had undertaken seven training weekends as well as fundraising activities. The young people reported having new experiences and gaining confidence, personal resilience and skills that would help them to access employment and further education.

Innov8 Sportz Community Interest Company

The project involved running a Sports Leaders course for 15 young people which had included first training four members of staff as assessors. A further 15 young people would complete the course in February 2018. Two of the newly trained Sports Leaders explained that as well as gaining a better understanding of specific sports, the course had also improved their confidence and skills in leading sessions and involving people with a range of needs. Both young people expressed an interest in undertaking a higher-level course in the future.

Both groups thanked the Area Board for the funding they had been granted, and for the support of the LYN and locality youth facilitator with developing their projects. Members congratulated the young people for completing their projects and for the work that had clearly been involved.

To receive an update on the Local Youth Network (LYN) and for the Area Board to consider an application to the youth grant fund as follows:

·         £1996.89       Marlborough Area Development Trust            Digital Makers Club

Helen Bradley, Locality Youth Facilitator, gave an update of the work of the LYN which now had very good representation from the Community Area’s youth organisations. She reported that the next meeting would be held on 7 November. The Chairman thanked Helen Bradley for her continued hard work which was making a real difference.

The Area Board considered one application to the youth grant from Marlborough Area Development Trust. The proposed project was to provide opportunities for teaching young people coding and digital creation to be delivered in two parts. Firstly through a lunchtime coding club at St John’s School, and secondly through a mobile workshop which could be delivered in libraries and other community centres. The project would support STEM teaching, with emphasis put particularly on getting young women into coding which remained a gap in the industry’s workforce.

Cllr Jane Davies, seconded by Cllr Stewart Dobson, moved the LYN’s recommendation to approve the application and it was

Resolved:

To award £1996.89 to Marlborough Area Development Trust for a new Digital Makers Club.

To receive an update on the HomeRun App and to discuss the future of the pilot.

Andrew Jack, Community Engagement Manager, provided an update on the HomeRun school travel planning app pilot in Marlborough that the Area Board had funded. The app monitored children’s journeys to school and provided data to parents and schools to encourage alternations that would make journeys more efficient, less expensive, and more environmentally friendly. The app also enabled parents to track their children’s journeys in real time which could improve child safety, and the data generated could be used to feed into local plans including highway and housing development planning. The app was being piloted in other parts of Wiltshire, as well as in London and Buckinghamshire. A short video was shown about how the app worked and the safety measures in place to protect users and schools.

At St Mary’s School, Marlborough, 31% of parents had registered with the app at the soft launch at the end of the summer term, equating to 97 children. A breakdown was shown of the journeys made by those children, with suggestions for how improvements could be made including a proposed walking bus from one housing estate where several children lived.

Two more licenses were available for schools wishing to take part in the 2017/18 academic year, with funding available for those schools who wanted to continue using the app after the end of the pilot period.

Points raised in the discussion that followed included that it was a promising project which could produce data useful for a variety of purposes by parents, schools and the local authority, including the production of school travel plans. Travel plans usually depended on voluntary paper-based surveys completed by parents and the app could make collecting information much simpler. Concerns were raised about how the impact of the app on the reduction of pollution would be measured and it was suggested that the promotion of green transport and the removal of cars from the road could only lead to improvement in air quality, even if this couldn’t be evidenced.

The Chairman thanked Andrew Jack for his update and reported that he was pleased that the risk taken by the Area Board to engage with the trial had yielded some positive initial outcomes. Improving air quality was an ambitious goal and small projects taken locally would hopefully make a difference in the longer term.

Glynwen Chetcuti, Job Coach at LearnDirect, will deliver a presentation about a new programme of support for learners aged 50 and over.

GlynwenChetcuti and Alana Walton, from LearnDirect, gave a presentation about their programme of support for learners over 50 in Wiltshire and Swindon.

The programme, funded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, had been running since January 2017 and offered free training to anyone aged 50 or over who was eligible to work in the UK but who was not in paid employment. Training was delivered in Swindon, Chippenham and Trowbridge but could be taken out to other areas should there be sufficient interest. Training was focused on supporting learners to access employment or further education by providing key skills like IT, customer service, business administration, and improving general confidence.

The Chairman thanked the representatives for their presentation.

Amy Williams and Martin Litherland, Wiltshire Council, will provide information about the consultation on Wiltshire’s Waste and Recycling strategy.

Martin Litherland, Head of Waste Management, and Amy Williams, Lead Waste Technical Officer, gave a presentation on Wiltshire’s Draft Waste and Recycling Strategy and provided information about the consultation process. The strategy covered waste collection and disposal in the ten years between 2017 and 2027.

It was reported that 700,000 kerbside collections were made in Wiltshire every fortnight and that although the amount of household waste being generated continued to decrease, there were still problems with people not recycling as much as they could. Meeting participants were then invited to answer a selection of multiple-choice questions from the consultation, via handheld voting devices. The consultation on the strategy could be accessed online through the waste and recycling pages of the Wiltshire Council website, and members of the public were encouraged to take part and promote it to others.

In response to questions, it was explained that the council continued to work with national government to lobby for further reductions in the level of packaging created. This was a longer-term goal but the strategy sought to manage Wiltshire’s waste in the shorter-term. It was also reported that the majority of fly-tipping appeared to be of commercial waste which could not be disposed of at household recycling centres. While this was a concern it was unlikely to be influenced by charges applied to some recycling services.

Concerns were raised about access to household recycling centres for people with physical disabilities or who had mobility difficulties. It was confirmed that there would continue to be staff at the centres to assist users and that the planned changes to the site designs would reduce disruption causes previously by changing containers during the day. The size of kerbside wheelie bins was an item for discussion in the consultation.

To discuss the allocation of the Community Grant Fund for the remainder of the 2017/18 financial year.

A decision had been taken by members of the Area Board to defer all further applications to the Community Area Grant Fund to their final meeting of the financial year in March 2018. This decision reflected a wish to ensure the limited funding available could be distributed fairly and to where it was most needed. Applications would be judged against the priorities identified by JSA event earlier in the year. Applications could continue to be submitted as usual and those that involved time-sensitive projects could be considered prior to March 2018 should it be deemed necessary.

A full statement is appended explaining the reasons for the decision and how to get in touch about proposed applications.

Andrew Jack, Community Engagement Manager (CEM), will provide an update of his recent work in the Marlborough Community Area.

Andrew Jack, Community Engagement Manager, gave an update on his recent work in the Marlborough Community Area.

Commemorative Tree Planting

A bid would be submitted by Wiltshire Council in January to the Woodland Trust for 10,000 trees to be planted in Wiltshire in November 2018 to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War. Information was being sought from parish councils and other groups interested in receiving trees for their area (for example to specify the number of trees required), and this would be used to support the bid. Parishes wishing to get involved could get in touch with Community Engagement Manager.

‘No idling’ signage

A problem had been identified in Marlborough town centre with vehicles running their engines for long periods of time while stationary (idling), notably buses and taxis in the high street. This was exacerbating the existing challenges the town faced with poor air quality. It was explained that idling was a fineable offence but that enforcement required a license from the secretary of state and it was proposed to first set up a voluntary scheme to encourage drivers, through signage, to reduce their engine running time. It was proposed that a working group be set up to address this and that anyone interested in joining the group should contact the Community Engagement Manager

In response to questions, it was reported that feedback from bus companies had been positive but more work needed to be done with individual drivers. It was acknowledged that the scheme could not solve the town’s air quality challenges entirely but that along with the work of the neighbourhood planning group, it would help to make movements in the right direction.

Marlborough Dementia Action Alliance

A strong steering group had been established and new membership was encouraged. Dementia Friends information sessions continued to run and there were plans to forge links with the local retail association, a ‘Race to Remember’ spinning event was being held to raise awareness and funds. The next meeting of the steering group would be on 27 September at 1pm and more information could be obtained from the Community Engagement Manager.

It was agreed that details of Area Board meetings could be displayed on the noticeboard outside the town hall and that the town council should get in touch with the Community Engagement Manager if printed notices were required.

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

There were no urgent items.

The next meeting of the Marlborough Area Board will be held on 28 November, 7pm at Marlborough Town Hall.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending and reminded members that the next meeting of Marlborough Area Board would be held on 28 November at 7pm at Marlborough Area Board.