Agenda and minutes

To welcome those present to the meeting.

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

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies.

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meetings held on 4 September 2018.

Resolved:

To approve and sign as a true and correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 4 September 2018.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive the following announcements through the Chairman (written briefing notes are available in the full agenda pack, or online):

·         Banning of Sky Lanterns and Balloon releases on Wilshire Council land

·         Wiltshire Council: Focusing on the Future

·         Localised Labour Market Intelligence

·         Electoral Review

·         Doctors and Dentists in Marlborough

·         The Parade – Resurfacing

The Chairman made the following announcements:

·         Banning of Sky Lanterns and Balloon releases on Wilshire Council land.

The Chairman advised the meeting that Wiltshire Council was the latest to pass the ban on the release of balloons and sky lanterns on its land, following a report on the environmental and wildlife impact and that there was a written update available in the agenda pack.

·         Wiltshire Council: Focusing on the Future

The Chairman stated that a series of public meetings were being held to detail the county’s aims for the coming year. Covering – Decision making, Diligence, Difference, Digital, Devolution and Delivery. Details could be found in the written update in the agenda pack.

·         Localised Labour Market Intelligence

The Chairman advised that the Employment and Skills service had produced labour market intelligence documents, broken down by parliamentary constituencies. These provided advice and tips about breaking into a range of industries and offered inside knowledge on trends and facts on the job market. Further details could be found in the agenda pack.

·         Electoral Review

The Chairman advised that The Local Government Boundary Commission were minded to recommend that Wiltshire Council should have 98 Councillors in the future. At the last Full Council meeting the Council approved a draft submission on a pattern of divisions. From 2 February 2019 the LGBCE would consult on their draft recommendations for division boundaries. It was likely that Marlborough divisions may change.

·         Doctors and Dentists in Marlborough

The board were aware that some residents were experiencing issues with health provision in Marlborough. The Health and Wellbeing group would be inviting local surgeries to join the group to try and address some of the issues.

·         The Parade – Resurfacing

The Chairman was pleased to announce that, weather permitting, the resurfacing of the parade would take place on Friday 23 November. The area would be closed from 7.00am until 7.00pm.

·         Cllr Chris Humphries

It was with sadness that the Chairman announced the passing of former Councillor and Area Board Chairman Cllr Chris Humphries. The Chairman passed on his sincere condolences.

In response to the announcement regarding doctors and dentists in Marlborough, Cllr Stewart Dobson stated that he was aware one of the dentists in Marlborough was closing, which was of great concern. Commissioning another dentist that would take NHS patients could take 8-9 months. It was hoped that the Board could put pressure on to resolve this situation and that the Board could address the issue in more detail at the next area board meeting.

Cllr Jane Davies also voiced her concern, stating that this affected the surrounding villages as well, whose residents come into Marlborough to use the doctors and dentists. The villages felt a great sense of community with Marlborough.

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

• Wiltshire Police
• Wiltshire Fire and Rescue
• Healthwatch Wiltshire
• Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
• MADT (Marlborough Area Development Trust)
• Transition Marlborough
• Town / Parish Councils

Attention was drawn to the written reports from partners attached to the agenda. In addition to the written updates, the following verbal updates were given by partners present.

·         Wiltshire Police

Inspector Chris Martin gave a brief update summarising the written report in the agenda. The new community coordinator for Marlborough, PC Woodbridge, was introduced to the meeting. There had been a slight increase in burglaries and car crime, so these issues would be focused on. There had also been some lead thefts from church roofs. It was stated that these thefts would take many hours. Therefore if anyone saw people removing lead from churches they should call it in.

The Chairman thanked Inspector Martin for the update.

·         Wiltshire Fire and Rescue

Station Manager Greg Izon sent his apologies as he was unable to attend the meeting.

·         Healthwatch Wiltshire

·         Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)

·         MADT (Marlborough Area Development Trust)

·         Transition Marlborough

·         Town / Parish Councils

Marlborough Town Council Mayor – Lisa Farrell, would give an update at the next area board meeting.

·         Presentation by Norman Edwards from Care Home Volunteers.

·         Presentation by Julian Pugsley from Carer Support Wiltshire.

·         Update from David Hemery and Jill Turner on Health and Wellbeing Projects.

·         Presentation from the Restoration Trust on their Human Henge project.

Cllr Jane Davies and Andrew Jack, Community Engagement Manager (CEM) introduced the item. Cllr Davies explained that the Area Board had money allocated to health and wellbeing. There was some very positive health and wellbeing work being undertaken in Devizes, so Cllr Davies had been to look at the work being undertaken. It was found to be a very positive model, so it was decided to bring the model back to Marlborough.

Andrew Jack (CEM) stated that each Area Board has just under £7,000 for health and wellbeing, to spend on projects that support older and vulnerable people. The definition of vulnerability could be fairly broad and cover a wide range of situations. The aim was to map services available in Marlborough and identify gaps, with a long term aim of filling the gaps. The Board wanted to promote the new group and therefore had invited several speakers from local health and wellbeing services. Unfortunately two of the speakers detailed in the agenda had been unable to attend the meeting - Julian Pugsley from Carer Support Wiltshire and The Restoration Trust on their Human Henge project. However there was written material from these groups available at the meeting.

The meeting then received a presentation by Norman Edwards of Care Home Volunteers. Mr Edwards thanked the Board for the invitation to speak. It was stated that Care Home Volunteers was a young and innovative charity whose aim was to help care home residents. They do not duplicate the good work of care home staff, who look after the residents physical and medical needs. The Care Home Volunteers instead focused on socially isolated residents who spent the majority of time in their rooms.

The idea of Care Home Volunteers came about in 2012. The four founders whose parents had been in care homes had seen the loneliness and isolation that residents could experience. After undertaking research it was discovered that there were challenges for care homes in recruiting, vetting, training and management of  volunteers and challenges for volunteers themselves including the lack of culture of volunteers working in care homes; a reluctance to engage with old people and end of life issues; and the loneliness of the work.

Further research had shown that there were 40,000 people in care homes who had no external contact or support and the rates of depression could double upon entering a care home. Dementia care could be improved by just 1 hour per week of social interaction.

So, Care Home Volunteers started in Salisbury in 2014 with a pilot study, which was professionally evaluated and the Salisbury service is still running today. In 2016 the service started in Chippenham and in 2018 expanded to Swindon. The CHV would like to expand its service across Wiltshire in 2019 with a view to the service being national by 2024.

The CHV currently has 60 volunteers working on care homes in Wiltshire and Swindon who will undertake approximately 2000 visits this year. There had been some excellent feedback from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 78.

Andrew Jack, Community Engagement Manager (CEM) to provide an update.

·         World War Commemorations

·         Marlborough Common parkrun

Andrew Jack, Marlborough Community Engagement Manager, introduced himself and gave his contact details to the meeting. He gave an update covering:

·         World War Commemorations

The Centenary of World War One was taking place on 11 November 2018 and there were many remembrance events planned. A tree planting project had been undertaken with at least 525 trees being planted around the community area. There were various church services and parades being held over the Remembrance weekend culminating in Beacons being lit on Marlborough Common on the evening of Remembrance Sunday.

·         Marlborough Common parkrun

After receiving funding from the Area Board the Marlborough Common parkrun was doing well. The first run took place on 22 September 2018 with 172 people taking part. Average numbers of participants was around 150 people. Everyone was encouraged to take part, it was a free event and you did not have to run the 5km, you could walk it if you wished, there was no pressure to complete quickly. 

·         No Idling

Wiltshire Council was looking into the issue of enforcing no idling in Marlborough. There were two ways this could be enforced; using trained staff to pull over vehicles and test exhaust emissions or by asking drivers to switch off their engines when stationary. The issue was being brought to Full Council, hopefully in February 2019. Marlborough Town Council had contacted local bus companies and received a good response from them regarding the issue. Transition Marlborough were also discussing a voluntary scheme to encourage no idling at hotspots.

·         Our Community Matters

The Our Community Matters blogsite had been relaunched in July 2018. The new site was more user friendly and intuitive to use, it was also easier to post your own news and events. New functionality had also been provided.

·         National Armed Forces Weekend 2019

The National Armed Forces Weekend 2019 was to be held on the last weekend of June 2019, in Salisbury, as part of the recovery of the city. Details were still being developed and further updates would be given as details became available.

·         Grant updates

2 updates were given regarding projects that the area board had previously awarded grants to. The New Road Day Centre had purchased active resources, such as badminton equipment and a multi-use game table with their grant. These had been well used and the group had sent a lovely thank you letter to the board.

The Friends of the Railway Path had produced a map and leaflet with the grant the area board awarded. This was now available to purchase. It was successful and had increased usage of the path. 

The Chairman thanked the Community Engagement Manager for his hard work.

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

The minutes of the CATG held on 20 September 2018 are attached for information.

Cllr Nick Fogg MBE, updated the meeting on the Community Area Transport Group. The CATG had found that a good system was to allocate priorities to schemes, prioritising 5 issues. The Lockeridge virtual footpath scheme was now complete. A scheme to impose a 20mph limit in Marlborough Town had been developed, this would go out to formal consultation in December.

Cllr Steward Dobson declared that he was very disappointed that the issue requesting a new mini roundabout at the junction of Herd Street and The Acres had come off the list. Cllr Dobson asked if it was possible that this issue could be referred back to CATG.

Cllr Jane Davies supported Cllr Dobson’s concerns regarding this issue. All A roads into Marlborough had now become a concern and maybe an area wide solution should be considered.

The Chairman also supported this view, particularly as the Great Western Way project may well increase congestion in Marlborough.

Cllr Fogg advised that they took the advice of highways engineers who felt that in this instance a mini roundabout would be ineffective. However a larger roundabout was felt to be too expensive. Confirmation would be sought as to whether this scheme could be referred back to the CATG if Marlborough Town Council raised the issue again.   

Resolved:

To note the updates.

To allocate £3,000.00 towards topographic survey work at the three locations within Froxfield.

To receive any update on the Local Youth Network (LYN) and for the Area Board to consider the following Youth Grants:

·         Fyfield and West Overton Parish Council, £3820.00 for their Lockeridge Youth Club project.

At the request of the grant applicant this item was moved up the agenda to after the Chairman’s Announcements.

Representatives from Fyfield and West Overton Parish Council spoke briefly introducing their grant application for £3820 for their Lockeridge Youth Club project. There had been a very successful youth club pilot scheme in Lockeridge, which regularly had up to 20 children attending. Following this success the parish had decided to set up their own youth club.

The Community Engagement Manager gave more details, stating that this time last year the Area Board funded a scheme of pilot youth clubs in rural areas. The Lockeridge scheme had been the most successful so the Local Youth Network were keen for this to continue. However there was little matched funding for the project in place. The total costs for a year were £4000, the Parish Council had agreed to pay for the village hall, which led to the figure applied for of £3820.00. The LYN did not want the club to lose momentum, however they wanted the club to find more funding from the community and to look at training local volunteers to take over the project. This resulted in the LYN recommendation that the Board offer half the funding to cover the first 6 months, so that the club could establish itself. Then release the remaining funding after receiving proper assurance that future funding will come from the community. Also that the club is resourced with regular volunteers.

Lisa Farrell, Mayor of Marlborough Town Council spoke in support of the project. The Mayor ran Marlborough Youth Club and stated that they were able to secure funding from the community during the first year of operation, after it had been set up using a grant from the Area Board.

Cllr Dobson agreed with the LYN recommendation, reiterating concern that there did not seem to be financial support from the Parish Council or community and that there was a lack of volunteers for the project.

Cllr Davies stated that the Parish Council would be willing to increase its precept in order to fund the project. Volunteers had not yet been secured as the original scheme had been a pilot. Many of the children attending may have financial issues, or issues with transport and therefore had little to do in the evenings. Cllr Davies requested similar consideration for the children of the villages as the children of Marlborough received and felt unhappy at this perceived divide. Cllr Davies also stated that there were significant youth grant funding reserves left from last year.

Cllr Fogg was in agreement with Cllr Dobson. He stated that there was no divide and that active groups are extensively supported. Cllr Fogg felt that the LYN recommendation was fair and the club needed was demonstrate viability within 6 months in order to receive the second tranche of funding.

Lisa Farrell, Mayor, MTC, stated she had kept Marlborough Youth Club running. She did not feel that 6 months was long enough for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 81.

To note the following application to the Community Area Grant Scheme (already awarded under delegated authority of Andrew Jack, Community Engagement Manager).

·         Kennet Valley WW1 Tree Planting Event, £575.00 towards a commemoration plaque.

The Community Engagement Manager gave brief details regarding the application to the Community Area Grant Scheme, which had already been awarded under his delegated authority due to the timescales involved.

Resolved:

To note the decision to award Kennet Valley WW1 Tree Planting Event, £575.00 towards a commemoration plaque.

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 Tuesday 29 January 2019, 7.00pm at the Assembly Room, Marlborough Town Hall, 5 High St, Marlborough SN8 1AA.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending the enjoyable and education area  board meeting.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Marlborough Area Board would be held on Tuesday 29 January 2019, 7.00pm at the Assembly Room, Marlborough Town Hall, 5 High St, Marlborough SN8 1AA.