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 for absence.

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meetings held on 6 November 2018.

Resolved:

The minutes of the meeting held on 6 November 2018 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

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

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

·         Polling District and Poling Place Review – to ensure that all electors have reasonably practicable facilities for voting.

·         Consultation on Special Schools - The statutory consultation into the future vision for special schools in Wiltshire is now online. People are encouraged to send in their views on the council vision to transform special needs education.

·         CCG – Maternity Services – a consultation on proposed changes to maternity services is underway.

The Chairman made the following announcements:

·         Polling District and Poling Place Review

The Chairman announced that a review to ensure that all electors had reasonably practicable facilities for voting and that polling places were reasonably accessible to electors who were disabled was underway.

·         Consultation on Special Schools

The statutory consultation into the future vision for special schools in Wiltshire was now online. People were encouraged to send in their views on the council vision to transform special needs education.

·         CCG – Maternity Services

A consultation by the CCG on proposed changes to maternity services was underway.

·         Children’s Services

Wiltshire Council was asking for people’s views on proposals to expand its successful model of providing children’s centre services in local community venues.    The consultation was available at http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council-democracy-consultations and would run from 23 January until 20 March 2019 with a report due to go to cabinet later in the spring.

The Chairman referred the meeting to the written reports contained in the agenda pack for further details regarding all the announcements.

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

·         Wiltshire Police

·         Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner - Precept consultation.

·         Wiltshire Fire and Rescue

·         Healthwatch Wiltshire

·         Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)

·         MADT (Marlborough Area Development Trust)

·         Transition Marlborough

·         Town / Parish Councils

·         Neighbourhood Plan

Written updates were available in the agenda pack or supplements from  The Fire Service, The OPCC, Healthwatch Wiltshire and the Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group.

In addition to the written updates, the following verbal updates were given by

partners present.

·         Wiltshire Police

Inspector Chris Martin updated the meeting. Two burglars had been arrested and two people had been charged with carrying telescopic batons and an imitation firearm. Many drivers had been stopped over the Christmas period and there had been an increase in people being charged with drug driving. On 19 December the local PCSO had observed suspicious activity and had called in Police Officers for support. As a result a number of people were arrested for possession with intent to supply. In response to a question from the Chairman it was stated that Marlborough did not have an issues with County Lines. However this was becoming much more common and people were encouraged to report anything suspicious.

·         Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner – Precept consultation

A video from the OPCC was shown to the meeting explaining the reasoning behind proposed increases to the PCC precept. This would mean that for an average household the precept would increase by around £2.00 per month. The extra funds raised were to be spent on increasing community policing and tackling cyber-crime. The consultation deadline was midday on 31 January 2019.

The Deputy PCC, Jerry Herbert gave a brief summary. Using the funds raised by the increased precept the PCC was hoping to recruit 41 more officers and 2 dedicated cybercrime staff. There would be 2 cyber teams, one focusing on child sexual exploitation and one on fraud. The Home Office provided two thirds of the PCC budget and the rest came from local taxes (council tax). The large size of Wiltshire added to budgetary pressures and their office received the fourth lowest funding in England and Wales. They wanted to raise the police precept by £2 per month (raising it to £17.19 per month for an average household).

The Deputy PCC, then took questions from the meeting. In response to a question from Cllr Jane Davies regarding how they would increase road safety, traffic safety enforcement and reduce speeding, all of which were very important to the public, the Deputy PCC stated that Speedwatch were currently working on a project to increase use and effectiveness. 24 of the planned new officers would be directly involved in armed response and road traffic capabilities. Currently this capability was shared with other forces. The PCC wanted improved integration with Community Policing teams, so Inspector Chris Martin would have more of a say in where resources were deployed. The PCC were very happy to look at this further.

Other comments and questions from the meeting included:

o   Community Speedwatch could only be undertaken on roads with a speed limit less than 40mph, however there were a lot of roads with a speed limit over 40mph that were a problem. If the police are going to base  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To receive a presentation from Matt Bearne of Solutions4Health on their free weight loss programme, ShapeUp4Life.

Matt Bearne of Solutions for Health, gave a presentation on their ShapeUp4Life programme.

ShapeUp4Life was a newly commissioned, free, 12 week long weight management programme for Wiltshire residents. The programme aimed to  support people to lose weight and keep it off long term by making realistic  changes to lifestyle and nutrition; addressing sedentary behaviour and increasing physical activity; and making behaviour changes.

Sessions were composed of 2 parts, a 45 minute long lifestyle workshop, providing participants with the tools they need to make educated changes and live a healthy and active lifestyle long term. The second part of the session was comprised of 45 minutes of physical activity. A different activity was undertaken each week and were taken by qualified instructors who could tailor the activity to people’s needs.

To join the programme a participant must be a Wiltshire resident, over 14 years old and have a BMI of ? 30 kg.m² or ? 28 kg.m² with a health condition. Courses were to take place in local venues including gyms, leisure & community centre’s & village halls. The course had good results with 91% of participants losing weight. There was an online option for those who could not make it to sessions. There was also a programme created for those that could not undertake the physical exercise component which involved longer workshops. The sessions were cyclical, so you would not have to wait to start the programme. Sessions were running in Ramsbury Memorial Hall and would soon be running in Pewsey Vale Community Campus. They were also hoping to run one in Marlborough soon.

The Chairman thanked Matt for his presentation.

·         To receive an update from the Marlborough HWBG

·         Update on Health Provision in Marlborough

·         To consider the following grant applications for Health and Wellbeing funding:

·         Marlborough Tennis Club, £2,915.00, towards their “Walking” Tennis for Seniors project.

·         Arts Together, £3,000.00, towards a Support Group in Marlborough.

The first meeting of the Marlborough Health and Wellbeing Group had taken place on 7January 2019. 10 people had attended who represented around a dozen different groups and they discussed a wide range of factors.

The main purpose of the Health and Wellbeing Group was to support older and “vulnerable” people. The definition of vulnerable was quite broad, covering lots of groups of people. Other aims were to promote & support local groups and activities, undertake a “Mapping and Gapping” exercise of local activities and to try to fill the gaps. There was a budget of £6,700 for activities and £1,000 for expenses. They also hoped to recruit an Older People’s & Carers’ Champion whose role would be to represent the views of older people and carers at both a local and county wide level.

The HWBG planned to put on an event in the summer, allowing local groups and services to network and putting local people in touch with the services they required. They were also looking at developing a new platform to combine information on health, wellbeing and activities into one location. Additional funding had been secured to support the role of Champion.

Cllr Davies stated that the HWBG was an opportunity to do something really worthwhile. If anyone was interested in being the Champion, or knew someone who they thought may be interested then please get in touch. With the extra funding secured for the Champion it was possible that we may be able to pay them a small salary.

The Community Engagement Manager introduced the Health and Wellbeing grants as detailed in the agenda. The board was thanked for considering the applications as they had been submitted late in the cycle.

Representatives of the Marlborough Tennis Community Facility and Arts Together spoke in support of their applications.

After discussion the Board decided to split the money that was left in the Health and Wellbeing budget for grants (£3350) between the two applications.

Therefore it was;

Resolved:

·         To award the Marlborough Tennis Community Facility, £1,675.00 (half the remaining budget) of the £2,915.00 applied for, towards their “Walking” Tennis for Seniors project.

·         To award Arts Together, £1,675.00 (half the remaining budget) of the £3,000.00 applied for, towards a Support Group in Marlborough.

To receive an update on the Community Area Transport Group (CATG).

The minutes of the CATG held on 13 December 2018 are attached for information.

Cllr Nick Fogg, MBE, gave an update on the Community Area Transport Group. The CATG had limited funding to address issues identified by the parishes. The parishes would also put in token funding towards the projects. The group used a system which identified five projects as priorities. They found this process was working well to push issues through the system. The minutes of the CATG meeting held on 13 December were attached to the agenda for information.

Highlights on the five priority projects included:

·         Speeding on the A4 at Beckhampton and West Kennett – design guides for solutions had been drawn up. Work would continue in the design brief for Beckhampton, however work on the West Kennett design would pause until a decision on the B4003 was agreed.

·         Froxfield’s Village Traffic Plan - a number of projects from the parish council’s plan were being investigated. The CATG commited to work at east and west gateways and Brewhouse Hill. Topographic surveys had been ordered there.

·         20 mph speed limit for Marlborough Town Centre – formal consultation on the plan began in December and ended on 14 January 2019. Some objections had been received, however it was not anticipated that the decision would need to go to Cabinet. Therefore it was hoped that works may begin in the summer to implement the plan.

·         New bus stop in Mildenhall - hard standing for the new shelter was to be created on the verge, plus a footway to it from the village. The engineer had been on site; construction straight was forward but could need a road closure which would increase the cost.

·         Poorly marked sharp bend on B4192 at Chilton Foliat – a new signage scheme had been designed and created to stop cars missing the bend and could now be installed.

The next CATG was to be held on 14  March 2019.

In response to questions regarding who controls speed limits it was stated that the standards for speed limits came from the Department for Transport. All speed limits had been reviewed 10 years ago. If people were concerned about speed limits in an area they should in the first instance raise it with their Parish Council, who could bring the issue to CATG. If CATG thought raising the limit was appropriate they could raise it with Wiltshire Councils Highways Department. If they concurred that there had been enough development/changes then they may be able to recommend that there was a review. However the criteria were very strict to enable this to happen.

The meeting once again stated that they felt there should be a Road Safety Forum.

It was;

Resolved:

To note the updates.

To receive an update on the Local Youth Network.

To consider the following applications for youth grant funding:

·         Savernake Explorer Scout Unit, £2,792.00, towards Activities, Courses and Camps.

·         Jackdaws Music Education Trust, £450.00, towards an Opera in the Marlborough area.

·         21st Century Legacy, £1,000.00, towards their Be the Best You Can Be coaching.

Andrew Jack, Community Engagement Manager introduced the applications for youth grant funding as detailed in the agenda. The LYN had met on 10 January 2019 and had recommended that all applications be awarded in full.

Representatives of the Savernake Explorer Scout Unit and 21st Century Legacy spoke in support of their applications. Representatives of the Jackdaws Music Education Trust had sent their apologies for being unable to attend.

After discussion, it was;

Resolved:

·         To award Savernake Explorer Scout Unit, £2,792.00, towards Activities, Courses and Camps.

·         To award Jackdaws Music Education Trust, £450.00, towards an Opera in the Marlborough area.

·         To award 21st Century Legacy, £1,000.00, towards their Be the Best You Can Be coaching project.

Presentation on National Armed Forces Day 2019, by the Community Engagement Manager (CEM), to generate discussion about how the community can become involved on the day and in legacy projects.

To receive any updates from the Community Engagement Manager.

Andrew Jack, Community Engagement Manager gave a presentation on National Armed Forces Day 2019.

National Armed Forces Day was to be held in Salisbury in 2019 and would in fact run over 3 days -  Friday 28 June to Sunday 20 June. It would be a national event likely to attract 250,000 people over the 3 days. The event would also be free to attend.

Friday 28 June was to be an Armed Forces Personnel and family event, with children’s activities and entertainment, a celebrity chef BBQ, live entertainment and a gala dinner. Saturday 29 June was to be themed a community day, where there would be VVIPs in attendance, armed forces parades, fly pasts, arenas and marquees as well as an evening concert and fireworks. Sunday 30 June was to be themed Veterans’ and youth day with more live entertainment, an afternoon tea for veterans, a world record breaking attempt to create the largest human poppy, a commemoration service, fly past and wartime singalong.

There would be the opportunity for all Wiltshire Community Areas to be involved via three creative projects: A social media and NAFD photograph competition; a commemorative tapestry and the human poppy world record attempt.

All Community Areas were being asked to award funds to local elements of NAFD projects.

To consider the following application to the Community Area Grants Scheme:

·         NAFD projects, £1000.00 plus transport costs, towards the costs of the local elements of the project.

·         Avebury Cricket Club, £5,000.00, towards a New Sports Pavilion at Sports field.

·         Aldbourne Recreation Centre, £3,500.00, towards Initial Architect Services & consultation.

·         2nd Marlborough Scouts, £1,338.00, towards new blinds for scout hut.

·         Broad Hinton & Winterbourne Bassett Parish Council, £800.00, towards a Defibrillator.

The Area Board considered the applications for Community Area Grant funding as detailed in the agenda.  The Community Area Manager introduced each application, following which a representative of the applicant was given an opportunity to give a brief overview of their project to the Area Board.

After discussion it was;

Resolved:

·         To deny National Armed Forces Day the allocation of £1000 for local elements of the project (Community Art Tapestry, Human Poppy World Record Attempt and Social Media Photograph Campaign).

Reason: It was noted that this would not be a suitable use of the Area Board’s limited funding.

To grant National Armed Forces Day up to £1000 towards transport costs for Marlborough Area locals to attend NAFD.

·         To award Avebury Cricket Club, £5,000.00, towards a New Sports Pavilion at Sports field.

Note: The money would be ring fenced for the Avebury Cricket Club until planning permission had been resolved and they were ready to build. At which point the funds would be released.  

·         To award Aldbourne Recreation Centre, £3,500.00, towards Initial Architect Services & consultation.

Note: This money would be awarded from the LYN budget rather than from Capital Budget. (Cllr Dobson, as lead LYN member approved this proposal). This money was to be ring fenced until it could be used, at which time it would be released. The money was to be used for the youth element of the architectural services required.

·         To award 2nd Marlborough Scouts, £1,338.00, towards new blinds for the scout hut.

·         To award Broad Hinton & Winterbourne Bassett Parish Council, £800.00, towards a Defibrillator.

There were none.

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

There were no urgent items.

However, the Chairman took the opportunity to thank Andrew Jack, Community Engagement Manager (who was to become the Devizes Area CEM), for all his hard work and for being calm and collected under pressure.

The next meeting of the Marlborough Area Board will be held on 26 March 2019, 7.00pm at the Assembly Room, Marlborough Town Hall, 5 High St, Marlborough,  SN8 1AA.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Marlborough Area Board would be held on Tuesday 26 Mar 2019, at 7.00pm, at the Assembly Room, Marlborough Town Hall, 5 High St, Marlborough SN8 1AA.