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.

Apologies for absence were received from:

·         Cllr James Sheppard

·         Acting Inspector Pete Foster, Wiltshire Police

·         Shelley Parker, Marlborough Town Council Clerk

·         Cllr Sheila Glass, Ramsbury & Axford Parish Council

The Chairman also announced that Cllr Jane Davies would be arriving slightly late due to an earlier meeting over-running.

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meetings held on 23 July 2019.

Resolved:

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 23 July 2019.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider the following applications to the community area grants scheme:

·         Christchurch Marlborough, Wesley Hall Marlborough Sound System, £600.00, towards installing a simple sound reproduction and loop system in the Wesley Hall, Oxford Street, Marlborough.

The Chairman explained that this item had been moved up the agenda so that the grant applicant could attend to speak in support.

Jonathan Lyle of Christchurch Marlborough spoke in support of their application.

The Chairman thanked the applicant for their presentation and explained that the meeting was not quorate. This meant that the board would be unable to vote and make decisions as only two of the four board members were present at the current time. The Chairman stated that the four board members would discuss the grant outside the meeting and if in favour they could use delegated powers to approve the grant. The outcome would be reported to the applicant in the next 48 hours and to the public at the next area board meeting.

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

·         How Dementia Friendly is Wiltshire

A report is available detailing what people living with dementia and their carers value most about dementia friendly initiatives, it can be accessed via this link: https://www.healthwatchwiltshire.co.uk/report/2019-07-24/how-dementia-friendly-wiltshire.

·         NAFD Tapestry Coming to Marlborough

The tapestry produced for National Armed Forces Day will be coming to Marlborough soon.

The Chairman made the following announcements:

·         How Dementia Friendly is Wiltshire

A report was available detailing what people living with dementia and their carers value most about dementia friendly initiatives, it could be accessed via the following link: https://www.healthwatchwiltshire.co.uk/report/2019-07-24/how-dementia-friendly-wiltshire.

·         NAFD Tapestry Coming to Marlborough

The tapestry was completed by Arts Together and would be touring the county following National Armed Forces Weekend. The Chairman was pleased to announce that it would be in the Marlborough library from 5 September for the whole month, so the meeting was encouraged to go and have a look.

·         Thanks to Jubilee Day Centre

The Chairman thanked Sally of the Jubilee Day Centre for providing refreshments for the meeting.

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

• Wiltshire Police
• Wiltshire Fire and Rescue
• Healthwatch Wiltshire
• Transition Marlborough
• Town / Parish Councils
  • Marlborough Town Council
• Marlborough Area Neighbourhood Plan

Written updates were available in the agenda pack from the Police, the Fire Service and Healthwatch Wiltshire.

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

·         Wiltshire Police

The Chairman introduced Emily Grigor, Community Coordinator, East Sector, who was in attendance in place of Acting Inspector Pete Foster. Emily referred the meeting to the written report in the agenda pack and invited questions from the audience. In response to a question regarding what the “others” referred to in the pie chart on page 19 which gave a breakdown of different crime types, Emily stated that it would be a variety of crimes, for example Anti-Social Behaviour. Emily explained the style of the report had been changed and was still being refined. She would feed back that it may be useful to have more details or further breakdowns.

It was also stated that the police would be able to give crime detection rates at the next meeting. These had been requested at the previous Area Board meeting and had just been received by Inspector Foster, he would feed them back at the next meeting.

Cllr Alison Edmonds, Chair of Aldbourne Parish Council stated that she found the reports from the local PCSO extremely useful. However, the Cllr stated that some people in her village did not like calling 111 to report problems. In response Emily stated that people could now report issues online, she would encourage the PSCO’s to get the link out to people, alternatively you could report problems directly to the PCSO. It was stressed that the police need intelligence in order to effectively target their resources.

·         Wiltshire Fire and Rescue

Dave Adamson, Station Manager - East Sector was in attendance, accompanied by Justin who was the Marlborough officer.

Mr Adamson directed people to the agenda report and advised that the fire service was on a recruitment drive. They would appreciate any help they could get with publicity. The Marlborough fire station was understaffed so it was hoped that people could spread the word that on call fire fighters were required. All information regarding this could be found on the DWFRS website or people could pop in to see Justin. Cllr Alison Edmonds, Chair of Aldbourne Parish Council stated that the parish council may be able to advertise the drive in their magazine. Marlborough Town Council stated they could put details on their website.

In response to a question from the audience regarding what the upper age limit was for fire fighters it was stated that there was no upper age limit. However, applicants had to be able to pass a fitness test and had to have GCSE qualifications etcetera.

Cllr Andrew George-Perutz of Berwick Bassett & Winterbourne Monkton Parish Council expressed shock that 66% of the calls received by the fire service were false alarms. Mr Adamson stated that it was very hard to do anything about the issue. If they could verify an alarm was false then they would not attend,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68.

·       Anti-Social Behaviour – to receive a presentation from Rowena Lansdown, Wiltshire Council Anti-Social Behaviour Officer

·       Watch Updates – to receive a presentation from Lauren Clark, Wiltshire Police, on Neighbourhood Watch, Horse and Farm Watch, Lorry Watch, Canal Watch, Hotel Watch and the benefits of signing up and using Community Messaging.

·       Anti-Social Behaviour

The board received a presentation from Rowena Lansdown, Wiltshire Council Anti-Social Behaviour Officer.

The officer explained that the Anti-Social Behaviour team sat within the Public Health Directorate and was part of the Vulnerable Communities team. The makeup of the team was explained. People could contact the team on asb@wiltshire.gov.uk.

ASB was defined as “conduct that has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to any person”.

The team undertook this work partly due to cases like the Fiona Pilkington case in 2007. For 10 years she had suffered from “low level” ASB. She had reported this to different agencies, but the agencies were not communicating. No one recognised her family circumstances, she had a disabled daughter. Unfortunately, she took both their lives because of the impact of the ASB. Now all the relevant agencies have a conference to prevent this happening.

Actions taken when ASB was reported included; meeting with victims and issuing log sheets, completing a risk assessment matrix, referring the victim to Victim Support; referring the case to the Anti-Social Behaviour Risk Assessment Conference (ASBRAC); monitoring the case and taking appropriate action and only removing the case from ASBRAC when agencies were satisfied that it was resolved.

The ASBRAC concept was recommended by the Home Office as good practice. Wiltshire’s ASBRAC was governed by the Community Safety Partnership made up of agencies such as the Police, Council, Fire, Housing Associations and others. They involved multi agency meetings that had the wellbeing of victims at heart. They provided a forum for sharing information and assigning actions. ASBRAC was outcome driven with a focus to safeguard the victims and reduce the anti-social behaviour from the perpetrator. For example, an acceptable behaviour contract may be agreed with the perpetrator. If the perpetrator had issues themselves, for example substance abuse, mental health issues or housing problems then they would also get relevant agencies to attend.

No single agency had sight of the full situation but may have crucial information about the individuals involved which assisted with agreeing appropriate actions.

If all the actions taken failed to resolve the situation they could take enforcement action. Enforcement options included: Criminal Behaviour Order; ASB Injunction; Closure Notices/Orders; Community Protection Warning; Community Protection Notice and Absolute Grounds for Possession.

In 2018, through ASBRAC they supported 140 victims and issued 6 Community Protection Warnings, 1 Injunction and 6 Closures.

In response to a question querying what could be classed as ASB it was stated that the team would advise people when behaviour constituted ASB or when it was simply a clash of lifestyles. They had listening equipment that could be used to prove the matter either way.

In response to questions regarding difficulty accessing mental health services or substance abuse services due to cuts or location, it was stated that the ASB team could refer people to mental health services, but it took time. The rural location problem was an issue. It was thought that Turning Point were looking at moving  ...  view the full minutes text for item 69.

To receive any updates on the Local Youth Network.

There were no applications for Youth Grant Funding.

The meeting was advised that the LYN had not met since the last meeting of the Area Board so there would be no update.

There were no applications for youth grant funding.

The meeting was encouraged to advise groups who may need support to apply for grants by contacting the Community Engagement Manager.

To receive any updates from the Marlborough Area Health and Wellbeing Group.

There were no applications for Health and Wellbeing funding.

Jill Turner, Chair of the HWBG gave a brief update to the meeting. There had not been a meeting of the HWBG since the last area board. However, the group had been working behind the scenes to follow up and gather information from the Devizes Health and Wellbeing Day. It was hoped that the Marlborough HWBG could hold a similar event the following summer.

The group had developed a job description for the Older Persons and Carers Champion and created a board to conduct interviews.

There were no applications for Health and Wellbeing funding.

There has been no meeting of the CATG since the last area board.

The next CATG meeting will be held on 19 September 2019 at 10.00am in Marlborough Town Hall.

There had not been a meeting of the CATG since the last area board, so there was no update.

The next meeting of the CATG would be held on 19 September 2019, 10.00am at Marlborough Town Hall.

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 19 November, 7.00pm at Marlborough Town Hall.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending an asked that they note the change of date for the next meeting, which would be held on Tuesday 19 November, 7pm, at Marlborough Town Hall.