Agenda and minutes

Announcements:

·       St Johns Ambulance.

·       Wiltshire Online Programme – Extension of the basic broadband Commitment Scheme.

·       Community Land Trust.

·       Mental Health Awareness.

·       West Wilts Model Railway grant funding.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Area Board and thanked Seend Community Centre for hosting the Area Board.

The Chairman thanked Members of the St Johns Ambulance in attendance for their excellent defibrillator demonstrations prior to the meeting.

Teresa  Strange – Clerk, Melksham Without Parish Council gave a brief overview of the community access defibrillators installed throughout the Melksham Without Parish.

The following Chairman’s Announcements were noted:

•        Wiltshire Online Programme – Extension of the basic broadband Commitment Scheme.

•        Community Land Trust.

•        Mental Health Awareness.

•        A361 – road closure due to highway maintenance.

•        Ron Pybus – West Wiltshire Model Railway Circle thanked the Area Board for the Circle’s recent grant and presented the Area Board with a cheque for £99, payment returned from the recent Area Board grant.

•        Melksham Young People’s Awards – nominations now needed for young people.

•        Wiltshire Police – that Inspector Louis McCoy was now the Melksham Sector Inspector, taking over from Inspector Nick Mawson.

Cllr Terry Chivers was in attendance but left before the meeting began due to ill health.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 15 June 2016.

Decision

·       The minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 15 June 2016 were agreed as the correct record.

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

There were none.

·       Children and Young people including Local Youth Network

           (LYN)

·       Health and Wellbeing

·       Business and Economy

·       Community Area Transport Group (CATG)

·       Read Easy

Children and Young people including Local Youth Network (LYN)

Emma Drage outlined her role of the Locality Youth Facilitator, which would replace the role of the Community youth Officer:

·       Supporting, developing and strengthening the LYN Management Groups, making sure young people are properly represented.

·       Grants – ensuring applications are dealt with as quickly and as simply as possible.

·       Mapping community provision – this is the positive activity ‘offer’ in each area in the form of a directory of services and activities for young people.

·       Communications – ensuring that activities are well promoted using the wider LYN network, OCM and social media (a shared task with CEMs).

·       Safeguarding – ensuring funding applications meet our requirements and that we respond quickly if any issues are referred to us. 

Youth Grant funding

Decision

Melksham Area Cadets awarded £2,060 for Melksham Air Cadets Youth Outdoor Activities Development Program.

Health and Wellbeing

Cllr Pat Aves advised that:

·       The Group was planning to meet on Tuesday 22 November 2016.

Business and Economy

Cllr Roy While advised that:

·       Seagull issues effecting Bowerhill Industrial Estate were now being looked at. Discussions were ongoing with Devizes who had similar gull issues and the Public Protection Team, Wiltshire Council.

Community Area Transport Group (CATG)

Cllr Roy While requested that the Melksham Area Board noted all updates and issue closures:

•        Issue 3715 - Melksham Tower Rd, Devonshire Pl shared use footpath link - to recommend to the Area Board allocation of £2,991 from CATG funding and £2,991 from the Area Board.

•        Issue 3895 Bus shelter outside United Reform Church, Melksham High Street – to recommend to the Area Board allocation of £2,500 from CATG funding and £2,500 from the Area Board.

•        Issue 4532 Request from Parish Council for Berryfield Nameplates – to recommend to the Area Board allocation of £100 from CATG funding and £100 from the Area Board.

•        After reviewing the funding available from the Area Board and the CATG, as Chair of the CATG I am proposing that the full £5,591 requested is taken from CATG funding, instead of using the Area Board grants funding.

•        This proposal will be under constant review but remains the case until further notice.

•        Town and Parish contributions will continue to be agreed on a case by case basis.

Read Easy

Cllr David Pollitt advised that:

·       The group now had four trained readers, and were looking for a person to join it’s management committee.

The Chairman thanked all members for their updates.

Richard Wood - Chair Melksham Neighbourhood Plan & David Way - Wiltshire Council.

Richard Wood - Chairman Melksham Neighbourhood Plan and Georgia A’bor – Seend Neighbourhood Plan gave updates on their respective neighbourhood plans.

Points made included:

·       That the Melksham neighbourhood plan should be completed early 2017.

·       That Seend had carried out it’s rural housing survey and was now working on it’s business survey.

·       That Melksham had set up several sub groups to feed into the plan.

The Chairman thanked Richard Wood and Georgia A’bor for their updates.

Wiltshire Council Highways.

Dave Thomas – Traffic Engineering Manger, Wiltshire Council outlined proposals for the re-introduction of a right turn into Church Street, Melksham.

Points made included:

·       Requests  had  been  received  to allow  the  right  turn  into Church  Street  to  become  a permittedmovement.   Itwas understoodthat thebasis ofthe requestwas thatby allowingthe right turn northboundqueue lengthsfrom theMarket Placewould reduceand wouldhelp to mitigateany additionaltraffic impactcaused bythe proposedMelksham Campuswhich was tobe accessedfrom theMarket Place.

·       This matter was previously discussed in detail by the Melksham Community Area Transport Groupwho agreednot totake the matterfurther.   Thisrecommendation was subsequentlyendorsed bythe MelkshamArea Board.

·       Thedecision not totake matters further hadnot been welcomed  bysome  ofthe local community anda furtherrequest hadbeen madethat thematter bereconsidered.

·       A briefing note was tabled that gave a highlevel overview ofthe options forchange and thelikely impacts of the changes. These included three options for change. (The briefing note is attached).

Points raised from the floor included:

·       Concerns re the increased level of traffic that would be travelling into the town centre from the new south Melksham housing developments.

·       That the Market Place did not need traffic entering it that didn’t need to be there.

Decision

·       That the Melksham Area Board agreed that the provision of signage in the Lowbourne car park, Bank Street, Melksham be investigated by the Melksham Community Area Transport Group.

·       That the Melksham Area Board noted the report.

The Chairman thanked Dave Thomas for his report and presentation.

Mears Care - the new healthcare provider in Melksham.

Cllr Jerry Wickham - Cabinet Member for Health (including Public Health) and Adult Social Care gave a short overview of health issues facing people living in their own home and the how Mears Care had been appointed the new healthcare provider in Melksham.

Jan Evans and Steve Byett - Mears Care.

Points made included:

·       Mears serve a number of rural areas across Wiltshire.

·       1500 care and support customers receiving 7000 hours of care per week.

·       393 care and support workers provide a service to our customers.

·       90% of our care and support customers are aged 65 and over.

·       Mears also serve younger disabled adults and people with complex physical health conditions.

·       Integration of MiHomecare staff on the 15^th August – 93 staff.

·       Melksham office change of occupancy took place on the 13^th and 14^th September.

·       ColdHarbour systems training took place prior to go live.

·       Wiltshire Council have supported Mears throughout the process ensuring all care plans are relevant and fit for purpose.

·       Uniforms and Cell Track phones issued to Leonard Cheshire staff prior to go live.

·       Integration of Leonard Cheshire staff on the 5^th September – 165 staff.

·       Inductions and training ongoing throughout September.

The Chairman thanked Jan Evans and Steve Byett for their presentation.

Cllr Jonathon Seed.

The Chairman advised that Wiltshire Council was launching a Community Toilet Scheme. The council was looking for businesses it could work with across the county to make more toilets available to the public. It was also hoped that the scheme would deliver longer opening hours and more convenient locations.

Any business or community building in Wiltshire could become involved. The scheme promoted the buildings as being happy to allow non-customers to use their toilet facilities during their normal opening hours.

Rhys Schell – Community Engagement Manager.

Rhys Schell - Melksham Community Engagement Manager advised that:

·       The 8 week activity challenge took place from 4 June – 29 July 2016.

·       A total of 18,211 people signed up from across the county.

·       This was made up of 2,497 individuals, 180 teams and 47 schools.

·       In total participants ran, walked, swam or cycled 779,742kms, which is the distance to the moon and back!

·       There were a total of 273 individual participants from the Melksham community area, plus 9 clubs and groups and 7 schools who travelled a combined distance of 95,114kms over the eight weeks.

·       95,114kms was the furthest distance achieved by any community area and is more than twice around the world!

A short film was shown highlighting some of Melksham’s young people taking on the challenge.

The Chairman thanked Rhys Schell for his presentation and thanked all those who had taken part in the challenge.

To consider an updated delegation to the CEM to provide for urgent funding decisions to be taken between meetings of the Area Board.

Wiltshire Area Boards had previously delegated authority to officers to grant funding from their delegated community and youth budgets in respect of urgent matters that may arise between meetings of the Area Board. It was proposed that this delegation was updated and extended to cover health and wellbeing projects. 

Decision

·       That the Melksham Area Board agreed that In order to expedite the work of the Area Board and to deal with urgent matters that may arise between meetings, the Community Engagement Manager, in consultation with the Chairman (or in their absence, the Vice-Chairman) of the Area Board, may authorise expenditure to support community projects from the delegated community grants budget of up to £1,000 in total, youth projects of up to £1,000 in total, and health and wellbeing projects of up to £1,000 in total, between meetings of the Area Board.

·       Decisions taken between meetings would be reported to the next meeting of the Area Board explaining why the matter was considered urgent or necessary to expedite the work of the Board and the Cabinet Member for Communities, Campuses, Area Boards and Broadband would also be kept informed of any such decisions.

Cllr Jonathon Seed.

The Chairman advised that the Installation of the new electronic warning signs on Seend High Street had now been completed.

To receive any written updates from the following partners:

·       Young Melksham

·       Community Area Partnership

·       Wiltshire Police

·       Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner

·       Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

·       NHS Wiltshire/Clinical Commissioning Group

·       Healthwatch Wiltshire

·       Melksham Town Council

·       Parish Council Nominated Representatives

·       Melksham Chambers of Commerce

·       Melksham Senior People’s Forum

·       Older Persons Champion

·       Trans Wilts Cic

The following written partner updates were noted:

·       Wiltshire Police.

·       Melksham Town Council.

·       Trans Wilts Cic.

The Area Board members are asked to consider five applications to the Community Area Grants scheme:

·       Poulshot Village Hall requesting £2,390 for Poulshot Village Hall UPVC cladding.

·       Pyatts Corner Residents, Keevil requesting £982.40 for Improvement to footpath beside Keevil Village Playing Field.

·       Melksham Christmas Lights Group requesting £2,450 for Rejuvenation of infrastructure for lower end of Melkshams Christmas Display.

·       TransWilts CIC requesting £5,000 for Melksham Train Station Re-development.

·       Cllr Led Initiative - Jon Hubbard Requesting £1,000 for Melksham Parkrun.

The Wiltshire Councillors considered the following Grant Applications:

Community Area Grants

Decision

Poulshot Village Hall awarded £1,800 for Poulshot Village Hall UVPC cladding.

Reason

The grant meets the 2016/17 grants criteria.

Decision

Pyatts Corner Residents awarded £982.40 for Keevil Improvement to footpath beside Keevil Village Playing Field.

Reason

The grant meets the 2016/17 grants criteria.

Decision

Melksham Christmas lights group awarded £2.450 for rejuvenation of infrastructure for lower end of Melksham’s Christmas Display.
Reason

The grant meets the 2016/17 grants criteria.

Decision

TransWilts CIC awarded £3,300.33 for Melksham Station Northern Access.
Reason

The grant meets the 2016/17 grants criteria.

Member Initiative

Decision

Cllr Jon Hubbard awarded £1,000 for Melksham Parkrun.

Reason

The grant meets the 2016/17 grants criteria.

There were none.