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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Seend Community Centre

Contact: Kevin Fielding  (Democratic Services Officer)

Items
No. Item

15.

Election of the Chairman

To appoint a Chairman for 2018/19

Minutes:

Nominations were sought for the position of Chairman, Cllr Seed nominated Cllr Hubbard, which was seconded by Cllr Aves.

 

Resolved:

 

To appoint Cllr Jon Hubbard as Chairman for the forthcoming year.

16.

Election of the Vice-Chairman

To appoint a Vice Chairman for 2018/19

Minutes:

Nominations were sought for the position of Vice Chairman, Cllr Hubbard nominated Cllr Seed, which was seconded by Cllr Alford.

 

Resolved:

 

To appoint Cllr Seed as Vice Chairman for the forthcoming year.

17.

Chairman's Welcome, Introduction and Announcements

Chairman’s Announcements:

 

·         Become a Foster Carer

·         Melksham Campus Update

 

 

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Written updates were available in the agenda pack updating on the recovery in Salisbury following the nerve agent attack.  The pack also included information about how to find out more about becoming a foster carer.

 

A verbal update was provided on the development of the Melksham Campus; a planning application has been submitted to Wiltshire Council, demolition on the site was expected to start in late summer 2018, with 2021 as the target for completion of the build.

In response to questions it was confirmed the blue pool would not be used as part of the new development.

18.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

19.

Minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 11 April 2018

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Resolved:

 

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 11th April.

20.

Declarations of Interest

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

 

Minutes:

Declarations of interest were made in respect of grant funding items, as detailed below.  

21.

Appointments to Outside Bodies and Working Groups

To note that appointments to outside bodies and working groups for the forthcoming year:

 

·         Community Area Transport Group (CAT-G)

 

·         Melksham Wellbeing Group

 

·         Melksham Community Area Partnership

 

·         Melksham Neighbourhood Plan

 

Minutes:

The Area Board was invited to reconstitute working groups, the Chairman explained the membership and purpose of each of the groups.

 

Resolved:

 

To reconstitute Area Board working groups with the following councillors:

 

CATG – Cllr Roy While

Melksham Wellbeing Group – Cllr Pat Aves

Melksham Neighbourhood Plan –Cllr Phil Alford, with Cllr Pat Aves as substitute

22.

Shurnhold Fields

An update from Melksham Town Council and Melksham Without Parish Council on the joint project at Shurnhold Fields

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

An update was provided from Melksham Town Council and Melksham Without Parish Council on the joint project at Shurnhold Fields, previously George Wood School fields, which were now to come into community use. The vision for the fields was a small country park for residents and visitors, a small attenuation pond was also being proposed.

23.

A350 Farmers Roundabout Improvements

An overview and update regarding the A350 Farmers Roundabout Improvement project by Stephen Wilson - Wiltshire Council Highways Improvements Officer

Minutes:

An update was provided by Stephen Wilson, Highways Improvements Officer on the works planned for the A350 roundabout. It was highlighted the road was a busy route with conflict between local traffic and through traffic, however the lanes could be better organised to improve traffic flow. The accident record on the road indicated drivers were having difficulty getting onto the farmers roundabout. New road space, signage, traffic signals and lines would now be added, improvements were also to be made to the infrastructure.  The works were planned to start in January 2019, with completion for summer 2019. It was acknowledged the works would cause disruption however this would be staggered to mitigate the impact.

 

The Chairman thanked the officer for the presentation and confirmed the funding for the works was being sourced from the Local Enterprise Partnership. Comments from the floor included concern about HGVs using the residential streets as an alternative route. Questions were raised as to the implications on a potential Eastern Bypass scheme, in response to which it was confirmed the problem at Farmers Roundabout was live and funding was available to address it therefore it was being considered as a priority. The streetworks team was working to ensure there would be no conflict between this project on the A350 and other nearby works on the station and the campus.

24.

Melksham Railway Station

Progress on the improvements to Melksham Station from Paul Johnson - Chair of the TransWilts CIC

Minutes:

Paul Johnson, Chair of the TransWilts CIC, provided an update on progress of improvements to Melksham Station which included a platform extension, increased car parking spaces, a community café, improved access and bus stop, and a northern pedestrian and cycle route. It was explained the improvements would address most of the facilities the public had requested in a survey. Plans for the site were displayed and indicated the proposed layout. It was notes the group had to fundraise £50,000 to secure match funding for the project.

 

The group had to move quickly to secure the Reed site, this meant working with Great Western Railway, the company would also manage the enforcement of the car park which was not considered to be a role for the community group. A point was made that cheap or free parking at the site would encourage community use of the new shop and community facility. 

25.

Melksham 'Our Community Matters' progress report

A summary of the local projects delivered in line with the Our Community Matters event in 2017 by Rhys Schell - Melksham Community Engagement Manager

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Rhys Schell, Community Engagement Manager, updated on the positive community outcomes following of the Community Matters event held earlier in the year and thanked the community for their contribution to achieving local priorities.

 

Resolved:

 

To note the update against Joint Strategic Assessment priorities, and to thank the groups, organisations and partners that had contributed to address the locally- set priorities.

26.

Melksham Age Friendly update

An update from Cllr Jon Hubbard and Rhys Schell - Community Engagement Manager, on the progress since the Age Friendly focussed discussions at the April Area Board

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

An update on progress since the Age Friendly discussion at the April Area Board was provide. It was recommended that funding be allocated to support a community benches project to encourage older people to walk by providing them a place to rest on their walking route. The Chairman explained the funding would be available to December, if no applications came forward after then the money would go back into the general funding pot. Any applications would require 50% match funding.

 

The Chairman expressed his thanks to the great work that Brian Warwick had undertaken to support the Age Friendly initiative.

 

Resolved:

 

The Area Board to organise a steering group, and appoint Cllr Jon Hubbard as Area Board lead on the group.

 

To allocate £3,000 be made available until December 2018 towards a community benches project.

27.

Area Board sub groups

 

 

Melksham Wellbeing Group Cllr Aves

 

  • No meeting held

 

Community Area Transport Group Cllr While

 

  • No meeting held

 

Minutes:

No meetings of the Area Board sub groups had been held since the last Area Board.

28.

Written Partner Updates

To receive any written updates from the following partners:

 

·         Community Area Partnership

·         Wiltshire Police

·         Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner

·         Dorset & 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

·         Young Melksham

·         Trans Wilts Cic

 

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Written updates were available in the agenda pack from Area Board partners.

29.

Feedback from Grants recipients

·         Steeple Ashton Guides – Camp/ Equipment Store

 

·         Melksham Rugby Club – Defibrillator 

Minutes:

Steeple Ashton Guides thanked the Area Board for funding it had recently granted for a storage shed. The new building allowed all equipment to be held in one place, and had been a used as a meeting place for many events and craft sessions.

 

Melksham Rugby Club had recently installed a new defibrillator with Area Board funding, it was highlighted these were life-saving pieces of equipment.

30.

Grant Funding

The Area Board members are asked to consider applications to the

Community Area Grants scheme. Full details of all grant applications are contained in the agenda pack

 

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Board considered applications to the community area grants scheme, representatives from Melksham Remembers, Brunswick Park and Keevil Village Hall spoke in support of their applications.

 

Cllr Seed declared an interest in the application from St John’s Ambulance and did not vote on the item, however spoke in support of the application in his capacity as a member of the public. Cllr Hubbard declared he sat on the Melksham Remembers Steering Group and did not vote on this funding item.

 

Councillors considered the application from Wiltshire Mind was not the most effective use of community funding and the quoted costs for the storage facility were high. The Board therefore agreed to refuse the application for these reasons, and invited the charity to contact the Parish Council which might have been able to assist with storage units.

 

Resolved:

 

To grant St John’s Ambulance £750 towards radio communications;

 

To reject the application from Wiltshire Mind for £908.40 and to refer the applicant to the Parish Council which may be able to assist with storage units;

 

To grant Brunswick Park Residents Group £500 towards park improvements;

 

To grant Keevil Village Hall £3,500 towards a new floor;

 

To grant Melksham Remembers £2,000 towards a remembrance exhibition.

31.

Public questions

Members of the public are invited to ask questions relating to Area Board business

Minutes:

A question was asked about hedge/path maintenance; councillors responded Wiltshire Council had limited resource to support this and anybody wishing to volunteer should contact the town council which could provide support.

32.

Close

Minutes:

The next meeting was to be held on 5 September 2018 at Melksham United Church.