Agenda and minutes

The Chairman, Councillor Mary Douglas welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Salisbury Area Board and invited the members of the Board to introduce themselves.

Portfolio holder for Communities and Youth; Cllr Chris Williams, was welcomed to the meeting.

Apologies for absence had been received from:

·         Steve Godwin – Salisbury BID

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 6 July 2017.

Decision

The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 6 July 2017 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.

There were none.

The Chairman will give an update on outcomes and actions arising from previous meetings of the Area Board.

There were none.

a.     Housing Site Allocations

b.     Emergency Planning

c.     Public Meetings

d.     Assertiveness Outreach

e.     Household Recycling Centres

The Chairman drew attention to the following written information items attached to the agenda:

a.    Housing Site Allocations

b.    Emergency Planning

c.    Public Meetings

d.    Assertiveness Outreach

e.    Household Recycling Centres

Attention was drawn to the current proposals to change the parking charges for Wiltshire. Consultation would begin on 25^th September for 8 weeks.

The Board is asked to consider the attached report and agree a way forward to strengthen Local Youth Network arrangements in Salisbury.

The Board considered the reports attached to the agenda, detailing options to move forward in strengthening the Local Youth Network arrangements in Salisbury.

Cllr Derek Brown had attended the recent meeting pf the LYN Management Group which looked at how to better engage with the young people of Salisbury in the LYN process to facilitate provision of activities for young people. A report was attached to the agenda.

In the past it had been evident that it was difficult to get the young people to the meetings, to draw in their expertise in a way that would be meaningful to this Board. The Board hoped to enhance the way in which the young people could be involved.

Several issues had been identified, including transportation. One idea to tackle that issue was to ask local schools to host the LYN management group meeting at the end of the school day, whilst the young people were still at the venue.

Other options were to identify an existing Youth Group to ask them to hold the meeting over the period of a year at a time. The idea of running an annual award ceremony was also suggested.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Questions and comments:

·       The LYN model developed by WC aimed to engage with young people and to involve them in the process of awarding youth grants to other groups of young people. In Salisbury, the LYN sometimes only consisted of one or two young people, these low numbers were not representative of the young people of Salisbury. The time has come to try and do things differently in engaging young people.

·       A directory of youth activities will also be set up, detailing what is available for young people in Salisbury. This will be provided to schools with the aim of getting the young people to tell us what they want and what they need.

·       Was there an update on the vacant Youth Officer post?  Answer: The replacement of Youth Officer’s was tied in to the current ongoing review of the Youth Services. There were no dedicated Youth Officers available now.

·       The current Chairperson for the LYN, was in support of the proposals put forward, especially the involvement of the schools.

·       What had taken place since the last meeting with regards to engaging young people? Answer: The CEM had visited the Friary Youth Group, where there had been approximately 25 young people to engage with. A report had then been produced and was attached to the agenda.

Cllr Derek Brown noted that if the LYN did move from school to school, then he asked that consideration would be given to the continuity of the group and suggested that the same Chairperson remained for the year. He then put forward to support the recommendations, with preference in favouring options b & e.

Decision

The Salisbury Area Board agreed to:

·       Ask local schools/ school councilsto be the host of LYNMG meetings from October 2017. 

·       Ask the LYNMG to run an annual youth awards ceremony.

To consider 3 applications for funding as detailed in the report of the Community Engagement Manager.

The Board considered three applications for funding as detailed in the report attached to the agenda.

Applicants present were invited to speak in support of their projects. Following discussion and questions, the Board voted on each application in turn.

Cllr Hocking proposed to award Salisbury Post Adoption Support Grouphalf of what had been requested, as the project was to be hosted at River Bourne Community Farm in Laverstock. He suggested that the applicant could then apply to the Southern Wiltshire Area Board for the other half.

Decision

Salisbury Post Adoption Support Group - £1,830 from the Youth Budget for 2017/18.

A short DVD was shown detailing the work of La Folia. A mother of young person from Exeter house spoke in support of the project.

Cllr Hocking proposed an amount of £2,000 to match fund the amount being given by Salisbury College, as he had concerns that a large amount of the project costs were going out in salaries and admin. He added that as this was a project that would be open to children outside of the Salisbury community area, the applicant could then apply to Southern Wiltshire and South West Wiltshire Area Boards for additional contributions.

Decision

La Folia was awarded £2,000 towards their project, from the Youth Budget for 2017/18.

Cllr Led Initiative – Five Rivers Football Pitches

As the Boards representative on the Five Rivers Management Committee, Cllr Dean noted that he had recently surveyed the land outside of the site with the parks manager from Salisbury City Council (SCC). The SCC Officer agreed to undertake some small-scale improvements at the site.

The maintenance of the turfed pitches would be improved, which would attract additional use to the site. Funding from the Leisure Budget would cover the replacement of football posts and other aspects.

Decision

The Salisbury Area Board allocated £1,300 towards the Councillor Led Initiative for the Five Rivers Outdoors Pitch Improvements project.

To note the written updates attached to the agenda and to receive any verbal updates from representatives present.

a)    Salisbury City Council (SCC)

b)    Laverstock and Ford Parish Council

c)     Police

d)    Fire

e)    Salisbury BID

f)      Child Wellbeing

g)    Health & Wellbeing

h)    Salisbury Community Energy

i)       Community Engagement Manager

j)       Air Quality Group

Note: Speakers are reminded that they each have a 3 minutes slot, unless they have previously discussed alternative arrangements with the Chairman.

Salisbury City Council (SCC) – Cllr Dean

·         The pedestrian counters in the market have recorded visitor numbers had increased on last year.

·         The recent motorbike show had been very successful.

·         Food and drink festival and play days had been hindered by the rain.

·         6 months on from the asset transfer, new kit had been purchased.

·         Hoping to be able to see through a structured process where the barrowmen should go, how they have cleaned.

·         Working with partners to address recent reports of aggressive street begging and antisocial behaviour.

·         Ongoing work to plan future major events, such as the Carnival.

·         A meeting will be held with the BID to talk about the parking arrangements in Salisbury, to feed into the Wiltshire Council consultation.

Laverstock and Ford Parish Council – Cllr Ron Champion

• A new play park area at Old Sarum had been completed. This had proved to be very popular.
• We have convened a team of residents to move forward with either a Parish Plan review or a Neighbourhood Plan over next few weeks.
• The Country Park was close to being signed off.
• Public artist project for the Riverdown park was going ahead.
• An informal meeting with our chairman, Vice Chair and SCC Chair and Vice Chair is being scheduled for early November to discuss how to work more collaboratively where appropriate.

Cllr Brown noted that as his division also covered part of the L&F area, he had the privilege of attending their parish meetings.

Police - Inspector Pete Sparrow

Highlights from the written report circulated at the meeting were noted.

A copy is attached to the minutes for information.

Question:

What do you propose to do about illegal cycling in Salisbury, bikes without brakes? Answer: There would not be any extra resources going to tackle cycling. If offences were reported they would be dealt with on an individual basis.

Fire - Lucy May

Highlights from the written report were noted.

Question:

False alarms were a daily occurrence, but was 25 the norm? Answer: Yes this was the norm, nothing unusual.

Child Wellbeing – Cllr Mary Douglas

A written report was attached to the agenda.

After meeting with a wide range of people across the city, we decided to focus on 0 – 5 year olds, in the Friary. The Community Foundation and the people of the Friary had become involved with this work. We have now handed over to them to continue and we will stay involved and in support of the work of the group. The group will now focus on the communication and co-ordination of information, advice and services to families.

Health & Wellbeing – Cllr John Walsh

The H&WB subcommittee was trying to improve the health of the community. Work was focused on older men, as they were a hard to reach group. Over the holidays they had been working on the possibility of a Men’s Shed project.

The group was looking at whether more could be done to make it easier for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

Information on the consultation for the new Waste Management Strategy, to shape how the Council collects and manages household waste and recycling.

Tracy Carter, Associate Director for Waste and Environment delivered information on the consultation for the new Waste Management Strategy, to shape how the Council collects and manages household waste and recycling. The Council had adopted a 10-year business plan, and would now produce a strategy to support delivery of that plan.

The Council was also carrying out a programme of refurbishment of its recycling centres. Churchfields would close for these refurbishments from 9^th – 18^th November, during that time the Amesbury and Warminster sites would remain open on their usual scheduled days.

Tracy then asked those present to take part in a multiple-choice question session, using a small number of questions selected from the consultation. Those responses were collected for consideration as part of the consultation.

For the full consultation about the Waste Management Strategy, please visit www.wiltshire.gov.uk/waste   Closing date: 14^th November 2017.

Questions:

·         It was surprising how many people had no access to social media or a computer. How do they take part? Answer: We would try to get as many people as possible to complete the consultation online as this was most cost effective. If someone phones customer services, they will send out a hard copy so as not to exclude anyone.

·         With the contract changing next year, were you able to tell us what the change to the blue lidded bin and black box collections would be? Answer: The changes would commence on 30^th July 2018, we would not yet circulate information on the changes but would run a full communication programme nearer the time. Glass only in the black box all the rest would go in the blue lid bin. From 30 July 2018 we would also take plastic pots, tubs and trays as well as plastic bottles.

·         How did Wiltshire Council justify the reduction in recycling when it had reduced the opening hours at household recycling centres and had made money from garden waste collection? Answer: Councils across the country were having to deal with cuts to their budgets. We have had to find savings year on year. The reduction in recycling had come from two areas; garden waste collections and had started to charge for garden waste so we have seen a reduction in composting of garden waste, and the introduction of van and trailer permits so that commercial waste, some of which would have been recycled, had also reduced.

·         In terms of commercial services, by not collecting waste we are giving the profit to the private sector?  Answer: There are significant costs in collecting and managing waste. Local authorities did not have a duty to deliver these services. Companies like Grist are predominantly dealing with waste from businesses. They make a profit because they charge for collection of waste and recycling. We signpost people who need to dispose of their commercial waste to the private sector.

·         Would the Churchfields refurb include a better traffic management arrangement than the existing system? Answer: We were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

The date of the next meeting is Thursday, 9 November 7pm at City Hall Salisbury.

The Chairman encouraged people to submit grant applications and thanked everyone for attending.

The next meeting of the Salisbury Area Board would be held on Thursday 9 November 2017, 7.00pm at City Hall.