Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from:

• Councillor Sven Hocking
• Councillor Charles McGrath

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 15 June 2023.

The minutes of the last meeting were presented.

It was;

Resolved:

The minutes of the meeting held on 15 June 2023 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 no declarations of interest.

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

·       Silver Salisbury event

·       Salisbury Transportation Strategy Update

·       Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPO)

The Chairman made the following announcements:

Change to order of Items

The City Hall update would be taken before Area Board Funding.

Silver Salisbury Event - 23 September to 7 October

The Silver Salisbury project was an annual celebration of International Older People’s Day, being delivered locally over two weeks from 23 September 2023.  Thanks to Irene and her team of volunteers for putting together the vast range of events and activities, that contribute to supporting older local residents to maintain their independence and provide opportunities for people to get out and about more.

Salisbury Transportation Strategy Update

A meeting had been held between Members and Officers on 13 September, where it was agreed that a list of priorities would be compiled so that possible funding routes could be looked in to.

Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPO)

Attention was drawn to a public consultation on PSPOs which was currently running. Further information could be found online by following the link.

All Things Roads event 

A special themed event would be held on 25 January, 6.00pm at the Elim Christian Centre, Dews Road, Salisbury.

The Board is asked to note the following Information items:

·       Community First

·       Healthwatch Wiltshire

·       Update from BSW Together (Integrated Care System)

·       Wiltshire Council Consultation Portal

·       Wiltshire Council Information Items:

o   Wiltshire Local Plan Review

o   Cost of Living Update

o   Polling District and Polling Place Review 2023 - Wiltshire Council

The Board noted the Information Items as set out in the agenda pack, these were:

·       Community First

·       Healthwatch Wiltshire

·       BSW Together (Integrated Care System)

·       Current consultations: https://wiltshire.objective.co.uk/portal/

·       Wiltshire Council Information Items:

-        Wiltshire Local Plan Review

-        Cost of living update

-        Polling Place & Polling District Review Consultation 2023

Verbal Updates

To receive any verbal updates from representatives, including:

·       Street Light Audit Update – Liz Batten

·       Underpasses working group update – Cllr Hocking

·       Air Quality Group –Cllr Hocking

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

Written Updates

The Board is asked to note the following written and online updates attached to the agenda:

·       Neighbourhood Policing Team & Road Safety Data

·       Fire & Rescue

·       Salisbury BID

The Board received the following verbal updates:

Street Light Audit Update – Liz Batten

Liz noted her appreciation to the Board for instigating the Atkins review of Dark Spaces. Further work would include the use of mirrors and lights in some of the under tunnels in Salisbury to improve the visibility. Costings were not yet complete.

Underpasses working group update – Karlene Jammeh

The group met in September and a positive outcome was the community artwork project in the Exeter St underpass, funded by the Area Board and Salisbury City Council. The project was delivered by Splash Wiltshire and a group of young people from the Friary area of Salisbury, who designed, planned and painted the artwork with Fred Fieber.

Local residents had been very impressed by the artwork, noting that it had brightened up the underpass, making it feel safer. Thanks were given to Liz Batten for all her hard work and time on the street lights and mirrors report.

Air Quality Group – Karlene Jammeh

The Group met recently to review the 4 themes within the Action Plan and to discuss future goals, including increased engagement with Schools, improved tree planting and no-idling in the city. The Area Board had funded a project to install 8 PM2.5 sensors in hotspots across the city.

The Board also noted the written Updates attached to the agenda which were:

·       Neighbourhood Policing Team & Road Safety Data

·       Fire & Rescue

·       Salisbury BID

To note the remaining budgets and to consider any applications for funding, as detailed in the attached report and summarised below:

Remaining Budgets:

Area Board Initiatives:

Community Area Grants:

Older & Vulnerable Grants:

Young People Grants:

Note: The Youth Panel Recommendation report will follow after its meeting on Monday 25 September.

Delegated Funding

No delegating funding awards have been made since the last meeting.

Further information on the Area Board Grant system can be found here.

The Board noted the budgets remaining for allocation at the meeting and heard from representatives in attendance who gave a brief overview of their project followed by any questions by the Board.

Community Area Grants:

Inspire Gymnastics – Purchase of equipment to support the boys section of the Club, requested £499.98

The Applicant Natalie Page spoke in support of the project.

Cllr Rogers moved the motion to award in full, this was seconded by Cllr Dalton.

Decision

Inspire Gymnastics was awarded £499.98 towards the purchase of Equipment.

Reason – The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2023/24

Older & Vulnerable Adults Grants:

Wiltshire Music Centre, Celebrating Age Project, requested £1,500

The Applicant Rebecca Seymour spoke in support of the project.

Cllr Dalton moved the motion to award in full, this was seconded by Cllr Corbin.

Decision

Wiltshire Music Centre was awarded £1,500 towards The Celebrating Age Project .

Reason – The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2023/24

Silver Salisbury – Intergenerational Project, requested £800

The Applicant Irene Kohler spoke in support of the project.

Cllr Rogers moved the motion to award in full, this was seconded by Cllr Dalton.

Decision

Silver Salisbury was awarded £800 towards The Intergenerational Project.

Reason – The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2023/24

Young People Grants:

Soroptimist International Salisbury - Schools Forum combating violence against women and girls, requested £1150

The Applicant Liz Batten and a young person from the project spoke in support of the project.

Cllr Rogers moved the motion to award in full, this was seconded by Cllr Dalton.

Decision

Soroptimist International Salisbury was awarded £1,150 towards Schools Forum combating violence against women and girls.

Reason – The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2023/24

Area Board Initiative:

The Bee Trail – printing of Maps, requested £500

Cllr Rogers spoke in support of the Area Board Initiative.

Cllr Dalton moved the motion to award in full, this was seconded by Cllr Rogers.

Decision

The Bee Trail was awarded £500 towards The Map Printing element of the project.

Reason – The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2023/24

Delegated Funding:

There were no Delegated Funding Decisions taken since the last meeting.

Information links: Area Board Grants &  Grants Criteria

An update from David Redfern, Director Leisure, Culture & Communities.

A copy of the Area Board discussion and resolution from its meeting on 3 December 2020 is attached.

Members were asked by the Chairman to note the Resolution which had been agreed by the Board in 2020, which was:

The Area Board supports the re-opening of City Hall as an historic entertainment venue as soon as is safe and practical and requests that Wiltshire Council conducts any community engagement and/or consultation should the usage change, through the Salisbury Area Board.

The Chairman then invited David Redfern, Director Leisure, Culture & Communities to provide an update.

Some of the key points from the update included:

•        The Council remained committed to reopening City Hall as an entertainment venue with the view of long-term success.

•        The preference would be to find a third-party provider.

•        The building still required repairs before it could reopen.

•        Recent work included looking at the options available, to establish the viability of each option.

•        Following the soft market testing which had been carried out, the next steps would be to finalise a Prior Information Notice (PIN) and hold a City Hall Market Engagement event, to signal to the market that the Council was formally looking for a third-party provider which shared its vision for the project.

•        A City Hall Project Group had been formed and was meeting regularly to continue to drive the programme of work forward.

•        A dedicated webpage would be kept up to date with the latest information  www.wiltshire.gov.uk/salisbury-city-hall

Questions and comments included:

Whilst looking for a third party, would the council carry out works on the building or would that third party be expected to make the repairs once in place?

Answer: It was understood that repairs costing in the region of £138m were made to the Bristol Beacon, which the Council was now unable to secure an operator to manage it. The Council would want to have a serious conversation with anyone interested in operating City Hall, prior to investing in any repair programme.

If there was an acoustic issue with auditorium, preventing current use, could the Alamein suite be used for holding meetings?

Answer - There were other issues with the building that meant public access was not possible at this time.

Action: A report on what repairs were required would be compiled

 and circulated to the Area Board members following the meeting.

The Structural Report states that the building was not watertight, was any work being done to prevent the issue getting worse?

Action – A response would be obtained and provided to the Board Members following the meeting.

In the Cabinet report from November 2022 there was no mention of a management fee or further subsidy. It had appeared the plan was to hand over all of the costs to the third party. City Hall had been run as a deficit since 1962. Farham Borough council had spent a substantial amount of money on Farnham Hall and now had an extremely successful third-party operator. Even the best of companies needed a subsidy.

Answer: Once a third-party operator had been found, the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 159.

Information on the current arrangements.

The Chairman drew attention to the Arboriculture report which had been uploaded as Supplement 3 to the agenda.

On 1 April 2023 a schedule of streetscene maintenance work was delegated to  Salisbury City Council (SCC). The City Council was considering how to ensure the schedule could be implemented and resourced.

The Chairman had met with Officers at Wiltshire Council and SCC to highlight the matter and seek clarification on plans to move forward. SCC aimed to discuss the matter at its Environmental & Climate Committee and would send a representative to the next Area Board meeting to clarify which areas of work sat under each council.

The MyWilts App was highlighted as the correct way members of the public could log any issues MyWilts online reporting - Wiltshire Council

An update on areas of work from the Priorities Lead Members and Karlene Jammeh, Area Board Delivery Officer:

·        Youth engagement, employment and positive activity opportunities - Cllr Ricky Rogers

·       Addressing climate change - Cllr Sven Hocking

·       Supporting positive mental health and wellbeing - Cllr Caroline Corbin

·       Supporting under represented groups - Cllr Caroline Corbin

·       Improving transport and access - Cllr Sven Hocking

Karlene Jammeh, Area Board Delivery Officerand Lead Membersgave an update on the Priorities:

·Youth engagement, employment and positive activity opportunities - Cllr Ricky Rogers had recently been to visit the Bunker and the Bemerton Heath Youth Club, which relied heavily on volunteers to run.  The Salisbury Youth Forum meeting had been very successful with 17 organisations in attendance. Some topics of discussion included the Safe Places Scheme and looking at other examples across the country.

·Addressing climate change – The group was currently discussing the Air Quality Action Plan.

·Supporting positive mental health and wellbeing – As mentioned earlier, the Silver Salisbury programme of events was currently running across Salisbury. Thanks were given to all of the volunteers, without whom Salisbury would not have the array of provision it does.

·Supporting underrepresented groups - Working with partners on community conversations and the Salisbury Foody Network. With work ongoing to look at a review of the cost of living flyer, which listed all types of support available to the community

·Improving transport and access – covered as part of the Underpasses  Working Group update.

To note the minutes from the last LHFIG meeting held on 7 September 2023, as set out in the attached report.

Note: There are no recommendations for funding on this occasion.

Further information on the LHFIG process can be found here.

The Board noted the report from the last LHFIG meeting held on 7 September 2023.There were no funding recommendations to approve on this occasion.

Salisbury Transportation Strategy (STS)

The Chairman had attended a meeting to discuss the STS and possible options for feeding into the discussion on how funds were allocated. He would be working on putting together a list of priorities for local areas of work, for consideration.