Agenda and minutes

The Chairman Cllr Jose Green, welcomed everyone to the meeting of the South West Wiltshire Area Board.

Apologies for absence were received from:

• Cllr Tony Deane
• Claire Churchill – Quidhampton PC
• Jason Moncrieff – Fire & Rescue

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

There were none.

To confirm as a correct record and sign the minutes of the previous meeting held on Wednesday 30 May 2018.

To note any matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting.

Decision

The minutes of the previous meeting held on Wednesday 30 May 2018, were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Chairman made the following announcements:

·       Wiltshire was currently going through the Local Government Boundary Review. The Board Councillors would be forming a submission to submit to the Review Panel and the Boundary Commission. The Board urged others to send in their responses as to how they saw the Area Boards working in the future. Steve would circulate the link to submit comments online. The Chair noted that it was important to get as many submissions as possible.

·       The Best Kept Village competition was underway. Hindon had won 1^st place in the medium sized village category. Fovant and Dinton had both won awards in the small village category, with other villages including Ansty and Burcombe also doing well. The second round of judging would take place in July.

·       Nadder Community Land Trust, launch meeting will take place on Wed 12^th September 2018.  Initially focussing on Tisbury.

·       A new ‘Our Community Matters’ community blogsite was being launched this week, the first new style e-newsletter would be sent on 20/7/18. If not already signed up contact Steve.

·       The new finger post scheme for 2018/19 was now in place, Parish Councils could apply for up to £400 towards the cost of a replacement post. Contact Steve for more details.

The Area Board will hear directly from previous grant recipients about the outcomes achieved from the use of this funding.

The Area Board heard from previous grant recipients about the outcomes they had achieved after receiving a grant from the Area Board.

David Barton - Kilmington & Stourton Cricket Club

Grants received from the Board over the years have helped towards Gang Mowers and practice equipment, and electric score board, and kit for the under 19s team. We are ggrateful for your support ad would not have been able to have done all of this without the funding we have received.

John Jordan – Mere Footpath Group

The purpose of our project was to get more people to walk. We invited everyone to join us for a walk around Great Bottom, where they were asked to pay £5. The funds raised went to provide kissing gates and self-closing gates on all of the paths around Mere.

Over the past 5 years we have been improving the footpaths of Mere. On the day of the walk, 97 people turned up to take part, the youngest was 4 years old, the oldest was 92 years old. At the end we gave everyone a goodie bag. The main donor was the Area Board, so thanks to you for your support.

Hoping to run the event next year, and our aim would be to have 200 participants.

Nick Wharmby – Bowerchalke Village Hall

We had a £5k grant to do up the village hall as it was in a pretty bad state. The toilets were out dated and had deteriorated, and we had a leaking roof. Following the works, the toilet is now of a mobility class standard.

 We raised 2/3 of the money needed for the project, the process was quick and simple and the support Steve gave us was great. This has made a real difference to the hall and for those that use it. All of the local businesses either did their bit at cost or gave a reduction as we are a charity.

We now need help to move our next project forward, we have been trying to have a disabled parking space sign panted on a space outside, but have been passes from one department to another. Cllr Wayman would speak to Ringway to see if they can clarify the way forward.

Steve Harris – Salamander

As a result of the Boards generous funding, the following was possible:

•        15 students started the course (3 females and 12 males)

•        13 students successfully completed the 5 day programme and achieved AQA Award in Fire Services Training

•        77% of participants reported the same or an increase in overall personal confidence

•        100% of participants reported the same or an increase in comfort when taking on new challenges

•        85% of participants reported the same or an increase in their problem solving skills

•        92% of participants reported the same or an increase in awareness on how their actions and behaviour can impact others

Zoe Cupit – Wilton Community Land Trust

This was a voluntary, not for profit organisation, working  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

To receive any verbal updates from Partners and Community Groups present, including:

·       Police – Neighbourhood Teams

·       Fire & Rescue

·       Youth - LYN

To note the following written updates attached to the agenda:

a)    Police

b)    Fire

b) Wiltshire Council Items for Information

c) CCG

d) Healthwatch Wiltshire

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

The Board noted the written updates attached to the agenda, and received the following verbal updates from partners present:

Police – Inspector Pete Sparrow

This Area Board has not been organised specifically to talk about the recent events in Amesbury and Salisbury, there are however two public meetings next week where you will have an opportunity to raise concerns and ask questions.

There will be one at Salisbury City Hall next Tuesday (24 July) from 6.30pm, and one next Wednesday (25 July) at The Stonehenge School, Amesbury, from 6.30pm.

Inspector Sparrow then gave a brief update on the position from Wiltshire Police.

We know that our communities here in Amesbury and Salisbury are naturally feeling very anxious and we completely understand these concerns. However, the message from Public Health England continues to be that the risk to the public remains low. This is being continually assessed and if there was any concern then that advice would be updated. At the moment Public Health are advising people that the key message from them is “If you didn’t drop it, don’t pick it up”.

Inspector Sparrow had personally been out and about in Salisbury and Amesbury with staff from Public Health over the past week or so, providing reassurance and answering questions from the public. He had been really impressed by the continued resilience that local people were showing and wanted to say a big thank you for the ongoing support they were giving to Wiltshire Police and other emergency services.

There was a Freephone helpline for advice and information which was staffed by Wiltshire Police and PHE colleagues. This was 0800 0920 410 or 0207 158 0124.

In addition, if you have any information which you believe could help the counter terrorism police investigation, then please call the CT hotline on 0800 789 321.

We know many of you will have questions about specifics relating to the ongoing investigation, however the investigation was being led by Counter Terrorism Police, so we are very limited in what we are able to tell people. CT policing were giving updates as often as they were able regarding the progress of their investigation.

However, Inspector Sparrow was able to share that more than 400 exhibits had been recovered, and more than 100 specialist officers had been deployed on this investigation.

CT police had also recovered a small bottle from the address in Muggleton Road and detectives believed this to be the source of the contamination, substance confirmed as Novichok, of Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess.

Work was ongoing to establish whether the nerve agent was from the same batch as used in the attack against Sergei and Yulia Skripal in March, and this of course remains a main line of enquiry for the investigation team.

Searches were still expected to continue for some time yet, as officers look to identify any other potential sites or sources of contamination, as well as gather further evidence to assist with their investigation.

I can reassure you that Wiltshire  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

To receive an update.

The Board received an update on the Nadder Centre, the main points included:

·       A Business Manager had been appointed, this was Becky Banbury.

·       Messums – The Board would investigate what was required for the art works proposed and hope to get this project moving forward.

To note the actions of the HWG as detailed in the attached notes of the last meeting held on 4 July 2018.

Decision

The Board noted the actions of the last HWB meeting held on 4 July 2018 as detailed in paper attached to the agenda.  

Community Area Grants

The Board members will consider applications for funding from the Community Area Grants Scheme:

The Board considered eight applications for funding from the Community Area Grant Scheme for 2018/19, 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 then voted on each application in turn.

The Board noted that the scout premises was in Salisbury community area, however as both Wilton and Tisbury both had Scout groups that used the facility it proposed a reduced amount of £1,000.

Decision

Salisbury & South Wilts District Scout Council was awarded £1,000 towards the Improvement project at Dennis Marsh House.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2018/19.

The Board noted that in the past it had usually only funded £50 towards the purchase of defibrillators, as there were 38 parishes, if all applied for funding for defibrillators, the funding would be diminished in one swoop.

Decision

Ebbesbourne Wake Village Hall Management Committee was awarded £50 towards the purchase of a defibrillator.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2018/19.

Decision

Compton Chamberlayne Village Hall was awarded £650 towards the guttering repair work at the hall.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2018/19.

The Board was supportive of the work the Studio did, however as the Board had limited funds available, a reduced amount of £1000 was proposed.

Decision

Studio Theatre was awarded £1,000 towards the extension project.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2018/19.

The Board felt that the Parish Council should be approached to part fund the project. A reduced amount of £400 was proposed, with the recommendation that the applicant apply to the PC for the remaining £200.

Decision

Weaveland Road Allotment Society was awarded £400 towards the purchase of a new community shed.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2018/19.

Decision

Bishopstone Village Hall was awarded £5,000 towards the car park project.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2018/19.

The Board noted that there had been a restriction on supporting a similar project put forward by Wessex Internet, and asked for clarification on how this project differed.

The CEM confirmed that Wiltshire Online had been approached to clarify whether the Board could award funding. From a Broadband perspective this would represent a double funding issue as Wiltshire Council had committed funding centrally to the Wiltshire Online Broadband roll out, however if purely a 4G mobile connection, as this project was, it was felt that it did not contradict our commitment to fund BB.

The CEM also confirmed that the Area Board funds would not be released until confirmation that all 25k had been secured.

Decision

CH4LKE Mobile was awarded £5,000 towards the community mobile and broadband project, subject to the confirmation that state aid had been acquired and that this project did not contradict the Wiltshire Online Broadband roll out scheme currently operated by the Council.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

The next meeting of the Board is on Wednesday 19 September, at 6.30pm

The Chairman thanked everyone for coming and closed the meeting.

The next meeting of the South west Wiltshire Area Board will be held on Wednesday 19 September 2018.