Agenda and minutes

The Chairman, Councillor Bridget Wayman welcomed everyone to the meeting of the South West Wiltshire Area Board and introduced Councillor Jane Scott, Leader of the Council and Laurie Bell, Director of Communications to the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from:

·         Jill Hockham – East Knoyle Website Group

·         James Scott Clarke – Tisbus

·         Mary White – Mere Parish Council

There were none.

In addition to the papers attached to the agenda, the Chairman gave the following updates:

a)    Youth Initiatives Funding

At the next Board meeting on 5 December, the Board would be considering Bids from young people’s groups for Youth Initiative projects. The Community Area Manager and the Youth Coordinator were currently working with young people across the three community areas to assist them in submitting their bids before the deadline on 14 November 2012.

b)    South West Wiltshire Blogsite

The recently launched South West Wiltshire ‘Our Community Matters’ Blog site was working well and was being used by the community to promote local events and information. The Chairman urged people to promote the site within their communities.

c)    Section 106 Funding

Sally Canter (Head of Admin and Technical Support) and Steve Ibbetson (Technical Services Manager) provided information on the Section 106 figures negotiated for the three community areas which had been attached to the agenda.

Section 106 agreements are used in planning matters to make planning applications more acceptable. A scrutiny group had been working for the past two years to produce a database which lists all of the agreements made, when money had been received, when it was spent and what was remaining.

There were currently two lists in circulation which contained conflicting information, Steve explained that the list attached to the agenda, produced by Steve’s team had also been sent to all parish councils, contained the figures specifically for the South West Wiltshire community areas and listed solely 106 funding remaining. The other list which had been produced by Planning included other general funds and did not always take into account money which had already been spent.

Sally explained that the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) consultation was currently running, adding that it was important for people to filter their comments through the consultation. Details of the CIL consultation were provided as an update paper attached to the agenda at page 65 of the agenda pack.

Questions and comments were then received:

·         Will developers have the option to either pay R2 or the CIL? Answer: As Sally was not a member of the Policy team, this question would need to be forwarded to them for an answer, however the policy would clearly set out which payments should be made.

The R2 arrangements in south Wiltshire broadly perform the same basic function as CIL – i.e. it’s a mechanism for securing a sum of money to pay for ‘wider than local’ infrastructure requirements. 

However, from April 2014 (or the date we adopt the CIL, whichever occurs first), the Council would only be able to use Section 106 arrangements on 5 schemes per year to pool money from development to pay for these ‘wider than local’ infrastructure requirements. 

·         Cllr Scott added that the effect of the Council’s proposals for CIL would not be felt until  April 2014 when Regulations require that the current practice of pooling money from development to pay for in-direct infrastructure requirements would only be applicable on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Board noted the current consultations which were detailed in the document attached to the agenda.

The Chairman drew attention to the Core Strategy Consultation, in particular to the Core Policy 42 - (standalone renewable energy installations) and the identification of separation distances between wind turbines and residential premises, asking everyone to respond and register their views on wind turbine distances.

Further up to date information is available online at:

http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal

To note the attached update on South West Wiltshire Area Board Priorities for 2012/13.

An action log, to track progress on the issues highlighted in the attached report has been created and an updated version can be found on South West Wiltshire Area Board’s webpage;

www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council/areaboards/southwestwiltshireareaboard.htm

The Board noted the attached update on South West Wiltshire Area Board priorities for 2013/14.

The Chairman explained that the Board would like to focus on promoting the Wilton Cycle race planned for 2013. The 2012 race had been cancelled earlier in the year, as the organisers had failed to secure adequate safety and traffic management assistance for the event.

The organisers of the cycling event had approached the police to request assistance with safety and traffic management issues. However as these areas are the responsibility of the organisers and not the Police, the Police had declined the request.

The Board would like to promote the economy within its three community areas. The cycle teams had in the past stayed in Salisbury hotels and other accommodation during the event, as it was thought there was not enough accommodation within the South West Wiltshire area.

Councillor Scott agreed to feed back the interest of the Board in the pre-planning of the event for 2013, and request for the Board to be included in the working group for that event.

Action: Councillor Jane Scott

Phil Matthews, requested that Wilton Town Council also be included in early discussions.

Other key priorities for the Board for 2012/13 were:

·         Boosting the Economy

·         Housing Allocation

·         Water tables

The Board noted the written updates attached to the agenda and received the following verbal updates:

Youth

Jaki Farrell, Youth Services – Locality E Team Leader, read from a written update which is attached to the end of these minutes.

The Interviews for the Youth worker at Fovant Youth Club had taken place and a candidate had been chosen. Further information would be available at a future Area Board after administrative procedures had been completed.

Councillor Beattie had met with the new Wilton Youth Coordinator, Sophie Ferguson and they had agreed three actions of work:

1.    Methods of Outreach work

2.    Renaming the Youth Centre and communications

3.    Opening Hours and Planning Restrictions

Police

Inspector Lindsey Winters gave updates from the written reports attached to the agenda. There had been a reduction in the number of reported crimes and detections in Mere, compared to the same period the previous year.

Two suspects from Gloucester and Somerset had been arrested in connection to house burglaries in Mere. Since the arrests, offences in the area had stopped.

A priority in the Tisbury are was to concentrate on cross border working and to share intelligence with other forces.

In Wilton and Salisbury, it had been found that offences were being committed by people coming across from Amesbury.

Inspector Winters added that it was vital for residents to report any suspicious behaviour or activity, as it was the people in the community who would be the first to recognise something out of character for the area.

Questions and comments were then received:

·         Phil Matthews of Wilton TC noted that whilst the PC for Wilton was on maternity leave, she would not be replaced by another PC, and that Wilton would be covered by a lone PCSO. Wilton TC were concerned that this would not provide adequate cover for a community area the size of Wilton, and felt that they should have a PC in addition to a PCSO. Answer: The concerns would be passed to Inspector Andy Noble.

·         Peter Edge raised concern for the numbers of Police Officers who were being retired at a young age of 50. He felt that awareness should be raised as to the cost of these retirements, and asked whether it may have an effect on why they were unable to have a replacement PC in Wilton? Answer: The comment was noted.

Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service (WFRS)

Mike Franklin of Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service spoke to the written update attached to the agenda. In addition he urged people to make the appropriate checks to their chimneys with winter approaching. Information on chimney checks is available online at: http://www.wiltsfire.gov.uk/ Under the Community Safety tab.

WRFS is seeking stakeholders to take part in future consultations, people can register by clicking on the link below and completing an online form: http://www.wiltsfire.gov.uk/departments/corporate_planning/stakeholder/form.php

Question:

·         Why  had there been so many peaks in August and September this year compared to the previous months? Answer: Mike agreed to ask the local station manager to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

A member of the Strategic Housing Team will deliver a presentation regarding the review of the current Housing Allocations System.

A briefing paper is attached.

Officer: Janet O’Brien, Head of New Housing

Janet O’Brien, Head of New Housing, presented information on the review of the Housing Allocations system and the changes to how Housing Benefit was awarded. A copy of the presentation slides which contain the statistics for the community area are attached to the end of these minutes.

·         Under Occupancy – From 1 April 2013, there will be a reduction to housing benefit payments to tenants who are in a property with any unoccupied/empty bedrooms. For under occupancy of one bedroom, there will be a 14% reduction and for more than one unoccupied bedroom there will be a 25% reduction. This rule only applies to working aged households, and will not affect senior citizens.

·         There was a huge demand for one bedroom accommodation.

·         Out of the 17,088 on the housing register, a current total of 701 requested housing within the South West Wiltshire community areas.

·         The Core Strategy consultation had established that 550 houses could be built, so far only 4 houses had been.

·         Housing needs surveys had been carried out in East Knoyle and in Quidhampto.

·         18 out of 20 placements within the community area had been to people with a local connection.

Councillor Deane noted that in his view it was nearly impossible to  build small properties in the rural area and suggested that a meeting be scheduled to discuss housing matters for the area further.

A general view from those present emerged that indicated it would not be appropriate at this stage to answer the housing allocation questions which had been prepared previously. The Board proposed scheduling an additional special meeting within the next month, to bring together officers, councillors and residents to discuss housing matters more widely.

Action: Community Area Manager & DSO to schedule an Extraordinary meeting of the Board in November to specifically focus on Housing.

Councillor Tony Deane gave an update on the progress of the Tisbury Community Campus project.

·         Volunteers had been working on the Plans.

·         An architect had been working on a feasibility study.

·         Four options had been devised and a report had been written.

·         The proposals for the Tisbury Community Campus would be presented to Cabinet on Tuesday 30 October where it was hoped they would be approved.

The Board will receive an update from a member of the CATG, and will be asked to consider recommendations for funding made by the group for future projects, as detailed in the attached report.

Cllr Tony Deane

The Board will consider requests for funding under this South West Wiltshire Area Board initiative, as detailed in the attached report.

Stephen Harris, Community Area Manager had circulated a current Issues report at the meeting, a copy is attached to the end of these minutes.

The next scheduled meeting of the South West Wiltshire Area Board will be held on Wednesday 5 December 2012, 7.00pm at Wilton Community Centre.