Agenda and minutes

The Chairman, Councillor Richard Britton welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Southern Wiltshire Area Board and thanked Cabinet member Councillor John Noeken for joining the meeting.

As there were several new faces in the room, the Councillors and Officers on the top table introduced themselves.

Apologies for absence were received from:

• Mike Franklin – Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 15 December 2011.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 5 December 2011, were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Councillors are requested to declare any personal or prejudicial interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were none.

To receive Chairman’s Announcements including:

·       The Localism Act 2011

The Localism Act 2011

Information was attached to the agenda, which included links to further documents. The Chairman added that in his view the documents contained many broad statements which may be confusing to some people, he advised that until more detailed information was available people should not get too concerned about the implications. As and when more information was provided to the Board it would be circulated.

Wiltshire Police Authority

Wiltshire Police Authority, working with the Community Foundation for Wiltshire and Swindon, has established a fund to help local groups address crime and anti-social behaviour, and improve personal and community security.

The funds arise from the proceeds of the disposal of unclaimed property, which is usually around £25,000 per annum. The Trustees are particularly keen to support projects which seek to bring communities together to tackle local issues improving trust and understanding, and welcomes projects which offer a new or innovative approach. We would expect that applications would focus on one or more of the following areas.

• Anti-social behaviour

• Crime in local neighbourhoods

• Drug and alcohol related crime

• Reducing re-offending

• Violence against women and girls

• Youth crime

Applications of up to £3,000 are being invited. The closing date for applications to be submitted is 16 February 2012. For further information please visit The Community Foundation website at www.wscf.org.uk or telephone the grant team on 01380 729284.

Wiltshire Core Strategy

Two documents had recently been published, the Wiltshire Core Strategy would be going to Full Council on 7 February 2012, following that the documents would be available in all Wiltshire libraries for consultation.

To note the attached information on the following current consultations:

The Board noted the information on current consultations, as detailed in the agenda, the Chairman drew attention to the link to the consultation portal, where further information could be obtained. http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal

Phil Matthews, Chairman of the Wiltshire Involvement Network informed the Board that there would be a Local Health Watch workshop in February, the date would be made available once it had been confirmed.

Councillor John Noeken, Cabinet representative for Resources will provide an insight into his area of responsibility, followed by an opportunity to ask questions.

o   Human resources and organisational development

o   ICT

o   Procurement and commissioning

o   Customer services

o   Shared services team

o   Business management programme

o   Business transformation (systems thinking/lean)

o   Legal and democratic services

o   Councillor development

o   Registration service and coroners

Councillor John Noeken, Cabinet member for Resources explained that over the last year many of his areas of responsibility had been through great change and improvement as Wiltshire Council was committed to providing a good quality service to the public and value for money.

Potholes

One major improvement due to be implemented shortly was the way in which potholes were dealt with. There would be a new application for mobile phones which would allow the user to take a photo of the pothole and send it in to be logged. This would provide the council with the GPS location and visual details of the hole.

Staffing Levels

There had been a reduction of about 700 members of staff. One corporate Director and the Chief Executive posts had been removed. Pay and conditions had now been renegotiated so the the council only had one scheme, rather than the five different schemes which it had when it became a unitary council. Savings made would be reinvested into frontline services.

Property

The majority of the smaller council owned office properties around the County would be disposed of, with the aim of having all staff working from the four main hubs. (It has now been confirmed as part of the Budget setting proposals that the Browfort Hub at Devizes and a number of other buildings will be disposed of later during 2012/2013).

Questions and Comments included:

·       Would the disposal of the buildings be at market value or as Community Asset Transfers (CAT)? Answer: The Council had been approached by businesses who were interested in particular properties, these enquiries were being investigated. Some buildings would not be disposed of under the CAT scheme as the funds from the sales of these properties would be used on the creation of the new campus buildings around the county.

·       Councillor Johnson had attended the public Budget presentation in Salisbury the previous week and commented that it had been delivered in clear English and easy to understand.

The Chairman thanked Councillor Noeken for attending the meeting.

To consider the attached briefing which sets out how we would like to begin consulting on next year’s theme and projects.

Also, to note the Special Community Planning Event taking place on 6 March 2012 at Trafalgar School, Downton starting at 7pm.

In 2011/12 the Area Board consulted residents on its theme for the year. Local employment emerged as the main theme and projects such as Job Clubs had emerged as a result of this theme.

Between now and April, the Area Board wants to explore potential projects that it can look to champion in 2012/13. The paper attached to the agenda sets out how the Board proposes to work with communities to identify these projects and highlights some of the ideas emerging already.

Two ideas for consideration are:

A Focus on Footpaths
Footpaths link our communities and straddle parish boundaries. They offer a wide range of opportunities for local projects offering potential economic, health and social benefits.

·       Coordinating between different communities who manage the paths

·       Protecting and maintaining footpaths with volunteers

·       Publicising footpaths for recreational and healthy activities for local residents.

·       Linking them up local businesses such as pubs to promote a “Southern Wiltshire Walks” recreational guide.

A Focus on Community Safety
The Area Board would like to see a better working relationship between all the people involved in making our communities safe. Neighbourhood Watch schemes should be more active and more closely linked with other “watch” schemes locally. They also need closer links with the Parish Councils who should nominate a lead member for Community Safety who would oversee local coordination of the community safety initiatives in their parish and liaise with the Neighbourhood Policing Teams.

To achieve this the Area Board could:

·       Work with the NPT/PC to host a local event to bring together all those interested in community safety.

·       Ask PCs to nominate a lead member who would champion community safety issues.

The Chairman asked people to consider these two themes and to feedback any other ideas to the Board.

Community Planning Event 6 March 2012

On 6 March 2012, the Southern Wiltshire Area Board would be hosting a special evening to bring together the key people in the Southern Wiltshire area for discussion and debate.

Recently published community statistics from the Joint Strategic Assessment (JSA) will be presented. Findings from this can then be linked to themes in the  current version of Southern Wiltshire Community Plan 2010 – 15, with the aim of refreshing it.

Further details of this event will be circulated by Tom Bray in due course.

To consider the attached report setting out the SID deployment programme for Southern Wiltshire in 2012/13.

Tom Bray, Community Area Manager explained that a deployment programme for the community area SID had been devised for the next 12 months, a copy of this was attached to the agenda along with a report. Changes to the proposed programme can be made through discussions at the Community Area Transport Group. The Board members were then asked to vote on the recommendations.

Decision

The Southern Wiltshire Area Board agreed:

1.     To the Speed Indicator Device (SID) allocation programme for 2012/13 as set out in the officers report attached to the agenda.

2.     To delegate to the Community Area Transport Group responsibility for future discussions and recommendations on changes to the deployment programme of the SID. Any recommendations would then come to the next Area Board for ratification.

Comments and Questions:

·       Pitton & Farley Parish Council had distributed their 30mph wheelie bin stickers three weeks earlier, to find that there had been poor take up of the scheme. Answer: The Chairman suggested that perhaps the parish council could carry out a more rigorous promotion of the scheme.

·       Councillor McLennan noted that people were putting the wheelie bins  out with the stickers facing the correct way, after the refuse collection had taken place, the workers were not putting all of the bins back in the same position, which resulted in the stickers not being on view. Answer: Tracy Carter agreed to take this comment back to the Waste collection team.

To receive information on the changes to the waste collection service due to be implemented in March 2012.

Officer: Tracy Carter, Service Director – Waste Management

To receive information on the event to be held in Cathedral Close, Salisbury in May and to hear how the Area Board can support communities in organising their own local events.

Officer: Matthew Woolford, Communications Account Manager

Matthew Woolford, Communications Account Manager gave a presentation detailing information on the two key events to be held in Salisbury in 2012, the first is in May to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in Cathedral Close, Salisbury and the second on 11 July, in Hudson’s Field to celebrate the Olympics.

Queens Diamond Jubilee – May 2012

Each Area Board has been invited to host a jousting style tent in Cathedral Close in which they can ‘showcase’ their history and provide examples of community initiatives which make their area unique. 

Olympic Celebrations – 11 July 2012

Events for Salisbury and will include a one-day business and community festival, a

Business breakfast event, a main stage Music event and a Salisbury evening event.

2012 Is an opportunity to showcase local talent

There is an opportunity for local acts and talents to perform on stage at the Hudson’s Field event. If you know a band, a dance group or even a dancing dog, who would be interested, get them to upload a clip of themselves to YouTube, then email the link to 2012celebrations@wiltshire.gov.uk for our Shine 4 Wiltshire competition, closing date 26 February.

The links will then be uploaded on to www.facebook.com/Wiltshire2012  on 29 February where the public will vote. The winner will perform as the support act to a national headline act on 11 July at Hudson’s field.

A toolkit is available to parish councils and community groups who are planning a community event, which contains useful information and some Do’s and Don’ts. These were available at the meeting but can be obtained from Matthew by contacting matthew.woolford@wiltshire.gov.uk

Councillor McLennan asked if the last part of the Olympic route could be influenced at all, as he suggested a trip past the schools in Laverstock would produce an audience of 1000 school children.

Answer: LOGOG were the organisers of the route, there was not a huge amount of local influence over how the route was set. Inspector Noble added that there were counter terrorism implications involved when considering the route.

The Chairman thanked Matthew for attending and informed everyone that he and Matthew had been discussing holding a special event for parish councils on using social media to involve residents.

The Board considered a bid from Councillor McLennan, to allocate £5,000 of funding to a project at the Old Sarum Community Room, as detailed in the report attached to the agenda.

Councillor McLennan gave some background information to the project. The Board then considered the bid and voted:

Decision

The Southern Wiltshire Area Board agreed to allocate £5000 towards the running of the Old Sarum Community Room (OSCR) subject to:

a)    The funding is to be used solely to support the core running costs of the OSCR eg. rent and insurance.

b)   The itemized expenditure be reported to the Community Area Manager.

To receive any verbal updates including:

·       Job Clubs

·       Community Asset Transfer

·       VDS West Dean

To note the attached written updates from:

·       Police

·       Fire

·       NHS

·       Wiltshire Council – Help to Live at Home

Job Clubs

There had been a great start to the Downton Job Club, three volunteers had come forward and were now helping run the club by sharing their knowledge and experience. More volunteers were sought for the Old Sarum Job Club, to help run this and make it a success like in Downton. Any one interested should contact Tom Bray, Community Area Manager by email at tom.bray@wiltshire.gov.uk or by phone on 01722 434252.

Community Asset Transfer (CAT)

At the last meeting of the Board, a CAT application made by Redlynch Parish Council had been deferred pending a further meeting between Redlynch and Downton Parish Councils. An initial meeting between representatives from each parish council and the local Wiltshire Council members had taken place. Further discussion at each parish’s next council meeting was planned; following this an update would be brought back to the next Area Board meeting.

Village Design Statement (VDS) West Dean

The audit report carried out by the Chairman, Councillor Britton had been missed off the agenda. The Community Area Manager agreed to circulate the document to the Board members the following day for their comments.

Councillor Britton added that the VDS document appeared to be a genuine reflection of residents’ views.

Decision

The Southern Wiltshire Area Board approved the West Dean VDS document as having been produced through an all-inclusive consultation process. Subject to any comments from members over the next five days the Audit report could be forwarded to Wiltshire Council to support the adoption of the VDS.

At the previous Board meeting the Chairman had requested that the Cabinet member provide a formal statement on what was happening with VDS documents. He had since been informed that Wiltshire Council would be appointing an officer to look at VDS’s and to process them for adoption.

Young People

Councillor Randall had attended the first meeting of the Southern Wiltshire Youth Advisory Group (YAG), which was part of a pilot scheme.. This would be a forum for young people to debate issues and bring things to the area board. Councillor Randall and Tom Bray, would work towards developing a link between the YAG and the Area Board. Councillor Randall added that it would be beneficial in the future for the YAB to advise the Board on their views on topical issues, such as funding applications.

Police

Inspector Andy Noble urged people planning Silver Jubilee and Olympic events to use the toolkit which had been produced by the Council. The police had limited capacity to assist in such events due to wider commitments to the official large scale events planned around the county. He also gave the following updates:

·       Wiltshire Police Authority was conducting a consultation to gather views and concerns relating to the transition in November from a Police Authority to an elected Police and Crime Commissioner.

·       Neighbourhood Policing Teams - New PCSO Rachel Gunn, in Alderbury had nearly completed her training, and would soon be  starting her role in the area. PCSO Kim Weston would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

To note the attached report detailing the progress of Local Issues in the Community Area.

Officer: Tom Bray, Community Area Manager

The Chairman asked Tom Bray, Community Area Manager to include fuller information in the report table attached to the agenda and on the Issue System. This information can be viewed online by clicking on the link below.

 http://portal.wiltshire.gov.uk/area_board/areaboard_issues_search.php

Councillor McLennan raised an issue regarding the new housing development at Old Sarum. He had been approached by Persimmon Homes who were seeking his views on the inclusion of 200 more homes on top of the 674 that were being built. . Councillor McLennan asked for the Boards support in challenging Persimmons over the matter.

The Chairman felt this issue was a planning matter which therefore fell outside the Board’s remit. However, he felt sure the Board would consider any precise proposal from Councillor McLennan.

The Board will consider applications for funding from the Community Area Grant Scheme.

Officer: Tom Bray, Community Area Manager

The Board considered eight applications for funding from the Community Area Grant Scheme. Applicants present were invited to speak in support of their application. After discussion Board members voted on each application in turn.

Decision

Downton Parish Council was awarded £5,000 towards their Skate Park Project.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2011/12, demonstrates a link to the Community Plan 2010 – 15, as detailed in the officer’s report and would be a valuable addition to the facilities for young people in the community.

Decision

Winterslow Play Day Committee was awarded £1,464 towards their Play Day 2012 activities project.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2011/12 and demonstrates a link to the Community Plan 2010 – 15, as detailed in the officer’s report.

Decision

Barry’s Field Sports Ground was awarded £656 towards the purchase of some tables for community use in the centre.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2011/12 and demonstrates a link to the Community Plan 2010 – 15, as detailed in the officer’s report.

Decision

Circular Arts was awarded £1,000 towards the Sunshine Project – workshops for elderly people.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2011/12 and would provide community developments linked to the Community Plan 2010 – 15, as detailed in the officer’s report.

Decision

Whiteparish Youth Group was awarded £3,700 towards the purchase of equipment for the group.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2011/12 and demonstrates a link to the Community Plan 2010 – 15, as detailed in the officer’s report.

Decision

Friends of Downton Queen’s Diamond Jubilee was awarded £1,204 towards their project to put on a public celebration event in June 2012.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2011/12 and supports the Council’s objectives of promoting community events to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee.

Decision

Redlynch Village Hall Committee was awarded £1,500 towards the purchase of a staging unit for use at the hall.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2011/12 and demonstrates a link to the Community Plan 2010 – 15, as detailed in the officer’s report.

Decision

Riverbourne Community Farm was awarded £2,400 towards the installation of new flooring for the straw bale classroom project at the farm.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2011/12 and demonstrates a link to the Community Plan 2010 – 15, as detailed in the officer’s report.

A copy of the Forward Plan is attached for information.

The Chairman thanked everyone for coming and closed the meeting.

The next meeting of the Area Board will be on Thursday 5 April 2012, 7.00pm at Morgans Vale and Woodfalls Village Hall.