Agenda and minutes

The Chairman, Councillor Richard Britton welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Southern Wiltshire Area Board, and introduced Councillor Jane Scott, Leader of the Council and Councillor Chris Williams, Portfolio holder for Area Boards and Chairman of Tidworth Area Board, to the meeting.

There were none.

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 3 October 2013.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 3 October 2013, 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.

Councillor Randall declared a personal interest relating to item 12, CATG funding for signage at New Whiteparish Memorial Centre, as he is a Memorial Ground trustee.

·         JSA community event scheduled for 27 February 2014.

The Chairman made the following announcements:

·         A community event would be taking place on Thursday 27 February at Trafalgar School, Downton. The workshop would focus on the findings from the Joint Strategic Assessment (JSA), which highlight statistics for the Southern Wiltshire community area.

·         Congratulations were given to Alderbury Parish Council as they had been the first to take formal steps in the production of a Neighbourhood Plan (NHP).

To note the following current consultations:

The board noted the consultation information provided in the agenda, in addition the Chairman drew attention to the ‘What matters to you survey’ which would remain open until 31 December 2013.

An opportunity to listen to Jane and then take part in a question and answer session.

Councillor Jane Scott, Leader of the Council gave the following updates to the Board:

Wiltshire Council’s Business Plan

The council’s Business Plan had been published online, to view a copy follow the link:

http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council/howthecouncilworks/plansstrategiespolicies.htm

Paper copies are also available in libraries across Wiltshire.

Over the next four years the council will focus on 12 key actions to help deliver the three priorities, some of these are:

·         Roads - Additional money would be invested during 2014–2017 to reduce the historic backlog in highways maintenance. This would include works on major roads as well as rural and estate roads and pavements.

·         To continue to improve safeguarding services to protect the most vulnerable in our communities.

·         Community Working – to continue working through the Area Boards to invest in a community working structure, with additional funding for CATG and improved working opportunities with town and parish councils.

·         To invest in the economy. The unemployment figure for Wiltshire falls well below the national average; the council aims to work to maintain this position, as it believes that a strong county is one where there is a low level of people on welfare.

·         Within the next 10 years there would be a new Science Park at Porton, which would provide 2000 high paid skilled jobs.

·         Joining up of public services – In 2014 the police would decant from Wilton Road, some of the divisions would be temporarily relocated in Bourne Hill, Salisbury until the Campus building was completed in 2015.

Questions and comments were then received, these included:

·         Ron Champion, Chairman of Laverstock and Ford Parish Council invited the Leader to attend a consultation event where the proposed housing development on the WW1 airfield at Old Sarum would be discussed. Answer: If there is a planning application for the site then it would not be appropriate, however if no application had been submitted then the Leader agreed to attend.

·         Bill Dunn, Redlynch Parish Council asked whether under the Boundary Review, the amalgamation of the wards Nomansland and Landford could be brought forward by a year, to 2016? Answer: This was a new responsibility handed down to the council. The recommendations from the Electoral Boundary Review had gone to Full Council, where it was agreed that a small team would be formed to look at each boundary. The team would be in contact with all parishes where changes had been proposed.

·         In the past Downton Leisure Centre had received a grant of £50,000 from Wiltshire Council. Has the budget been fixed for 2014 and if so how much funding will it receive this year? If no funding was awarded then the Leisure Centre may have to close. Answer: The budget has not been set yet, the council would contact Downton PC as soon as the information was available.

·         Pitton & Farley PC did not have the facilities to store grit and had concerns regarding the possibility that responsibility for gritting the parish would be passed on to them. Answer: Two years ago  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Written updates are attached. Anyone can give a report on items of interest to the Community Area as a whole.

·         Police

·         Fire & Rescue Service

·         Wiltshire Council (Carers Small Grant Scheme & State of the Environment)

·         CCG - NHS 111 Service update

·         Southern Wiltshire Issues System

·         Any other comments or reports

Police – Inspector Andy Noble

Information concerning the decommissioning of Salisbury Police Station would be circulated through the media over the next couple of weeks. Some of this will include:

·         Prisoners would be transported to the custody suite in Melksham, until a new purpose built suite was built in Salisbury.

·         Some of the Police business would be moving to an estate already in use in Amesbury. This is where the police officers would start and end their shift from.

·         Other Police services would be co-located with Wiltshire Council in Bourne Hill Salisbury, until the completion of the Salisbury Campus.

In addition to the crime statistics attached to the agenda, Andy noted that there had been some non-dwelling burglaries in Alderbury and Whiteparish. A group of Officers had been allocated to work on this, two arrests had been made. A further update would be available at the next Area Board.

Comments and Questions included:

·         Recently some allegations were made against how other Forces may be manipulating statistics. What procedures are in place to ensure it would not happen in Wiltshire? Answer: The way we classify crime in Wiltshire, has been continuously tightened over the past years. If a victim reports something as a crime, then we must report it as such.

The local Neighbourhood Police Teams reported figures are low enough to be able to carry out regular checks. In a 12 month period, there were 20 reported domestic burglaries within the Southern Wiltshire area. However the statistics can only represent reported crime, the real level of crime is under reported.

Fire – Mike Franklin

The usual Fire statistics report was not available at present due to teething problems with new software. A report would be available at the next Area Board. Salisbury Station Manager Dave Dunford, was in attendance to answer any questions.

Wiltshire Council Updates

The Chairman drew attention to the Carers Small Grant Scheme update attached to the agenda.

CCG – NHS 111 Service Update

The Board noted the information attached to the agenda, in addition the Chairman noted that there would be a Healthwatch item on the next agenda.

Southern Wiltshire Issues System

Tom Bray, Community Area Manager informed the Board that parishes had been invited to a HGV meeting scheduled for 11 December, where a lorry watch update would be presented.

Good Neighbour Scheme - Nicola Wilson

Over the last year the scheme had managed to reach out and help over 2000 elderly and vulnerable people across Wiltshire. In Southern Wiltshire Nicola had personally helped 120 people within the community area.

Nicola would be stepping down as coordinator for the south, at the end of December, until the position was filled, the work would be covered by an existing coordinator in Idmiston. Nicola urged people to continue in identifying those in need of support and to get in contact with the Good Neighbour Scheme. 

For further information, follow the link: http://www.wiltsgn.org.uk/

The Chairman noted that the Good Neighbour Scheme was a valuable service  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Debbie Haynes from the Council’s Public Health Team will introduce a short DVD outlining changes to public health and the new role for Area Boards.

Debbie Haynes from the Council’s Public Health Team introduced a DVD outlining the changes to Public Health and the new role for Area Boards.

Progress of the Youth Development Project, one of our themes for 2013/14.

Over the past couple of months Tom Bray - Community Area Manager, and Tony Nye – Youth Development Coordinator had been working together to organise a series of cluster group meetings across the Southern Wiltshire community area to assess what provisions and services were already available and to develop ideas for future youth development projects within each cluster.

Attendees included members of the parish council, youth groups, local volunteers, and representatives from the Police and Fire. The meetings and outcomes were productive and varied. Some new projects had started to advance quite quickly.

All of the main outcomes arising from the six cluster group meetings are detailed in the report attached to the agenda.

Michelle and Courtney, are two of the young people who attended the Laverstock and Old Sarum meeting, they explained that at their meeting they looked at what was already available to young people and what was missing from their area. They aimed to work with a member of the parish council to carry out a consultation in January 2014.

Dave Dunford, Station Manager at Salisbury fire station, attended the meeting held in Alderbury. They looked at the possibility of providing a number of activities which could be facilitated by groups such as the Scouts or the Fire service. If successful this could then serve as a pilot for other areas, and possibly build in to a nationally recognised level of achievement.

The Chairman thanked everyone who was involved with the work.

 The Board then considered the recommendation to release funding to this Area Board Project as detailed in the report attached to the agenda.

Decision
The Southern Wiltshire Area Board agreed to allocate £6,300 from the Area Board’s Capital Grants Fund and £4,524 from the Area Board’s revenue funding dedicated to Young People  as detailed in the table below:

Progress report for our footpath theme:

·       Kissing Gates

·       Walks Publication

·       Linking Footpaths

Councillor Leo Randall thanked everyone who had been involved with the installation of the kissing gates, a total of 49 had now been installed.

Further work to be carried out included clearance on an ongoing basis. There were already some volunteers in Landford who met regularly to carry out the work, but new volunteers were always needed to set up other groups.

Tom Bray had met with Tracey Carter, Service Director for the Board, where they had explored the possibility of involving other partners .

Actions for the future:

1.  The Rights of Way team, beyond their statutory duties, is focused towards stimulating community action, working as community leaders, to achieve the goals set out in the Rights of Way Improvement Plan.

2.  To develop capacity in the short-term, dedicated volunteer support is needed to enable us to develop the volunteers to become more self sufficient and unlock greater capacity from within the community. Taking this further this support could enable specific projects with young people, the unemployed, ex-service personnel and disabled people to advance the reach and benefits of this project further.

Resources required: Volunteer Coordinator funded and employed through a partner organisation to develop this work in Southern Wiltshire and possibly extend to other areas. The primary aim is to develop the work of the South Wilts Walks Group, setting up parish groups and by the end of the period produce a ‘toolkit’ for communities to help them deliver the service in their community.

3.  In the short-term we should continue to develop Community Area wide activity days to encourage participation and provide training and familiarisation.

4.  Where there is a nucleus of activity in a parish, help them to develop a local group and assist them to manage work and footpath priorities in their parish.

The Board will consider the recommendations for funding from the CATG budget for 2013/14, as detailed in the attached report.

The Board considered the recommendations for funding, made by the Community Area Transport Group at their last meeting held on 25 November 2013, as detailed in the report attached to the agenda.

Decision

The Southern Wiltshire Area Board approved to release £7,000 of funding from the CATG Budget for 2013/14, to the following projects:

The Board will consider applications for funding from the Community Area Grant Scheme for 2013/14, as detailed in the attached report.

Officer: Tom Bray, Community Area Manager

The Southern Wiltshire Area Board considered 4 applications for funding from the Community Area Grants Scheme for 2013/14. Applicants present were invited to speak in support of their projects, following discussion the Board members voted on each application in turn.

Decision

Redlynch Village Hall was awarded £358.79  towards a Printer for the Silver Surfers and a hearing loop for the hall.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria for 2013/14.

Decision

Redlynch Players was awarded £3,100  towards upgrading of the lights and lighting rig.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria for 2013/14.

Decision

Boscombe Down Aviation Collection was awarded £640 towards the purchase of an over head projector for the conference room.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria for 2013/14.

Decision

Alderbury High Street Allotment Association was awarded £640  to purchase new deer proof fencing.

Reason

The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria for 2013/14.

The Chairman thanked everyone for coming and closed the meeting.

The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday 30 January, 7.00pm at Alderbury Village Hall.