Agenda and minutes

The Chairman will welcome those present to the meeting.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Warminster Area Board and invited members of the board to introduce themselves.

Apologies for absence were received from:

Deborah Gogarty – Older People’s Champion

Wiltshire & Dorset Fire and Rescue Service

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 5 September 2019.

Decision

The minutes of the previous meeting 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.

Cllr Jackson declared an interest in the grant application for the Warminster Athenaeum Trust as he was a trustee and would not vote.

The Chairman will introduce the Announcements included in the agenda and invite any questions.

The Chairman made the following announcements:

·         New fly-tipping campaign: We’re Targeting Fly-tippers

Wiltshire Council had launched a new reward campaign to prevent fly tipping in the county. The We're Targeting Fly-tippers (WTF) campaign aimed combat the scourge of fly-tipping by offering residents a reward of up to £200 in high street vouchers if they reported information that lead to the successful prosecution of an offender or the payment of a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN).

·         BT Proposed Payphone Removal Consultation

The council had received notification from BT regarding consultation on its current programme of proposed public payphone removals. There were 71 public payphones with low usage levels and BT proposed to remove them following a full consultation. BT had also placed consultation notices in the relevant payphone kiosks.

BT were offering parish councils and registered charities to *adopt a kiosk for just £1, thereby protecting the heritage of the community.

Details about this could be found on BT’s website (at http://business.bt.com/phone-services/payphone-services/adopt-a-kiosk/)

The consultation period ended on 28 January 2020, and responses by end of business 14 January 2020 to include representations in forming WC return to BT.  All responses should be directed to maryy.moore@wiltshire.gov.uk - Mary Moore, Economic Development and Planning, who will co-ordinate the response on behalf of the council.

·         Community Governance Review (CGR)

It was noted that a CGR was taking place although the Warminster area was not part of the review at this point in time. If the Warminster are was being reviewed residents and town/ parish councils would be made aware.

·         Warm and Safe Wiltshire – help available this winter

Warm and Safe Wiltshire was a single point of contact cold homes and energy saving advice service set up specifically to assist the health service in Wiltshire. The service was run by the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE), an independent charity, on behalf of Swindon Borough Council and Wiltshire Council.

The service provided a range of support both over the phone and through home visits. Wiltshire Community Foundation administered a Surviving Winter grant of £300 per person to help vulnerable residents pay for winter costs and the application period ended on the 13 December and was granted on a first come first serve basis. More information could be found at https://www.warmandsafewiltshire.org.uk/

·         The next meeting of the Warminster AB would focus on ecology, conservation and environmental issue.

To receive updates from any of the following partners:

Ø  Wiltshire Police

Ø  Neighbourhood Task Group

Ø  Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

Ø  Warminster and Villages Community Partnership

Ø  Town and Parish Councils Nominated Representatives

Some written updates have been received and are included in this agenda.

Some written updates had been received before the meeting and were included in the agenda.

Wiltshire Police

Dan Green gave a verbal update noting that during the winter months there was generally an increase in poaching with recent incidents involving an increase in thefts of post boxes which was being investigated.

The last round of training had taken place. The recruitment window had just closed seeing all vacancies filled across all teams.

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service   

A handout was provided at the meeting highlighting:

·         Safe and Well visits

·         On-going interaction by the Protection Team members with Local Authorities, Private landlords and tenants regarding fire safety-related matters: external cladding systems; fire detection and warning systems; fire resisting doors (& self-closers); combustibility/fire resistance of construction materials; commercial and residential sprinklers systems and water-mist suppression systems;

·         Recruitment was on-going for on-call firefighters, more information could be found at www.dwfire.org.uk/working-for-us/on-call-firefighters/

·         Reminder of Christmassafety and further tips could be found at https://www.dwfire.org.uk/safety/safety-at-home/christmas-safety/.

·         Work was underway to develop a Biker Down scheme across Wiltshire, after sponsorship for the coming year was secured. Biker Down was a national road safety initiative targeted at motorcyclists, originally conceived and started by Kent Fire & Rescue Service, and it has recently launched locally;

·         Christmas day help – The Fire Service was seeking people to help manage the volunteers for the annual Christmas Day lunch held in Trowbridge. The event had grown substantially since it was started at Trowbridge fire station, and was now hosted at County Hall in the town. Anyone who would like to offer their help would need to be at County Hall on Christmas Day and, ideally, have availability in the days beforehand to help with setting up the venue. If you would like to get involved, please contact Kate as soon as possible on 07855 746121.

Town & Parish Updates were included in the agenda.

i.              Update

leThe Community Engagement Manager, Graeme Morrison, introduced the item noting that a LYN meeting was held prior to the AB meeting which looked at youth issues and discussed the process going forward, taking into consideration their priorities, gaps in provision and set up going forward.

Currently the LYN grants funding was underspent and groups were encouraged to apply for funding.

There was a presentation on the Warminster Skate Park which noted that:

·         The skate park had been a huge success and was well used by residents of Warminster and the surrounding towns.

·         The skate park took six years to complete and a big event was held for the opening of the park.

      i.        General Update

The CEM gave an update on behalf of the Older People’s Champion noting that the Safe Places Scheme was going to be relaunched with the Wiltshire Centre of Independent Living keen to help. There would be a Health & Wellbeing Fair in April for World Health day with more details to come.

To receive an update.

It was noted that Cllr White head had offered to arrange a meeting to look at the benefits of regenerating Warminster Town Centre with some exciting ideas to explore.

To consider the CATG schemes set out in the report.

Cllr Andrew Davis referred to the CTAG report following which it was;

RESOLVED

To approve funding for all of the CATG schemes outlined in the report.

To consider applications for funding from the Community Area Grants Scheme.

The area board considered the following applications seeking 2019/20 Community Area Grant funding:

RESOLVED

To award the Warminster Athenaeum Trust £4919 for Auditorium Ventilation.

To award Longbridge Deverill Parish Council £2247.60 for the purchase of a  Speed Indicator Device SID

Any other items of business which the Chairman agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items.

The next meetings of the Warminster Area Board will be on: 9 January 2020 at the Warminster Civic Centre.

The next meeting of the Warminster AB would take place on the 9 January 2020, 7pm at the Warminster Civic Centre.