Agenda and minutes

To appoint a Chairman for 2019/20.

The election of the Chairman was deferred to the next meeting,

To appoint a Vice-Chairman for 2019/20.

The election of the Vice-Chairman was deferred to the next meeting.

The Vice-Chairman, Cllr Gordon King, welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Westbury Area Board. It was noted that the Chairman Cllr David Jenkins had resigned from being a councillor and that the meeting would not be quorate, which meant that no formal decisions could be made during the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from:

Cllr Jerry Wickham

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 4 April 2019.

The minutes were deferred to the next meeting.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chairman will make the following announcements:

·       Community Open-Access Defibrillator

·       Community Led Housing Project

·       Homelessness Strategy Consultation

·       North Wessex Downs Walking Festival

·       Community Engagement Manager Update

The Vice-Chairman gave a summary of the announcements included in the agenda.

Graeme Morrison, Community Engagement Manager (CEM), informed the meeting about the National Armed Forces Day and encourage the community to get involved. A 50 seater coach would be available to the residents of Westbury, free of charge, to travel to the celebrations in Salisbury. To secure a place on the coach residents were encourage to email the CEM.

The CEM also spoke about the Joint Strategic Assessment due in early 2020. It was noted that feedback from the previous years was that residents wanted more involvement in selecting the priorities on the lead up to the event. A consultation would take place in the first two weeks of the summer holidays where residents could voice their priorities on community matters.

To make appointments to Working Groups and Outside Bodies for the forthcoming year:

Working Groups

·         Community Area Transport Group

·         LYN Management Group

·         Health and Wellbeing Group

Outside Bodies

·         BA13+ Westbury Community Area Partnership

·         Westbury Ham Community Project (Eden Vale Youth Centre Project)

·         Warminster and Westbury CCTV Committee

·         Older Peoples Champion

The appointments were deferred to the next meeting, it was noted that the councillors would remain in their current roles in the mean-time.

To receive a presentation about the Shared Lives Service.

The representative from the Shared Lives Service were unable to attend the meeting and therefore the item was deferred.

To receive any updates from partners including:

·         Wiltshire Police

·         Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

·         Westbury LYN

·         BA13+ Community Area Partnership

·         Healthwatch Wiltshire

·         NHS Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group

·         Town and Parish Councils

Police

Police Inspector Andy Fee referred to the police report in the agenda pack.it was noted that recent recruitment of community coordinators had taken place with five now being in place. Pc Helen Daveridge, Community Coordinator, would be taking over the Westbury, Warminster, Tisbury and Mere areas.

A question was asked about drug crime in the area and it was noted that there had been a lot of proactive policing activity, including carrying out some search warrants, although no significant drug crime was reported in the area.

Town and Parish councillors were encouraged to attend a weekly tasking meeting, which was held at Trowbridge Police station on Wednesday’s at 11am, to discuss emerging community issues and concerns.

Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Jerry Herbert noted that the increase in officers was part of delivering the precept and thanked the number of volunteers who helped daily for their time, effort and dedication.

Some questions were asked and the police communication process was explained recognising that community messaging could be better.

Local Youth Network

The CEM explained that there were no more Local Youth Facilitators and the he would take on the LYN coordination. He had been in communication with Matravers and Dilton Marsh School’s and was keen to have representatives from the villages on the LYN. It was likely that a meeting would take place before the start of the new school year.

Westbury Town Council

The following updates were given:

·         It was noted that the new town Mayor was Cllr Mike Sutton;

·         Grant season had begun and local groups were encouraged to apply;

·         An online events calendar was nearly ready to launch;

·         A community BBQ was coming up.

Bratton Parish Council

The following updates were given:

·         Recently held the AGM where Cllr Jeff Ligo was once again elected chairman;

·         The parish finances were in a good position;

·         A neighbourhood plan was being developed which had recently received excellent feedback from a recent consultation;

·         The White House Church would now be known as the Bratton Parish News and publicised widely.

To hear a presentation about the connecting Champanslade project.

Adam Mosley from Connecting Chapmanslade gave a presentation on a project to create cycling and walking routes to connect Westbury, Warminster and Frome with Chapmanslade central to the route and three towns.

The aim of the project was to create a new National Cycling Network to take cyclists away from the main roads, making it safer and more healthy for those wishing to use the network. The routes would be suitable for many different user groups as they would be wheelchair and pushchair friendly.

Communication was taking place with a number of confirmed and potential partners to support the project. The next step would involve having a feasibility study carried out.  

Members of the Area Board noted their support for the project and looked forward to seeing the finished project.

To consider an application for funding from the Community Area Grants Scheme from Bratton Rememberance Garden (report to follow).

To consider any funding requests from the Community Area Transport Group.

The CEM introduced the grant application.

RESOLVED

To agree in principle the Bratton Remembrance Garden application for £1000 and delegate authority to the CEM under delegated authority.

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

There were no urgent items.

Those in attendance expressed their sympathies for Cllr Jerry Wickham.

The next meeting of the Westbury Area Board will take place on:

Thursday 25^th July 2019 at The Laverton Hall, Westbury BA13 3EN

Future Meeting Dates:

Thursday 10^th October 2019 at The Laverton Hall, Westbury BA13 3EN

Thursday 5^th December 2019 at The Laverton Hall, Westbury BA13 3EN

The next meeting of the Westbury Area Board will be held on 25 July 2019.