Agenda and minutes

Chairman’s Announcements to include:

·       End of Life Care

·       Localism Bill

·       Library Service Review

·       Community Services Contract

The Chairman, Councillor Chris Williams welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Tidworth Area Board and thanked the Ludgershall Memorial Hall Committee for the use of the newly refurbished hall.

The Chairman then invited everyone in the room to introduce themselves before making the following announcements:

End of Life Care

A paper was attached to the agenda for information.

Localism Bill – Proposed Changes to Arrangements Governing the Code of Conduct of Councillors

A paper was attached to the agenda for information.

Localism Event

A localism event had been scheduled for the Tidworth Community Area, to discuss the Big Society, Localism and what it means for the Community Area. This meeting would be held on Monday 11^th April 2011 at Tidworth Community Centre. Refreshments would be available from 6pm, for a 6.30pm start.

Library Service Review

The library in Tidworth would remain open; however people may see some changes to the way in which it was run. A paper was attached to the agenda for information, and forms had been circulated for people to complete if they were interested in helping the library by becoming a volunteer.

Community Services Contract

Councillor Mark Connolly informed the board that in addition to the services available in Wiltshire, the services used in Andover and Winchester by local residents would also still remain. A paper from the Great Western Hospital Foundation Trust was attached to the agenda for information.

Proposed Changes to Bus Services

Councillor Charles Howard gave an update on the proposed changes to the bus services which served the Community Area, this included:

·       First- The Service 8 between Andover and Salisbury would remain unchanged.

·       Second- A new Service X5 from Salisbury to Swindon via Netheravon, Pewsey and Marlborough has replaced two previous services.

·       Third- Changes are being made to Service 80, Andover to Swindon from 4th April. This is as a result of the need to re-tender for the contract, and details are awaited. The new service will terminate at Marlborough, and passengers travelling to Swindon will need to change at Marlborough.

There have been no new briefing papers on consultations since the last meeting, however for further information and to take part in a consultation that is still running, click on the link: http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal

As there were no new consultation papers since the previous meeting, the Chairman brought people’s attention to the link which could be used to check the Consultation website in between meetings.

A draft Waste Site Allocations Development Plan would be considered by Cabinet the following day, consultation on that paper would then open for an eight week period, but as the next Tidworth Area Board would not be until 16^th May 2011, the consultation would have closed.

Two sites included in the Cabinet report were Pickpit Hill, Tidworth and Castle Down Business Park, Ludgershall, as these sites were within the Tidworth Community Area, the Chairman urged people to click on the link to the Consultation website to take part.

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

There were none, however Councillor Mark Connolly noted that he was a near neighbour to the North East Quadrant, but did not live not next to the proposed development.

Apologies for absence were received from:

·       Councillor Dick Tonge, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport

·       Alistair Cunningham – Service Director for Economy and Enterprise

·       Graeme Hay – Head of Service, Local Highways and Streetscene (South).

·       Jo Howes – NHS Wiltshire

·       Mike Cox – Collingbourne Ducis Parish Council

To approve as a correct record and sign the minutes of the last meeting held on Monday 17 January 2011.

Decision

The minutes of the previous meeting held on Monday 17^th January 2011, were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive a presentation on the endorsement and promotion of planning for a local emergency.

Officer: Nicholas Bate, Emergency Planning Officer

Nicholas Bate, Emergency Planning Officer gave a presentation on Community Resilience, with regard to planning for emergency situations in villages, which is a government initiative directed at Town and Parish Councils.

The intention was for all parishes to have an up-to-date Community Resilience Plan to replace where necessary the Initial Response Plan that some parishes had written some years ago. These plans once written would be kept up to date by a person nominated by the Town/Parish Council.

Bradford on Avon Community Area Board who were part of a pilot scheme had fully endorsed the initiative. Subsequently the Emergency Planning Team will be communicating with all Parish Councils to offer them the Government template and guidance notes to assist them. 

In order to ensure that Wiltshire’s communities are resilient it is vital that they were aware of the risks which affect them and the assets which they have within their communities, such as doctors or other people with some medical training, 4x4 vehicles etc. This would help the Town and Parish Councils to decide which threats they were comfortable with, without having to take any preventative action and those where a more proactive approach may be required.

This information would also be made available to each member of the community to ensure that they were able to take necessary measures such as preparing an ‘Emergency Box’, purchasing sandbags to protect their property or carrying out a business impact analysis for a Business Continuity Plan for example.

Community Resilience was not just about the Community Safety agenda, it was much wider than that. It was about how the community, the individual within that community and businesses could best prepare to meet the challenges they may face if confronted with a major incident. It was also about how the community could continue to operate for as long as possible and how it could adapt to its new circumstances once the incident had passed.

Questions and comments were then received from the floor:

·       Has the use of local radio been included within the plan?  Answer: Yes, it would be very important to make use of local radio, when there was a need to get a message out to members of the community.

·       As the Tidworth Community Area benefitted from having a large military population, would the government pay for the assistance of the military in the community’s time of need, or an emergency? Answer: If life was at risk then military aid could be used at no cost, however, if life was not at risk, then there would be a huge cost involved in making use of local military capabilities. We do call upon 43 brigade to act if needed.

Decision

The Tidworth Area Board endorsed the Town and Parish Council Emergency Plans project and urged people to get involved, by updating their Emergency Plan.

To receive an update from Persimmon Homes on the proposed development in the North East Quadrant.

Ted Webster and Paul Bedford - Persimmon Homes

Glenn Godwin – Pegasus Planning Group

Paul Bedford (Persimmon Homes) and Glen Godwin (Pegasus Planning Group) gave an update to the Board. They explained that since the last meeting, Persimmon’s had purchased the land from Defence Estates, and they had been working quite hard to put their proposals forward. These included:

·       Improved balance of civilian and military housing in Tidworth

·       600 civilian homes in total with 150 affordableand rented homes to meet local needs

·       Provision of the NEQ link road between the A338 and A3026

·       Delivery of a new Primary School (in a new position on the site since the previous meeting)

·       Enhancement of River Bourne corridor for public open space

·       Transfer of some 2.5 hectares of off-site sports pitches

·       Ordnance road junction improvements

·       New housing would attract New Homes Bonus

A further consultation event had been arranged to update the community on progress with the application and provide the opportunity to discuss the proposals with Persimmon’s consultants and make comments. This would be on Monday 28^th March 2011, 3.00pm to 8.00pm at Tidworth Community Centre.

Comments sheets would be available at the event, however for people not able to attend; comments could be submitted by email to peter.atkin@pegasuspg.co.uk by 8^th April 2011.

Questions and Comments were taken from the floor, these included:

·       Had any representation been made by the medical centre? Answer: When Persimmon’s took over from the Defence Estate there had been no objections. Nothing had been seen from the medical centre.

·       What are the proposed timescales of the two phases? Answer: In terms of actual Build, if the outline planning application went to committee in June 2011, an application for phase 1 would be submitted, assuming that went through by Christmas 2011, work would be expected to start on site by spring 2012. It would take approximately 6 to 8 months to have the first of the houses built. Timescales would depend on the demand for the properties, but the whole project could be completed within 7 to8 years.

·       There was concern over the level of additional traffic moving through the town, including construction traffic during the development process.

·       How many parking spaces would be allocated per house? Answer: Current consultation on the land was underway; following this, Persimmon’s would produce a detailed outline of a scheme which would include details of the parking provision for the development.

·       At what stage of the development would the link road be built? Answer: Phase 1 could be started from one end once work on the first houses started and would be built a bit at a time. The whole road would not be completed untilaround 400 to 450 homes had been built due to the cost involved.

Councillor Mark Connolly made the following comments and questions:

·       Would moving the school to Phase 1 mean there would be less playing field due to the flood plain. Answer: The proposed school site fell outside the flood plain and would have a more level field.

·        Will the school be designed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To receive information on the proposed development to the former MSA site, Drummond Park – Ludgershall.

Simon Toplis - HTA Architect

also in attendence will be Richard Fitter from Entran

Simon Toplis (HTA Architect) and Richard Fitter (Entran) gave a presentation on the proposed development to the former MSA site, Drummond Park – Ludgershall, some of the points covered were:

·       An outline application was submitted in December 2010, the decision for this was anticipated for June 2011, which would be subject to further detailed applications.

·       A further consultation would then take place.

·       The site is divided broadly in two by a central road running from the south-west to the north-east

• The site features 12 existing buildings totalling 26,000 sqm which included two large warehouses (which are in a poor condition), to the south of the existing road central road.
• The central road must be retained for MOD use and an area must be kept clear of development to allow visibility for MOD traffic.
• Green gateways are formed at the two entrances to the site from the east and west. These are combined with protection of views from all around the site through banks of retained trees which enhanced by new planting in a continuous protective band to the west, north and east.
• Three distinct character areas have been identified, it is proposed that these areas are designed and named to reflect the character of Ludgershall and the surrounding rural areas. The names would be the Main Street, the Lanes and the Farmsteads.
• Within the development, smaller play sites for residents were planned.
• Subject to the detailed application(s), 500 to 550 new homes were proposed for the site.
• There would be a mix of buildings which would range from 2 bedroom flats to 2, 3, 4 and 5 bedroom houses. They would be between two and two and a half storeys in height.

Questions and comments were then taken from the floor, these included:

·       With an increase of 500 houses to the area, this would put added pressure on leisure facilities currently in place for young people. Could thought be given to the social needs as well as the educational needs that young people have, as part of the development? Answer: There had been a request for education, but not for youth provision. Simon agreed to find out the answer to the question and forward it to the person in due course.

• The Chairman of Ludgershall Town Council stated that the Town Council were against the transport plan, but not the overall development. They felt that the plan to implement a mini roundabout to control the traffic flow would not solve the problem, and asked if the plan could be changes to include a better solution to the traffic problem that an additional 500 houses would bring. The main aim would be to alleviate traffic from Butt Street.  Answer: The presentation did not include a slide detailing the transport improvements planned for the site. Wiltshire Council had ring fenced funds towards transport improvements which could only be spent on strategic transport improvements and funds had already been allocated from the Castle Down Business Park development.
• Does the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Board will hear back from grant applicants on the success of their projects to date.

Mary Cullen, Community Area Manager informed the Board that over the past financial year, the Tidworth Area Board had awarded approximately £47,000 of funding towards community projects, broken down as follows:

·       19 x awards to Community Area Grants

·       2 x Area Board led community projects

·       5 x Young People’s Initiative funding projects

A display had been put together detailing all of the grants awarded over the past year; this included some photos and printouts from some of the projects. Past applicants were then invited to speak about the success of their projects.

David Webster of Ludgershall Memorial Hall Management Committee spoke about the recent restoration project of the hall, which had been helped by the funding awarded to them from the Community Area Grant scheme. David noted that the committee hoped to continue to develop the hall and that they may apply in the future for further funding.

Jacki Collins of Ludgershall Pre School told of their project to relocate the nature pond and develop a nature area at the school, work was due to start on the project that day.

Corinna Cuff, the Youth Dance Coordinator for the POP dance project explained how funding would help their project to put on a dance event at the end of May 2011, which would be entirely led by young people. If anyone knew of any 13 to 19 year olds who were interested in joining the group, they could get more details from Wendy Higginson, Youth Development Coordinator.

Wendy Higginson, Youth Development Coordinator gave an update on successful projects which had been achieved over the year thanks to help from the Youth Initiatives funding and the Community Grant Scheme funding. These included, trips out for the young people to events in and around the community area, the installation of bike racks at the youth centres and the setting up of a Collingbourne Youth Group, which already had on average 20 young people attending each week. Many more activities and projects were planned for the next financial year. There was a plan to hold an event which would see all of the youth groups across the community area, coming together for one session.

Corby Kemp of Tidworth Royals Football Club updated the Board on the arrival of the clubs new football strip which had received funding from a Community Area Grant. The kit had been ordered and would arrive soon. A printout of the kit had been included with the grants display which was at the side of the hall.

Councillor Mark Connolly informed the Board that the signage improvements work around the Tidworth community area would start the following week and would be completed by mid April 2011.

The Chairman thanked everyone who had provided an update. He confirmed that any remaining funds in the 2010/11 Community Area Grants budget and the Youth Initiatives budget would be carried over and added to those budgets for 2011/12.

There would be approximately £50,000 of funding allocated to the Tidworth Area Board for 2011/12.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

An update from the Community Area Manager regarding issues raised.

Officer: Mary Cullen, Community Area Manager

Mary Cullen, Community Area Manager gave an update to the Board on the issues currently logged on the Issues System. The majority of the issues were highways or speeding related.

A full list of these could be viewed by clicking on the link below:

http://portal.wiltshire.gov.uk/area_board/areaboard_issues_search.php?issue_location_in=Tidworth

The Chairman urged people to use the Issues System if they had been unable to resolve an issue by firstly contacting their Parish/Town Council or Local Member.

To receive any verbal updates, in addition the following written updates are attached to the agenda:

·       Police

·       NHS

·       Fire

Wiltshire Police

Inspector Martyn Sweett highlighted some of the figures from the update attached to the agenda and emphasised that despite the rising population, there had been a slight reduction in reported crime. From 4^th April 2011 there would be a slight change to the structure of the Neighbourhood Police Team, as some teams would be amalgamated.

Garrison – Colonel Tabor provided the following update:

• Soldiers and Units from the Garrison had started to arrive back from Afghanistan, with more due back in March and April.
• There would be major deployments in mid 2012 and 2013
• Tedworth House was now in the hands of ‘Help for Heroes’ and would open on 21^st June 2011, with temporary accommodation units, on the old hard tennis courts of Tedworth House. A new wing, which was still to be built, would be fully open by mid 2012.
• One of the 6-monthly ‘Clean Sweep’ operations had taken place on 16^th March and 15 tonnes of litter had been collected.  The worst areas had been around the polo pitches in Perham Down and around the old vehicle depot at Ludgershall where 26 Engineer Regiment had collected rubbish which filled 600 rubbish sacks.
• Colonel Tabor said he hoped that Wiltshire Council would now engage the major retail outlets and firms such as MacDonalds, Tesco, Red Bull and Coca Cola, whose products were those most commonly found on the roadsides, to educate their customers about not leaving rubbish or throwing it out of their cars.
• Home Farm Tidworth had now been sold and a result was that the road which ran through the middle of the site was now private and could not be used as a cut through.
• Netheravon Camp was planned to close in 2012 and would be made wind and weather proof, which meant that it would be boarded up.
• A bike event, a Sportive, would take place over 4^th and 5^th June 2011, starting in Tedworth Park; this would involve both long and short distance events for mountain and road bike riders.

TCAP – Colonel Tabor and Tony Pickernell provided the following update:

• At the last meeting held on Monday 7th March, The Community Plan Coordinating Group (CPCG) had been actively involved in looking at the Community Plan which covers 2003 – 2013.
• The Community Plan Coordinating Group (CPCG) had met to look at the possibility of either re-writing the plan or to edit it by selecting the sections which were not working well and removing them.
• There would be a public consultation exercise in September 2011 to establish the views of the community.
• All 9 thematic groups were now up and running.
• The website would contain links to the minutes of all of the meetings held by the groups.
• TCAP was working closely with Baz Reilly of Castledown Radio with an aim to reach as many people in the community as possible.
• A Band Concert for senior citizens in the TCAP area had been planned for Wednesday  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

There had been no Community Area Grant applications submitted for consideration at this meeting. The Board will make a decision on whether to carry over remaining funding from 2010/11 to the next financial year of 2011/12, as detailed in the attached report.

Application packs are available from the Community Area Manager or electronically by clicking on this link.

Officer: Mary Cullen, Community Area Manager

Mary Cullen, Community Area Manager, informed the Board that there had been no Community Area Grant applications submitted for consideration at this meeting. The Board Members voted on whether to carry over remaining funding from 2010/11 to the next financial year of 2011/12, as detailed in the attached report.

Decision

The Tidworth Area Board agreed to carry over the amount of £3,303.84 to the 2011/12 financial year and be included in the 2011/12 Community Area Grants fund.

Decision

The Tidworth Area Board agreed to carry over the remaining Youth Initiatives budget of £1,204 to the 2011/12 financial year for Youth Initiatives projects.

The Board will consider endorsing one bid for funding from the Performance Reward Grant Scheme.

Note: PRG Scheme is currently being reviewed and may not continue in it’s current form, beyond the end of this financial year. However, bids submitted before 31^st March 2011 will still be considered.

The next meeting of the Tidworth Area Board will be on Monday 16 May 2011, 7.00pm at Collingbourne Ducis Village Hall.