Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Amesbury Area Board and thanked South Newton and Great Wishford Village Hall for hosting the meeting.

He noted that the venue was quite unique as South Newton was in the South West Wiltshire Area Board area, and it had held a meeting here, and Great Wishford was in the Amesbury Board area so it was on the border of the two community areas.

The Amesbury Area Board covered an area from here, passing in a northern arc around to the Winterbournes and in total took in 22 villages. In the past meetings had been held in Berwick St James, Shrewton, Durrington, Amesbury, Figheldean, and Winterbourne Earls, to enable people within the parishes to attend across the area.

At the Chairman’s invitation, the Councillors and officers introduced themselves.

Apologies for absence had been received from:

·       Cllr John Smale, Wiltshire Council

·       Cllr Paddy Allen, Mayor, Amesbury Town Council

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 16 January 2017.

Decision

The minutes of the extraordinary meeting held on 16 January 2017 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.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chairman will introduce the announcements and invite any questions.

·        A303 consultation

Thanks were given

As it was the last meeting of Amesbury Area Board in the four-year cycle, the Chairman took the opportunity to thank all the Parish Councils, Councillors and Parish Clerks who had attended and supported the Board during that time.

He noted that as some would not be standing for re-election in May he took the opportunity to thank everyone and wish them all well for the future.

He also thanked all the Officer’s which had supported the Board so well over the period, namely the Community Engagement Manager; Dave Roberts, Highways Officer’s Julie Wharton, Andy Cole and Craig Campbell, the Democratic Services Officer’s Jessica Croman and Lisa Moore and the Parish Stewards who looked after the villages.

A303 Consultation

The A303 Amesbury to Berwick Down Road Improvement scheme consultation would close on the 5th March  2017. On Tuesday  14th March 2017  Wiltshire Council’s Cabinet would consider their response to the consultation. That meeting was open to the public, anyone who wished to make a statement to Cabinet should contact William Oulton on 01225 713935 or william.oulton@wiltshire.gov.uk

The Chairman referred to the updates set out in the agenda and invited further updates from Town/Parish Councils and other Partners, including outside bodies.  It was noted that the preferred option was for written updates, to minimise time spent during the meeting.

Police 

Inspector Nick Mawson gave a report in addition to the written paper attached to the agenda. The Police were nationally targeting the use of mobile phones whilst driving, it was hoped that the local team would see some results from that. Hare coursing remained a priority, whilst there had been an increase of theft from motor vehicles at tourist spots. There had been 42 incidents with one person had been arrested. It was pointed out that prevention was better than detection. Inspector Mawson then gave details on a project which aimed to provide warning signage which would be put up in the hotspot areas.

He asked the Board to support this initiative by allocating funding of £600.30 to purchase 29 signs.

The Board considered this request under item 12 – Community Grants.

Questions:

·       Winterbourne PC asked whether the neon warning posters were still available? Answer: Yes, they were also available, it was hoped that using those through the parishes and the new signs at hotspots would have a combined effect. The Police was also working with local walking groups to circulate information through their websites.

·       Who would be covering the Neighbourhood police lady on maternity leave? Answer: She would be off for approximately a year. Recruitment was underway and hopefully before the year was up, there would be a replacement if only temporary.

Action: Inspector Mawson agreed to circulate information detailing who the local officers were and how to contact them.

Fire Service

District Commander; Tom Brolan, was due to take on the area from Monday. A written report was circulated at the meeting, and attached to the minutes, in addition the following points were noted:

·       Amesbury was a solely retained station with two appliances, however, due to it being a retained station, it was struggling to recruit enough officers to man the second unit.

·       Officers had been going out to schools to provide road safety advice and collision advice.

·       Safe and well, smoke alarm visits were continuing to take place.

·       There had been some recent incidents, with two road traffic incidents, however fire in homes had gone down.

·       Crews across the county had attended a large barn fire in Bradford on Avon, where they had to remove a large amount of sheet.

·       There had been 5800 false alarm calls alone last year, this took a lot of Officer time.

·       Retained crew members would need to be available for around 160hrs a week, be over 18 and have no criminal record to be taken on.

To receive an update and to consider two Youth Funding requests as detailed below and in the attached papers.

·         The Bridging Project - £3,290

·         Shrewton Youth Club - £4,480

As this was the last meeting of the financial year, Cllr Jamie Capp gave a brief rundown of what had been achieved during the year.

£50,906 had been awarded to 10 different groups, which had meant additional funds were levered in to the community.

Young people had been able to be a part of the decision-making process, with a variety of different groups involved in the sessions. It had been useful to see what was important to them.

Working with the MOD to bring new provisions in to Larkhill.

Cllr Capp then gave an overview of the two applications for Youth Funding as attached to the agenda, along with the recommendations for funding from the LYN.

Following discussion, the Cllrs voted on each application on turn.

Decision

The Amesbury Area Board awarded £3,290 to the Bridging Project with the condition:

·       that if the project did not find alternative premises by September 2017, then any unspent funds would be returned to the area board.

Cllr Westmoreland noted that with ongoing projects such as this, groups should be encouraged to be self-sufficient in the future. A big problem for these groups was that of recruitment and it was also difficult to spread the word that these groups exist to increase the attendance. It may be possible to use the LYN and H&WB group to get more young people involved.

Decision

The Amesbury Area Board awarded £4,480 to Shrewton Youth Club.

Cllr Darren Henry from Shrewton PC was in attendance to speak in support of the project and to show the Board a short DVD depicting some of the activities carried out over the last year.

Police Sergeant Paul Harvey will talk on the topic of scams and advise the community how best to protect themselves from the risks of Cyber Crime.

Sergeant Paul Harvey, Strategic Support Officer for crime and prevention, gave a presentation and circulated leaflets at the meeting.

Some of the points raised included:

·       Cybercrime was anything that is digital.

·       80% of cybercrime could be overcome, by using a good password, good antivirus software and if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.

·       Cyber Crime was one of the four major Control Strategies in the Force.

·       The national model for working against cybercrime was to Protect, Prevent, Prepare and Pursue.

·       Working to raise awareness and to educate the high risk and repeat victims, to give them a better understanding of the nature of the threats.

·       The Bobby van and some online safety volunteers were available to  visit victims to teach them the basics to protect themselves in the future.

·       The ‘Get safe online’ website was a useful place that people could access further information:https://www.getsafeonline.org  

·       Between April and October 2016, Salisbury people were scammed out of £4.3m

·       The Force had employed a Cyber Prevention Officer to work with them in this field.

·       The more people that used these services the better the Police could protect people.

Questions and comments were then taken, these included:

·        The figure of £4.3m must be reported crime, whereas there must be a huge amount that goes under reported. Answer: Yes this is right.

·        What do people do when they are called by hoax callers asking for financial details? Answer: Put the phone down and don’t do what they say, it’s only a crime if they act on it. Our system would be flooded if we were called every time this happened.

To consider the list of proposed works for 2017/18, as detailed in the attached report.

The Board considered the Highways proposals for 2017/18 schemes, as detailed in the agenda.

The Chairman noted that it was nice to see so many on the list, however it was a shame that Shrewton High Street was not included.

Decision

The Amesbury Area Board approved the proposed list of Highways Schemes for 2017/18 as detailed in the Report.

Cllr Hewitt noted that a list of additional proposed roads would be provided to the Highways Officer for progressing through the CATG.

The board also noted that the report showed that works in the Amesbury community area was falling behind in terms of the amount of works carried out in other community areas across the county. Once the newly elected Board was in place it was suggested that this matter was brought up with the relevant Cabinet Member for Highways.

To receive an update on the outcome of the ‘Our Community Matters’ Joint Strategic Assessment event held on 26 January 2017, and to ask the Area Board to endorses the outcomes.

Community Engagement Manager; Dave Roberts gave a brief update on the outcome of the ‘Our Community Matters’ Joint strategic assessment event, held on 26 January.

The report detailed the priorities which came out of that meeting and contained six recommendations for endorsement.

The Board noted that the success of that evening had been down to the organisation of the CEM. They felt that it was important to consider the deliverability of these priorities, and as such should not be so tied to them that they could not look at a new priority should it come along.

In the past there had been good intentions to carry forward initiatives, however some of those had not got past the planning stage. The Board’s main aim was to see achievements.

Decision

The Amesbury Area Board approved the following six recommendations with a priority fixed on number 4:

(1)        That the Area Board adopts the priorities identified by the ‘Our Community Matters’ event and works to facilitate local action to tackle those priorities.

(2)        That the Area Board requests the Local Youth Network, the Health and Wellbeing Group and the Community Area Transport Group (and any other local task groups established by the Board) to adopt and take forward the priorities identified in the relevant theme areas.

(3)        That the Area Board requests the Community Engagement Manager to work with key partners, agencies and community groups to coordinate action around the priorities identified.

(4)        That the Board considers whether it wishes to champion a particular theme or priority and to earmark funding to promote, initiate and support community-led action around the selected priorities.

(5)        That reports are submitted to the Board on progress made to address the priorities to ensure that positive outcomes are delivered and that this be made a regular item on future Board meetings.

(6)        The Area Board expresses its thanks to the people who gave their time to participate in the event.

To consider an update and recommendations from the Community Area Transport Group (CATG) in relation to the funding available towards Local Transport Projects.

The Minutes of the latest CATG meeting are attached for information.

The Chairman; Cllr Ian West gave an update to the Board on the top five priorities for the CATG. These were:

1.     Orcheston C291 – 30mph implementation.                         

The work was complete and would be replaced by the waiting restrictions in Amesbury/Durrington/Winterbourne Stoke.

2.     Shrewton - review of the current weight limit.               

The signs were being manufactured and the work should be complete by 24 March.

3.     Winterbourne Earls – Closure of the Fords  

The Highways Officer was still working through all of the objections received.

4.     Great Wishford – 20mph

The scheme would be ordered when the new financial codes were released.

5.     London Rd, Shrewton - Request for build outs.                  

The topographical survey had been ordered and would takes 4-6 weeks to complete.

The Board then considered the recommendations made by the CATG as detailed in the report.

Decision

The Amesbury Area Board approved all recommendations of the CATG as set out in the report attached to the agenda.

The Community Engagement Manager will give an overview of funding awarded by the Board over the last year.

Councillor Led Initiative

The Board considered a late request for funding through a Councillor Led Initiative to purchase 29 Warning of Vehicle Theft signs at the cost of £600.30. The request and associated supporting documents had been circulated to Councillors prior to the meeting and would be attached to the minutes.

The Board also heard from Inspector Nick Morson under Partners Update on this initiative.

Decision

The Cllr Led Initiative for 29 Warning of Vehicle Theft signs to be displayed in crime hotspots, was awarded £600.30 with the condition:

·       that the report and quote for the signs meeting the criteria which had been circulated to the board Members prior to the meeting, be attached to the minutes.

Questions:

Where had the thefts in the community been and which hotspots would the signs be placed at? Answer: The 29 signs would be sited as follows:

Stonehenge x 2

Stonehenge byways x 4

Woodhenge x 2

Druids Lodge x 3

Winterbourne Down Nature Reserve x 3

Grovely Wood x 3

Knighton Down x 3

Yarnbury Castle x 3

Langford Lakes x 3

Newton Toney (by the railway) x 3

Community Area Grants – Overview of 2015/16

Dave Roberts gave an update and showed a DVD detailing some of the grant projects which had been funded by the board over the last year.

There had been a total of 38 separate capital projects funded across the community area, these were:

·       5 in Durrington & Larkhill

·       7 in Bulford & Figheldean

·       7 in Bourne & Woodford Valley

·       7 in Till & Wylye Valley

·       12 in Amesbury East & West

A total of £58,000 had been allocated to capital projects across the community area, and the amount of £279,902 had been levered into the community area.

This equalled £4.80 invested into the community area for every £1 allocated by the Area Board.

A total of £50,906 has been awarded for revenue projects. This has been awarded to 10 different youth projects across the county. This funding had enabled a total of £113,908 to be levered in to the community area, which equated to £2.23 for every £1 allocated by the Area Board.

The Area Board also funded Farley’s Malone in their first year.

To view the DVD follow the link: https://youtu.be/upMVA_bUNHo

Update: Painted Lines

Cllr Wright noted that the works to correct the painted lines at Countess Road roundabout would potentially be carried out the following week.

1.    To receive an annual report/ presentation from Farleys Malone

2.    To receive an update from the H&WBG

Farley’s Malone Update

Christian Lange and Maureen Atkinson from Farley’s Malone gave a presentation to the Board, the main points covered were:

•      43% of people aged over 65 in the Amesbury Community Area are at high risk of social isolation

•      The Amesbury Community Area also has fewer unpaid carers than the Wiltshire Average, therefore increasing the risk of ill health and loneliness amongst older and vulnerable people within the community

•      Wiltshire Council statistics confirm that there are 268 adults aged over 85 in the Amesbury Community Area, of which a significant number are on- going clients of Farleys Malone Community

•      There are many more who are the "unknown and invisible" in our area and often not on anyone's radar.

Thanks were given for the funding awarded by the Amesbury Area Board, and support from other organisations such as:

•      Avon Valley Practice

•      B&M Amesbury

•      Bourne Valley Link Scheme

•      Durrington Link Scheme

•      HMRC

•      Mi Space

•      QinetiQ

•      Tesco Amesbury

•      Trussell Trust

•      Wiltshire Community Foundation

•      Wiltshire Police

Aims over next 12 Months:

•      To work with Amesbury Area Board to priorities and provide / co-ordinate those services for older and vulnerable adults that were identified at the recent Amesbury Area Board JSA Community Event.

•      Investigate additional transport options to enable those who are socially isolated to attend community events.

•      Increase the number of community lunches (48 lunches in FY17/18 delivery > 1000 covers).

•      Introduce two parallel regular clubs - “Club for Men” and “Club for Ladies” enabling cares and cared for to go to out simultaneously but have their own space / social interaction.

•      Continue to operate as the Older Persons Champion.

•      Continue to provide the “Free to Service User” Community Consultant service (and look to expand this service in the Amesbury Community Area - funding dependent).

•      Recruit additional volunteers to assist where appropriate with events.

•      Run at least two large community events for older and vulnerable adults.

•      Work as part of the Dementia Action Alliance for the Amesbury Community Area.

Health & Wellbeing Update

Cllr Graham Wright gave an update to the board which included the following points:

• Farley’s Malone had been signed up to work as a partner.
• Amesbury Tesco had been great supporters of the Group and its work in the community.
• The Library, had been hosting free blood pressure checks and advice.
• The event held at Tesco, had provided an excellent opportunity for networking.
• The H&WB Board had been working with the Dementia Alliance. One of the 22 parishes was already signed on.  It was hoped that one objective of the next H&WB group that they continue with this.
• Thanked everyone from the team.

The Board noted that the work of the Amesbury Area Board had been highlighted at a Wiltshire wide Cllrs Area Boards meeting by a Cabinet Member.

The Board had put the CEM forward for an excellence award with Wiltshire Council.

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

There were none.

The next meeting of the Amesbury Area Board will be held on 25 May in Durrington.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Amesbury Area Board would be held on Thursday 25 May 2017, 7.00pm at Durrington Village Hall.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending.

Thanks were given to Cllr Ian West for sitting as Chairman for the year.