Agenda and minutes

To appoint a Chairman for 2018/2019.

Nominations were sought for the position of Chairman for the forthcoming year. Fred Westmoreland, seconded by Cllr John Smale moved that Cllr Mike Hewitt be elected as Chairman.

There being no other nominations, it was:

Resolved:

To elect Cllr Mike Hewitt as Chairman for the 2018/2019 year.

To appoint the Vice-Chairman for 2018/2019.

Nominations were sought for the appointment of Vice-Chairman for the

forthcoming year. Cllr Fred Westmoreland, seconded by Cllr Graham Wright moved that Cllr Robert Yuill be elected as Vice-Chairman.

There being no other nominations, it was:

Resolved:

To elect Cllr Robert Yuill as Vice-Chairman for the 2018/2019 year.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Amesbury Area Board.

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

Apologies for absence had been received from:

·         Cllr Richard Harris of Shrewton Parish Council,  Cllr David Hassett attended to represent Shrewton Parish Council.

·         Jan Tidd, Older Persons champion.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 22 March 2018.

Resolved:

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 22 March 2018.

To appoint representatives to the following Outside Bodies for 2018/2019:

·         Amesbury Tenants Panel

·         Stonehenge World Heritage Site Steering Group

To appoint representatives to the following Working Groups for 2018/2019:

·         Amesbury Community Area Transport Group (CATG)

·         LYN Management Group

·         Amesbury Health and Wellbeing Group 

To appoint an Older Person’s Champion:

·         To be confirmed

The Area Board considered a report requesting the appointment of

representatives to Outside Bodies, and to reconstitute and make appointments

to Working Groups for the year 2018/19.

Resolved:

1. To appoint Councillor representatives to the outside bodies as set

out in Appendix A of the report.

2. To reconstitute and appoint to the working groups of Amesbury Area

Board as set out in Appendix B of the report

3. To note the Terms of reference for the Working Groups, as set out in

Appendix C of the report.

4. To appoint an Older Persons Champion at the next Area Board meeting.

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.

·         Healthwatch Wiltshire

·         CCG

·         The Big Pledge 2018

·         Becoming a Foster Carer

·         Salisbury Recovery

·         Community Area Awards

The Chairman drew attention to the following written announcements included in the agenda pack:

·         Healthwatch Wiltshire

·         CCG

·         Becoming a Foster Carer

·         Salisbury Recovery

The Chairman also gave the following announcements:

·         The Big Pledge 2018 returned on 14 May, the meeting was encouraged to sign up on The Big Pledge website to undertake sport or activities to complete ‘active minutes’.

·         The next Community Area Awards would be held in January 2020. Cllr Henry briefly detailed the last awards and invited comments. Cllr Wright and Cllr Westmoreland gave positive feedback and stated that public feedback from the previous awards was very good and that people were pleased to be recognised for their good works. It was stated that holding the awards every 2 years was a sensible timeframe. The Chairman invited anyone with views or suggestions regarding the awards to speak to Cllr Henry. The Chairman thanked Cllr Henry for his work on the Community awards.

·         Housing Site Allocations – the consultation for Housing Site Allocations is open from July to September. Details regarding this could be found at: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/wiltshsgsiteallocationsplan.htm.

To receive updates from the Town and Parish Council Representatives, and from other partner organisations, including outside bodies on which the Area Board is represented.

·         Wiltshire Police

·         Fire and Rescue Service

·         Town and Parish Councils

·         Lovells

·         MOD

The Chairman referred to the updates set out in the agenda from Wiltshire Police and Fire & Rescue Services and invited further updates from Town/Parish Councils and other Partners, including outside bodies. 

·         PC Lucy Wileman, Community Coordinator, Wiltshire Police gave a brief overview of the written report and reminded the meeting to be vigilant. Cllr Westmoreland thanked the Police for their interesting report.

·         A representative of Durrington Parish Council gave details regarding the following:

o   A house fire had occurred in Durrington. Whilst the residents were safe and unhurt they were now homeless and in dire need of help. A ‘Go Fund Me’ page had been set up online for them. Cllr Wright stated that he would try to help with housing.

o   The Trussell Trust foodbank in Amesbury was now open from 2pm to 4pm.

o   The Amesbury Carnival was due to take place on 16 June.

·         A representative from Lovells stated that work was progressing well on all three sites. In response to questions the representative stated that no traffic works were imminent and that any offsite traffic works would be publicised in advance. Cllr Westmoreland suggested a visit to the sites from the Area Board at an appropriate time in the development, as the sites would result in considerable reshaping of the area and new communities. Lovells would liaise with Cllr Wright and Dave Roberts, Community Engagement Manager, to arrange this. Concerns were raised regarding a new roundabout, a review including a third party road safety audit was to take place. Cllr Wright thanked Lovells, stating that all the sites were clean and tidy and that staff were polite. Lovells were also thanked for the speed indication devices they had purchased for the community. 

A presentation from Maggie Mulhall, Electoral Services, on the proposals for electoral division and Local Government Boundary Commission consultation.

The Area Board received a presentation from Maggie Mulhall, AEA Consultant, Electoral Services about the Electoral Review being undertaken by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, (LGBCE) to determine both the overall number of councillors on the Council, and the pattern of divisions within the Council.

Ms Mulhall explained that the Review was required because 25 Divisions within Wiltshire had a variance from the average in the size of their electorate of more than 10%, and 2 Divisions had a variance from the average of over 30%. In particular Ms Mulhall referred to the current electorate for Amesbury and the projected electorate for 2024 along with the projected numbers for 2024 in each Parish.

The Area Board noted that the LGBCE draft recommendations for the number of Councillors for Wiltshire Council had been delayed. Once the draft recommendations had been released there would be a period of public consultation, prior to final recommendations from the LGBCE and Parliamentary approval. The review’s outcome, if implemented, would apply from the next elections in May 2021.

In response to questions Ms Mulhall stated that there may be changes to division boundaries in the Amesbury Area and that the Commission look at electoral equality first over everything else. Ms Mulhall stated that the size of the electorate was determined from electoral role data. In response to concerns that many military personnel may be registered elsewhere, Ms Mulhall stated that one is required to re-register every 5 years for the electoral role so more now register at their current address.  The LGBCE were attending a parish council day at County Hall on 15 June to give a presentation to the parishes. Members of the public and parish councils were encouraged to take part in the consultation when it starts.

A presentation by Cllr Wright and Cllr Henry on Working as One Team and Army Rebasing, especially the  implementation of the required Infrastructure and community cohesion.

Cllr Wright and Cllr Henry gave a presentation on Communities Together. The emphasis of the project was for all communities, particularly the military and civilian communities, to work together as one team in order to ensure that the army rebasing goes smoothly.

The army rebasing was well underway and all high level decisions had been made. A community covenant between the army and the council had been signed with the aim that army families are not disadvantaged in the community. There was funding available and the Area Board, via Communities Together would like to be able to tap into this. It was also suggested that networking events, such as coffee morning and sports events could be held in order to promote  community spirit.

Cllrs Wright and Henry would report back to the Area Board with updates as necessary.

To receive any updates.

Cllr Darren Henry gave a brief update regarding the Local Youth Network. The meeting of the LYN had been postponed due to the young people undertaking exams. There would be a meeting of the LYN prior to the next Area Board and so an update and any youth grants would be presented at the next Area Board meeting.

To receive any updates from the CATG.

Cllr Mike Hewitt gave a brief update on the CATG. The next CATG meeting was due to take place in June. There were still plenty of funds available in the budget to do works and people were encouraged to keep reporting issues.

      i.        General update

    ii.        Grants

Cllr Graham Wright gave an update on the Health and Wellbeing Group. The Amesbury Area Dementia Action Alliance (DAA) was launched on 21 May 2018 at Stonehenge visitor centre. The event went well with over 40 people signing up to become Dementia Friendly. Cllr Darren Henry thanked Cllr Graham Wright for his work on the DAA initiative, the launch was a superb day.

The grants, as detailed in the agenda report, were introduced. The Health and Wellbeing Group met on 30 April and on their recommendation it was;

Resolved:

To award the Wiltshire Music Centre £1,500 to support their ‘Celebrating Age’ work.

To award Farley’s Malone one half of the requested amount, i.e. £2,500, towards their Community Lunch Club, with a review in 3 months’ time.  During that period Jan Tidd was asked to draught a plan of action to show the future sustainability of the lunch scheme.  If this plan is accepted by the H&WB Group the final amount of £2,500 would be granted.

To determine the applications for Community Area Grant funding.

Applications to the Community Area Grants scheme were considered.

A member of Berwick St James Parish Council spoke in support of their application for a radar speed sign. The parish had an active speed watch group but in order to reduce speeding at all times a permanent sign was required.

A member of Allington with Boscombe Parish Council spoke in support of their application of £5,000 towards fitting out a community kitchen in their parish hall. The parish was one of only two in Wiltshire that does not have a village hall. They would be building a hall using section 106 funds and required further funds to furnish it.

Ben Edward, Chair of the Amesbury Community Theatre spoke in support of their application for funds to renovate equipment such as the sound and lighting systems.

It was;

Resolved:

To award the Berwick St James Parish Chairman £1087.20 towards a radar speed sign.

To award Allington with Boscombe Parish Council towards £5,000.00 towards furnishing their village hall kitchen.

To award Amesbury Community Theatre £1,133.18 towards theatre equipment renovation.

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

There were no urgent items.

The next meeting of the Amesbury Area Board will be held at 7pm on 19 July 2018 at Bulford Village Hall, Water Street, Bulford, Wiltshire, SP4 9DY.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Amesbury Area Board would be held at 7pm on 19 July 2018 at Bulford Village Hall, Water Street, Bulford, Wiltshire, SP4 9DY.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending.