Agenda and minutes

The Vice-Chairman, Cllr Mike Hewitt was in the chair.

Cllr Hewitt welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Amesbury Area Board and thanked Antrobus House for holding the meeting for hosting the meeting.

He welcomed Cllr Johnathon Seed, Cabinet Member for Area Boards

Apologies for absence had been received from Cllr John Smale.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 19 September 2013.

Decision

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 September 2013 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.

5a      Pest Control Update

          An update from the Pest Control Team

5b      Community Area Joint Strategic Assessments

          Details of the launch of the Community Area Joint Strategic Assessments

5c      What matters to you survey

          Drawing attention to the resident’s ‘What matters to you’ survey

5d      Carers small grant scheme

          Announcing the launch of the next round of the Carer’s small grant scheme

5e      State of the Environment report

          To note the publication of the report.

5f       NHS 111 Service

          An update on the NHS 111 service.

The Vice-Chairman drew attention to the following announcements contained in the agenda pages 15 to 26:

a.     Pest Control Update

b.     Community area Joint Strategic Assessments

c.     What matters to you survey

d.     Carers small grant scheme

e.     State of the Environment report

f.      NHS 111 Service

He also drew attention to the Drainage Byelaws announcement that was circulated at the meeting, and is attached to these minutes.

An update on the A303 / rat-running issues

A letter had been sent to Mr John Glen and Mrs Clare Perry MP, as seen on pages 27 and 28 of the agenda.

An email had been sent to request changes to the markings at the Longbarrow roundabout, and a metrocount request logged. Traffic through Larkhill was also being counted. Surveys would be over a period of time it was hoped that the report would inform the way forward.

There had been a meeting with the Highways Agency regarding Shrewton, which specifically discussed the weight limit and was looking at changing the limit to 7.5 tons. Inspector Lange confirmed this would be enforceable in the same way as all other regulations.

There was concern over the bad bend at the East London Road junction in Shrewton. A concealed entrance sign had been asked for but it did not fit the criteria. It needed a junction sign and slow painted on the road if possible.

The Vice-Chairman confirmed receipt of a response from John Glen MP to the Board’s letter. Mr Glen confirmed he was following the issue and was working with local people, including the Stonehenge Traffic Action Group, Amesbury Town Council and other parish representatives. He would continue to ensure that the matter was high on the agenda of the roads minister. A study of the options for improving the congestion issues associated with the A303, not just for Wiltshire, but other counties in the south west, is taking place and hopefully would report with recommendations by the end of the year. He had met with Wiltshire Council Highways Officers to discuss the need for improved signage and highways improvements. He had received confirmation from the roads minister that additional signing and marking will be installed on Longbarrow roundabout to alleviate some of the issues being encountered.

An update on the Army Re-basing plans.

The Boards attention was drawn to update on page 29 of the agenda.

The informal briefing scheduled for 20 November 2013 would now take place on the 27 November at the Wellington Academy, and exhibitions would be held in public areas until 6 December where comments would be sought. Parish councils confirmed they had received notification of the change of date. The meeting would provide reassurance and more detail. The army was learning through the process and it was important to ensure the appropriate infrastructure was supporting the local villages.

An update on the progress of the Kings Gate development.

Steve Llewellyn gave a detailed presentation on the community benefits from King’s Gate and Archer’s Gate developments. It gave a summary of the facilities and infrastructure that have been secured from these developments for the benefit of the communities both within the development and the wider Amesbury area. 

Within the Archer’s Gate development there was a local centre which comprised of a convenience store that is occupied by Co-op and four smaller retail units that are currently occupied by Barnados, a hairdressers, a Chinese and Thai take-away and a fish and chip shop. There are six residential units above these shops that provide a degree of natural surveillance of the site to discourage anti-social behaviour. In addition there was a public house and the Bowman Centre, a community building that offers a modern and functional facility for use by residents of the Archer’s Gate development but also the wider Amesbury community and includes a main hall, separate meeting/function rooms and a kitchen. A total of 79 parking spaces had been provided. There are also two plots within the local centre that are currently vacant. The Local Centre offers services and facilities locally, especially for those people that may be less mobile and that have difficulties accessing the facilities in the town centre. It also serves as a focal point within the development for the community.

Amesbury Archer School had been built to both ensure provision of an available school from the first occupation of the dwellings and accommodate children that reside outside the Archer’s Gate development.

Two full size adult football pitches and a cricket pitch were provided together with a pavilion/changing facility with an associated car park that provided 44 parking spaces.

The development included the provision of a toddler’s play area of 100m2 and a junior play area of 400m2 that provided play areas with high quality and modern equipment; promote a healthy and active lifestyle for children and provide a safe place for children to play. There were substantial areas of open space that provided opportunities for dog walking and new areas for recreation. Land had been provided for a new cemetery, and a financial contribution was given towards the improvement of public transport facilities which had helped fund the Amesbury Hoppa bus service.

The King’s Gate development had provided additional classrooms to the primary school, a contribution towards secondary education provision and facilities, up to 40% affordable housing provision and 2.4 hectares of land for a 60-bed extra care facility. Contributions had also been made towards the provision of essential infrastructure for the Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, public art and public transport. Equipped children’s play areas and a country park had also been provided, and the local community’s wishes were also accounted for with contributions towards allotments, a cultural/heritage facility and a skate park.

Future phases of the King’s Gate development would provide the opportunity for the local community to identify the community-related facilities and infrastructure that it would like to see and suggestions  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To introduce Mark Harris, CCG manager for Sarum and the work of the CCG, with a short talk on being prepared for winter.

Mark Harris, Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Manager for Sarum gave a presentation on the work of the CCG.

The CCG is a clinically led body responsible for commissioning services for the people of South Wiltshire, similar to the Primary Care Trust. There are 3 locality groups which focused efforts on addressing local needs.

The services they commission were based around the patient, addressing prevention and promotion. They hoped to move people away from hospitals, community hospitals and other support beds and bring care closer to home.

A question was raised on what provision was in place for the elderly, those being discharged and returning to houses that were not warm, aired or lived in. Mark explained that the simple single point of access would co-ordinate with other services to react to this. There was an historic deficiency with resources in south Wiltshire which was being addressed.

When asked what relationship the chat worker would have with the care co-ordinator Mark explained that they would work alongside each other, with the chat worker focus being on helping people access voluntary services and the care co-ordinator focus on more at risk or acute cases.

A verbal update from the Community Area Manager on local issues.

Karen Linaker, Amesbury Community Area Manager gave a verbal update on local issues.

Speeding concerns on Boscombe Road would be followed up with a metrocount request and SID / speedwatch solutions looked in to. This would be reported back to the next Board meeting.

The volume of traffic at Porton Road, Solstice Park would be looked into.

Concern was raised over the A36 at Stapleford, with reports of recent near misses and rear end shunts near the garage and pub. It was requested that there were double white lines to stop overtaking and the speed limit was reduced from 40mph to 30mph. These requests would be passed to the appropriate people.

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.

Ruth Underwood reported a proposed planning application to create mental health hub in Bakehouse Lane, which would overturn the application to demolish.

Mary Towle from Durrington Town Council reported that the KFC Kids Club, which had been supported by an Area Board grant, was going from strength to strength. The grant had bought an air hockey and football table.

Andy Cole drew attention to the MyWiltshire app which enabled users to log issues by phone.

Inspector Lange noted the written update seen at page 33 and 34 of the agenda. Crime figures were 3.4% down. Anti-social behaviour linked to the night time economy had seen a significant improvement through the work of the Amesbury CAB Crime Community Safety working group and partners. It was road safety week this week, and attention was drawn to the significant increase in pedestrian casualties aged between 10 and 11 years old. It was possible that this could be attributed to having their first mobile phone and all were asked to highlight the dangers of this.

In response to a question about cameras in cars he explained that, whilst it was not for him to advise he was aware of it happening in other countries and it potentially could be used to enforce.

Janet Tidd, Good Neighbour co-ordinator informed the Board of two successful lunches held for the over 60’s and isolated, one of which was attended by Wiltshire Radio. She had launched one today at the Rose and Crown in Bulford, and a volunteer had been recruited to help out in that area.

She asked anyone who knew of pubs willing to offer subsided meals or people benefits to contact her.

To receive updates from the following:

·       Community Facilities, Health and Well-Being

·       Crime and Community Safety

·       Sport, Leisure and Culture

·       Environment

·       Housing, Economic Development, Planning and Tourism

The written updates contained on pages 35 – 40 of the agenda were noted.

Cllr Noeken noted the reduction in anti-social behaviour in the town centre and thanked all involved.

A question was asked about the waste charges for bins and they were told that the charges were thought to start at 1 April 2014 but no costs were known at present.

A presentation from Councillor Wright on speeding.

Cllr Wright presented the conclusions of the work of the speeding working group in trialling speed reduction initiatives at Larkhill.

The most effective measure was found to be speedwatch with police attendance and speed indicator devices, followed by physical traffic calming, particularly speed humps and SID’s .

He invited questions to be addressed to him and was happy to visit all 22 parishes to give the presentation if requested.

Andy Cole confirmed that there were 6 more speed guns available from Wiltshire Council however he was not sure if these were to be allocated across the county.

Inspector Lange thanked Cllr Wright and the speedwatch working group. He noted the need to manage expectations on the support local officers can give.

A report from the Community Area Transport Group.

The Vice-Chairman drew attention to the report contained at pages 41 to 44 of the agenda. He said the next meeting of the CATG would be on the 4 December 2013, 2pm at Bourne Hill.

They had been advised that the crossing at Porton Road, Amesbury previously agreed as a toucan should be a puffin crossing.

The SID deployment programme could be found on page 51 of the agenda

Decision:

i.                 The Board noted the update report

ii.               The Board confirmed support for the positioning of the puffin crossing on Porton Road, Amesbury – location 3, appendix 2 to the report

iii.             The Board confirmed support for the updated SID Deployment Programme seen at appendix 3 to the report

At the Vice-Chairman’s invitation, Councillor John Noeken, Lead member for Grants, introduced this item.

Decision

St Thomas  Becket School, Tilshead was awarded £1500 towards fencing and ground work for new playing field.

Reason - The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2013/14

Decision

Amesbury & Boscombe Down Link Scheme was awarded £5000 towards a new fully accessible vehicle.

Reason - The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2013/14

Decision

Shrewton Shines was awarded £2125 towards their WW1 Commemoration event.

Reason - The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2013/14

Decision

Woodford Parish Council was awarded £1000 towards repairs to the play area in the recreation ground.

Reason - The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2013/14

Decision

Steeple Langford Parish Council was awarded £203.40 towards rubber matting to surround equipment in the village play park.

Reason - The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2013/14

Decision

St Michael’s Primary School, Figheldean was awarded £480 towards an outdoor shelter (den).

Reason - The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2013/14

Decision

Bourne Valley Day Centre was awarded £346 towards the hire of a coach for a Christmas trip.

Reason - The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2013/14

Decision

Woodford Village Hall Committee was awarded £500 towards new audio visual equipment.

Reason - The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2013/14

Decision

Woodford Village Hall Committee was awarded £480 towards broadband, WIFI and mobile phone.

Reason - The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2013/14

Decision

Smiley Face Nursery, Amesbury was awarded £500 towards new outdoor equipment.

Reason - The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2013/14

Decision

Durrington Walls Wind Band was awarded £500 towards new percussion instruments.

Reason - The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2013/14

Decision

Bourne Valley Historical Society was awarded £298 towards digital archiving.

Reason - The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2013/14

Decision

Bourne Valley Link Scheme was awarded £480 towards refresher St John’s Ambulance first aid training.

Reason - The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2013/14

Decision

Steeple Langford Allotment Trustees was awarded £429 towards a new mower for allotments.

Reason - The application met the Community Area Grants Criteria 2013/14

(ACTION: Karen Linaker)

To note the attached Forward Work Plan.

The next meeting of the Amesbury Area Board will be held on Thursday, 30 January 2014, 7.00 pm at Winterbourne Glebe Hall, Winterbourne Earls, Salisbury SP4 6HA.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Amesbury Area Board would be held on 30 January 2014, 7pm at Winterbourne Glebe Hall, Winterbourne Earls, Salisbury SP4 6HA.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending.