Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Amesbury Area Board and thanked Antrobus House for hosting the meeting.

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

Apologies for absence had been received from:

Cllr Fred Westmoreland

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 3^rd December 2015

Decision

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 Dec 2015 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.

Public Transport Review

Your Care Your Support

Army Basing Briefing

The Chairman referred to the announcements included in the agenda pack and drew attention to copies of Budget meeting invitations circulated.

Eamon McClelland, Tenancy Participation Officer, will give a presentation on Local Housing Panels taking place in the Amesbury area.

Eamon McClelland, Tenancy Participation Officer, gave a presentation on local housing panels highlighting their main activities as creating the opportunity for Wiltshire Council tenants and leaseholders to meet and talk about the issues that matter to them. The quarterly meetings organised aim to encourage discussion in the community setting, sourcing support and funding for community projects and signposting to best sources of advice and information. Mr. McClelland emphasised that the meetings were an essential tool for building relationships with residents, resolving areas of concern and for residents to be involved in building better communities for themselves and their families. Areas of involvement identified included issues relating to parking, landscape maintenance, highways issues, waste and recycling and anti-social behaviour.

Mr. McClelland mentioned that 34 meetings had been organised across the County so far, with 600 tenants attending. He noted that Amesbury Area Board has been very responsive to any problems raised or assistance asked for.  Instances cited included addressing speeding problems on particular stretches of the town, ensuring a visible police presence at night and considering issues on changes to street signage.

Some members cited instances where personal issues reported had been quickly resolved and commended the team for the work being done.   Councillor Hewitt asked for the channels of communication to be clarified so that direct contact with the team was encouraged.  Councillor Wright also noted that giving residents and community partners adequate notice of activities would ensure better engagement and participation.

The Chairman invited 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

The general overview of policing in the Amesbury area was given by Sector Commander Inspector Christian Lange.

He noted that the general picture across the county and in Amesbury was that violent crimes were up and thefts down and assured the meeting that this was being closely monitored and addressed.

He also mentioned that complaints received about the reckless driving of 4x4 vehicles and quad bikes on the Salisbury Plain were being taken seriously and the police are clamping down on offenders and issuing tickets.

Concerns expressed by the Neighbourhood Tasking Group regarding the supply of drugs to minors was another issue being tackled and Inspector Lange informed the meeting about plans to establish a drug forfeiture fund  and the uses it would be put to.  A £12.5m grant application for the drug forfeiture fund had been put through to the Tidworth Town Council and Area Board and would also be submitted to the Amesbury Area Board for consideration.

Inspector Lange mentioned that his last day in office would be 27 March 2016 and Members, Partners and Residents took turns in thanking him for a job well done with the elderly, the youth café, general community policing and attending almost every Area Board meeting. He noted that there was an ongoing reorganisation and Inspector Mintry would be looking after Salisbury and Amesbury until a substantive appointment was made in July/August 2016.

The Chairman drew attention to other written reports in the agenda submitted by the Fire Service, NHS and other partners.

The Police and Crime Commissioner will present on proposals on the precept consultation for the forthcoming financial year.

Angus Macpherson, Police and Crime Commissioner for Wiltshire and Swindon, gave a presentation on the Policing and Crime element of council tax consultation. He informed the meeting that 38% of police income was based on council tax with the bulk of funding coming from grants. The Commissioner noted that the current Band D council tax for policing of £163.98 per household was the lowest in the region and the proposed increase of £3.12 per household per year would provide an additional funding of £760,000 in 2016-17. He revealed that even with this increase, the revised tax of £167.10 remained well below the 2015-16 national average of £174.81.

He noted that there was a £300,000 shortfall in funding from Government that needed to be met especially with the increasing staffing costs emerging from changes in employer national insurance contributions and that the planned rebasing of the allocation of funding to counties by government could be favourable to Wiltshire.

Cllr Noeken highlighted possible anti-social behaviour that could arise in Amesbury with the relocation of Army personnel and called for extra resources to be provided to ensure that crime levels in the community www.wiltshire-pcc.gov.uk

To receive an update from the LYN and consider any applications for youth funding

There were no grant applications to be considered.

Jenny Bowley gave a verbal update on LYN activities. She informed the meeting that:

1. Questionnaires on what young people in local schools and colleges wanted to be involved in had been circulated and were being compiled.
2. She noted that there had been an increase in campaigns providing support services such as assisting with DBS checks, providing policy advice and establishing a database of activities in the community that could be shared and networked to bring people together.
3. The first set of activities for the SPLASH project would go live during the February 2016 half term and engagement work being done in Shrewton had had a positive response with 15 young people attending the first meeting.

Cllr Hewitt noted that there were young people in some rural villages on the other side of A303 who also needed to be reached.

The Chief Fire Officer or his representative will give a presentation on how the new Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service will operate when it comes into force in April 2016.

John Aldridge, Deputy Chief Fire Officer of Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service informed the meeting that on 1st April 2016 the Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service would replace the two existing services in Dorset and Wiltshire. He shared the vision of the new service as being “passionate about changing and saving lives” and outlined the main areas of priority in a video presentation as helping people to make safer and healthier choices, protecting people and the environment from harm, being there when needed and making every penny count.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer revealed that there was a funding gap of £7m due to government cuts hence the need for amalgamation of services. He noted that it was unlikely that a new fire station would be set up in Amesbury but did not expect the level of service to diminish as the quickest avenues of resources were being used for the benefit of the community.

Councillor Noeken raised concerns about resources available to the Fire Service in meeting demand given the increase in houses being built all over the community. He sought reassurances from the Fire Service and asked about what role the Area Board could play to support the Service.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer responded that there was a need to change the model and way in which service was delivered without necessarily compromising the quality of service and that 85% of calls from Dorset and Wiltshire were dealt with by people working on a part time or volunteer basis. He noted that this trend was likely to increase and immense support would be needed from the community with more and more local people being encouraged to become fire fighters.

To determine the applications for Community Area Grant funding.

The Area Board considered applications for community grant funding to support positive activities in the community and agreed the resolution detailed below.

 Resolved:

·       To grant Brambles Pre School £5,000 towards a Building Buy

·       To grant Avon Valley College £4,930 towards a wheelchair   basketball club

·       To grant God Unlimited  £5,000  towards installing solar electric lighting.

·       To grant Milston PC £1,000 towards  the replacement of stiles with kissing gates or a 5 bar gates

·       To grant Durrington Neighbour Tasking Group   £5000 towards bespoke signage and the Park Properly Campaigns for local schools

Update from the CEM on any local issues.

The Community Engagement Officer highlighted key events coming up in the year. These included events commemorating the Queen’s 90^th birthday celebrations and sporting events and challenges to improve health and wellbeing.

In response to a question about the availability of funding for organising events like street parties, the CEM responded that Town Councils and groups intending to organise events needed to register quickly to help determine the level of funding that would be required. It was suggested that a standard amount should be decided and awarded to all parishes.

To explore options for the Good Neighbour Scheme when the contract expires in March 2016.

The Chairman informed the meeting that the Area Board had not been fully briefed about what was happening with the GNS and what could or couldn’t be done. The Board was keen to ensure that the service continued.  He noted that the Area Board did not have the capacity to employ and was aware of the high level of concern within the community.

The Area Board would confer with Wiltshire Council regarding options available for resolving this.

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

A report would be submitted after the next scheduled meeting in February 2016.

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

There were no urgent items to consider.

The next meeting of the Amesbury Area Board will be held on 24 March 2016 at Figheldean Village Hall at 7.00 p.m.

The next meeting of the Amesbury Area Board would be held at 7pm on 24 March 2016 at Figheldean Village Hall, Pollen Lane, Figheldean, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP4 8JR.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending.