Agenda and minutes

The Chairman will welcome Councillor Stuart Wheeler, Cabinet Representative for Leisure, Sport and Culture.

The Chairman welcomed the meeting to Ashton Keynes Village Hall and thanked Dave Sheppard for setting up the room and Guy Bridge for providing hospitality. The Chairman welcomed Councillor Wheeler, Cabinet Representative for Leisure, Sport and Culture.

Apologies for absence were received from Peter Campaigne (Norton and Foxley Parish Council), Miranda Ford (Athelstan Museum), Roger Lee (St Paul Malmesbury Without Parish Council), Rachel Miles (Malmesbury Town Council), Martin Rea (Sherston Parish Council), John Tremayne (Easton Grey Parish Council) and Jeremy White (Crudwell Village Hall Committee).

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 11 November 2009.

The minutes of the meeting held on 11 November 2009 were approved and signed as a correct record.

Councillors are requested to declare any personal or prejudicial interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

The Chairman announced that a health fair would be held at Malmesbury Town Hall on Saturday 6 February from 10-13.30. Posters and invitations for the event were available from the Community Area Manager.

Following the recent weather, Wiltshire Council’s highways team was working round the clock to repair damaged roads in the county. The meeting was encouraged to report serious potholes to CLARENCE on 0800 232323 and they would be filled in as soon as possible. Wiltshire Council was also refilling grit bins, in case of more severe weather in the coming weeks.

 
Councillor Seed had replaced Councillor Greenman as Chairman of the Northern Operational Flood Working Group. A reminder was given that when flooding problems were anticipated or experienced, Parish Councils should in the first instance contact CLARENCE, on the number above.    

A short DVD will be played providing information on Wiltshire Council’s budget setting process 2010-2011. This will be followed by a public participation session to collect views on how Council services should be prioritised.

Jacqui White, Wiltshire Council Service Director, introduced a DVD which provided information about the Council’s budget consultation. The DVD included the following main points:

• Where Wiltshire Council funding came from
• How Wiltshire Council spent funding
• Challenges faced by the county
• Plans for the future
• Savings resulting from the transition to One Council
• Challenges faced by the Council.

Those at the meeting were invited to complete a voting card which would be used to inform the budget setting process. Voting cards could be returned to the Freepost address below if more time was wanted to complete them:

Wyman-Dylan, FREEPOST (BS 7607), Bristol, BS35 3YA.

Further information on this subject was available from Martin Donovan, the Service Director for Finance and Procurement:

Tel: 01225 703600, E-mail: martin.donovan@wiltshire.gov.uk.

To receive updates from the following partners:

a)    Wiltshire Police

b)    Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service

c)    NHS Wiltshire

d)    Malmesbury and the Villages Community Area Partnership

e)    Town and Parish Councils.

The Chairman drew attention to the written updates from partners included with the agenda papers and invited questions from the floor.

a)    Mr Bridge from Ashton Keynes Parish Council asked why no mention had been made of Ashton Keynes in the update from Wiltshire Police. Inspector Cox answered that the update covered neighbourhood priorities and issues on which a number of reports had been received. The relevant Neighbourhood Policing Team also covered eight parishes.

Mr Matthews from Sherston Parish Council stated that he was willing and able to set up a Farm Watch Scheme in the local area. Inspector Cox would arrange to put Mr Matthews in touch with the appropriate Officer.

b)    The written update from Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service was noted.

c)    Mr Chapman from Dauntsey Parish Council asked why Dauntsey were excluded from the new NHS dentist. Councillor Sturgis answered that all villages in the Community Area, including Dauntsey, would be included. Councillor Sturgis urged people to visit the Primary Care Centre in Malmesbury to sign up to the new dentist.

d)    Malmesbury and the Villages Community Area Partnership apologised for not providing a written update for the meeting. The first meeting of the steering group would be held on Tuesday 2 February at the Kings Arms in Malmesbury, at which copies of the community plan would be available.

e)    Ashton Keynes Parish Council had been involved in the Flood Working Group with North Wiltshire District Council and wanted regular involvement to continue. Councillor Sturgis replied that there had been a tail off in attendance with the arrangement. Councillor Seed was leading a new set up to address specific flooding issues. Work agreed by the original Flood Working Group was ongoing and parishes would be invited to attend meetings when they were relevant.

Councillor Doody from Malmebury Town Council thanked the Area Board for funding a moveable chair lift in the Town Hall. She asked for an issue submitted regarding the slow decline of shopping in Malmesbury (issue number 435) to be kept alive and this was agreed.       

Councillor Wheeler will provide a short overview of leisure provision in the county. There will then be the opportunity to ask questions regarding his Cabinet responsibility for Leisure, Sport and Culture.

Councillor Wheeler provided a short overview of leisure provision in the county and the Leisure Review. Main points included:

·         Leisure facilities and management styles inherited from the former districts

·         Progress on the Leisure Review - Area Boards would be a platform for consultation and results would be available from Summer 2010

·         Visitor trends - there were £3.2 million visitors to leisure facilities in 08/09, up 11% on the previous year

·         Aims for the future - for people to do 30 minutes of exercise at least 3 times a week, using affordable, safe, well managed facilities in the Community Area.

Councillor Wheeler was asked about public transport to and from facilities. This was being considered as part of the review.

Mr Rogers from Oaksey Parish Council asked whether facilities which crossed the county boundary were being looked into, such as encouraging people to use the Cotswold Water Park. Councillor Wheeler assured that improved cross boundary working would be part of the review.       

The Burnham House Working Group will provide an update on their work regarding the former residential care home.

James Cawley, Service Director, provided an update on the work of the Burnham House Working Group regarding the former residential care home. The Working Group was established following the Area Board meeting held on 19 November 2008. The Working Group had met on three occasions and agreed on 1 December 2009 to support a recommendation that the former Burnham House site should be considered for a new Extra Care development. The next steps would be for Wiltshire Council to consider how best a feasibility study for the site could be developed, which would be likely to take in the region of 6-9 months.

Decision

The Area Board support the recommendation of the Burnham House Working Group to examine the feasibility of developing an Extra Care Housing scheme at the former Burnham House care home site.

Decision

The Area Board would receive an update on the feasibility study to a meeting in September 2010.

Decision

The Area Board thanked all the participants of the Working Group and formally asked the Working Group to continue to meet to progress the feasibility study.

Mr Cawley invited questions from the floor. Continuity in who would be living in the accommodation would be ensured as a person would not be able to buy the freehold of a property, but buy the leasehold, so that accommodation would be retained for people who meet the criteria of the scheme.

The scheme would link with Athelstan House, as the House would deliver care into this facility. This would be a cost effective option for Wiltshire Council and for patients.  

Security was in place to prevent deterioration of the site and awareness of it being empty was being kept low. Mr Cawley would report back to the Area Board options for potential interim use.  

Councillors will provide an update on the community issues that have been submitted and resolved and those on which work is ongoing.

The Chairman drew attention to the community issues log circulated with the agenda papers and reminded the meeting of the issues process and how issues could be logged and tracked on the Wiltshire Council website.

Councillors will be asked to consider the Community Area Grants Report and make recommendations on the applications received.

Consideration was given to the seven funding applications made to the Community Area Grants Scheme.

Decision

Malmesbury River Valleys Trust were awarded £875 to purchase an exhibition banner, notice board and restore a flower meadow.   

Peterborough Arms Cricket Club were awarded £525 towards the purchase of a wicket mower, conditional on the balance of funding being in place.

Ashton Keynes Youth Football Club were awarded £1,600towards the purchase and installation of a storage shed, conditional on the balance of funding being in place.

Minety Lawn Tennis Club were awarded £1,183 towards the cost of coaching local primary aged children, conditional on the balance of funding being in place and a guarantee that the applicant and local schools work with the Sports Development Manager to ensure ongoing support and sustainability of this project. The decision not to fully fund this application was set out in 8.5.6 of the Community Area Grants Report.

Malmesbury and the Villages Community Area Partnership were awarded an ‘in principle’ sum of £1,734, towards the cost of installing aerials to improve monitoring of the CCTV cameras in Malmesbury, conditional on Malmesbury Town Council taking on full responsibility of operating CCTV in the town. Councillor Doody reported that Malmesbury Town Council would take ownership of CCTV as it stood.

Charlton Recreation Centrewere awarded £1,500 towards the purchase of a replacement gang mower, conditional on the balance of the funding being in place.

Reason

The above applications met the Community Area Grant Criteria for 2009/10.

Friends of Athelstan Museum were not awarded funding towards a community reach out programme, due to concerns over the structure of the bid. Councillor Killane would work with the museum, which was advised to bring a revised application back to the Area Board meeting on 12 May 2010. 

Two expressions of interest have been received:

·         Sherston Old School Project

·         CCTV coverage for Station Yard Car Park, Malmesbury.

Sherston Old School Project

The project objective is to purchase, renovate and convert for community and commercial use the Sherston Old School to provide expanded facilities for the Post Office and provide community and commercial premises. In the longer term it is hoped this will also include a new pre-school facility, serviced small offices for local employment and a rural hub to access local services.  Funding to purchase the property has already been obtained; however funding is now sought from the Performance Reward Grant Scheme to assist the necessary renovations to the building and to enable occupation by the Post Office. Due to the current financial climate, it has been considered prudent to approach the fitting out of the building under a phased programme.  This application is made on behalf of the Old School Company (A Community Interest Company).

CCTV coverage for Station Yard Car Park, Malmesbury

The project objective is to provide CCTV coverage in Station Yard car park, to discourage any anti-social behaviour and instil local confidence in the car park for day time and evening use. In recent years this car park has been perceived as a problem area and as a result has lighter use than would be expected, where access to car parking is at a premium. CCTV coverage would hopefully reduce the concerns of local people and result in greater use.  It would also reduce the need for regular police controls. This application is made on behalf of Malmesbury & Villages Community Area Partnership. The same concerns expressed elsewhere in the agenda regarding the need for Malmesbury CCTV system to be owned and operated by the Town Council are reiterated here. 

The Malmesbury Area Board Committee was asked to consider two expressions of interest in the Performance Reward Grant Scheme.

The Sherston Old School Project objective was to purchase, renovate and convert for community and commercial use the Sherston Old School to provide expanded facilities for the Post Office and provide community and commercial premises. In the longer term it was hoped this would also include a new pre-school facility, serviced small offices for local employment and a rural hub to access local services.

Decision

To endorse the bid for Performance Reward Grant Scheme funding for the Sherston Old School Project to go forward for consideration.    

The objective of the project to provide CCTV coverage for Station Yard Car Park in Malmesbury was to provide CCTV coverage, to discourage any anti social behaviour and instill local confidence in the car park for day time and evening use. In recent years this car park had been perceived as a problem area and as a result had lighter use than would be expected, where access to car parking was at a premium. CCTV coverage would hopefully reduce the concerns of local people and result in greater use. It would also reduce the need for regular police controls.

Decision

Malmesbury Area Board would defer consideration of the CCTV coverage for Station Yard Car Park expression of interest in the Performance Reward Grant Scheme.    

This was because Wiltshire Police were conducting a major review of the CCTV systems that were in place across the county, looking into the standards that would need to be met by new provision and having a single maintenance contract across the county. The Chairman advised the Committee would reconsider the expression of interest after the Wiltshire Police report had been produced.

The results of the earlier exercise to identify priority spending areas for Wiltshire Council.

The results of the meeting’s earlier vote on Wiltshire Council’s spending priorities were fed back and the Chairman thanked those who participated. A scoring system had been used to analyse the results looking at whether more, the same or less should be spent on different services. A short analysis had found that the services which respondents most frequently said they wanted more money spent on were:

·         Maintaining the existing road network

·         Adult social care for older people

·         Youth services

·         Adult social care for people with mental / physical disabilities.

The services that respondents most commonly said they would like less money spent on were:

·         Archives or public records

·         Museums and galleries

·         Road safety

·         Planning.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending the meeting and answered remaining questions from the floor.

The next meeting would be held on Wednesday 3 March 2010 at 7pm at Crudwell Village Hall, with refreshments available from 6.30pm.