Agenda and minutes

The Chairman, Cllr Richard Britton welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Southern Wiltshire Area Board.

Apologies for absence were received from:

• Fire & Rescue – Paul Webber
• Item 9, Credit Union - Mr Henry

To approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 6^th September 2018.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 6^th September 2018 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 none.

The Chairman made the following announcements:

• The move of the meeting day from Thursday to Wednesday this time had been in order to avoid conflicting with the Wiltshire Council consultation event being held tomorrow in Salisbury.
• Agenda item 9, Credit Union, apologies from the speaker Mr Henry. Instead the Board would have an item on the upcoming Armed Forces Day in Salisbury.
• Area Board funding for 2019/20 – There had been an indication that funding levels for the next financial year would be unchanged and may even increase in some areas.
• SIDs – the AB had a SID which was deployed on a rota basis. Now Landford and Whiteparish had come together to buy their own, so those two villages would be taken out of the AB rota. The Board had also had notification of an individual who may be able to provide a service for the deployment of the SID device. He was located in the Test Valley area, and was working for Hampshire Council, to install SIDs elsewhere. The Board now had an opportunity to review whether it currently had the best set up for SID installation, or whether taking advantage of this new person to carry out the work may be of advantage.

Under auspices of CATG should bring it back – in the meantime we will look at whether there is still the requirement in our areas, and whether those involved were still happy with the Riverbourne service. The Board wished to encourage where possible, villages to go down the same route as Whiteparish and Landford, to share SIDs with fewer others.

·       Fire & Rescue Service

·       Wiltshire Council Updates

·       Healthwatch Wiltshire

·       CCG

·       There are no new consultations this time, but to keep up to date between meetings follow the link:

http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council/consultations.htm

The Board noted the following written updates attached to the agenda:

·       Fire & Rescue

·       Wiltshire Council Updates

·       Healthwatch Wiltshire

·       Clinical Commissioning Group

With regards to the banning of the release of Chinese lanterns on Wiltshire Council land - There was the suggestion that Parish Councils may wish to follow the lead to apply the ban to their land also.

a) Parish Councils and Community groups

b) Community Policing – local issues and priorities

·       Community Policing report - Nov

·       Police response to theft and criminal damage

In attendance: Inspector Pete Sparrow or PC Matt Holland

Community Policing – Acting Inspector John Hutchings

Simon Nash – PCSO also in attendance.

Attention was drawn to the written report in the agenda. Wiltshire Police were supporting the ‘Movember’ initiative, which was an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men's health issues. The force hoped to raise money for the charity and welcomed any donations.

Friday 30^th November would see a 100km row at Salisbury Leisure Centre, where Officers and staff would be rowing for 10 hours straight. They would also be challenging people to join in and compete against the Officers.

In the south of the county it had been very busy since the last report. At the last meeting I promised to endeavour to provide a Police presence at any community event you asked us to attend. We have delivered 100% on that. We would continue that commitment, and we would still focus on our visibility. Rural patrols in the rural areas had also been increased.

Special Constables had been amazing, providing 63k hours of community service across the county, with 5.5k hours here in the south. Whatever the teams are working on, the Specials were at the heart of what we do, and we could not manage without them.

Questions:

·       It had been reported that Wiltshire has the worst record for numbers of Officers per heads of population. Answer: The PCC has struggled over the last 2 years to get the funding in our favour. We are seeing from national crime statistics this week that we are being treated unfairly. However we are doing our very best to respond to calls for service. Our Officers are very committed to community policing and do give above and beyond.

·       Fly tipping – your report mentions 10 perpetrators were being questioned, was this as a result of the AB camera? Answer: Cannot tell you that but as of the result of the incident at Lode Hill we have caught up with 10 other people of interest. It was not a Policing led issue, but an environment issue which we supported. Chairman: I remain of the view that an actual prosecution would act as a deterrent

·       Downton has had issues, thank you for your support, however the Neighbourhood Policing Task Group has not taken place for some time. We used to have four meetings a year, covering a large area. This enabled a good means of two-way communication, could these meetings be started up again? Answer: I agree that these are a benefit to the community, however these are community led, so if you start them up, we will support it.

·       What do you mean by community? Answer: Usually a PC and some members of the community. Touch base with PC Matt Holland.

·       In August you had targeted patrols in Shrewton on the B3086 to monitor HGVs, we have the same problem in Downton but do not seem to have any patrols. Answer:  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

An update from Cllr Richard Clewer

Cllr Richard Clewer gave an update on the Boundary Review.

We have to re-determine all of the boundaries across Wiltshire, to fall 10% either side of the population figure of 4263. Work had been carried out to make proposals in terms of that. There would be a consultation on the proposed boundaries from Feb 5^th 2019 – 15^th April 2019, with a final recommendation being published on 2^nd July.

The Commission now needs information from people and groups across Wiltshire to help it to produce new divisions boundaries to accommodate 98 councillors.The Boundary commission would take further submissions.

We should try and set longevity to our proposals. The Full Council meeting in October detailed all of the proposals, this is available to view online.

Cllr Clewer also pointed out that all WC Councillors had been sent the information on the proposed divisions before the Full Council meeting and that almost all councillors had talked to the Electoral Review Committee regarding the proposed boundaries in their areas.

The Chairman noted that it had been a very tricky job to calculate the areas.

Questions and comments included:

·       Firsdown Parish Council was extremely disappointed at the proposal. The Boundary Commission was surprised that we had not been advised either before or during the figures were put together. The Boundary Commission want to know what the parishes think. Answer: We as WC were simply consultees in the process and we were instructed not to                    go to parishes. This is simply our response to the consultation. Historically the second phase tends to be tidying up not making major changes. Strictly speaking it is for Parliament to approve the final arrangements.

·       Cllr Devine - I stood up and accused the council of gerrymandering on this, I was not consulted on this. Answer: The Chairman noted that Cllr Devine had been consulted, and that he had had the same chances as all the other councillors to comment.

·       Cllr Devine - I did not respond to the email, so I did not get consulted. We now have a final map, where Winterslow and Firsdown are linked with Alderbury and I was told that we would still be 30 short in the division. Answer: Chairman - You should bear in mind that you will need to come up with a solution for the rest of the county if you wish to dispute the proposals. Cllr Clewer - You were invited to a meeting and you were reminded about the meeting, you did not attend.

·       The report we have now is totally different to the proposals mentioned at a previous meeting in Coombe Bissett. I think we were misled at that briefing meeting. Answer: We did not know the numbers of councillors we were going to get at that point.

·       Would there be changes to the parish councils? Answer: There would be no changes to parish councils – it will change the internal warding of large parishes like Melksham.

Clive Henly, who is Chairman, Wiltshire and Swindon Credit Union, will explain what a credit union is. How credit unions are organised in Wiltshire and will illustrate their work with some local anonymous case studies?

This item was cancelled as the speaker was unable to attend.

The CEM used this time to present information on the National Armed Forces Day (NAFD) due to take place in Salisbury 28^th – 30^th June 2019.

NAFD was a three-day programme, comprising of an Armed Forces family event, a community day with a parade and air show and a veterans and young person’s day. The event was likely to attract over 250,000 people over the three days.

Schedule of events over the three days are:

Friday 28 June – Armed forces personnel and family event 

•        Children’s activities and entertainment

•        Barbecue – celebrity chef

•        Live entertainment – concert

•        Gala dinner

Saturday 29 June – Community day 

•        VVIPs in attendance

•         Armed forces parade, air show, fly past

•         Arenas, marquees and exhibitors, military village

•        Shows, activities and displays

•        Handover of NAFD flag

Sunday 30 June -  Veterans’ and youth day

•        Live entertainment

•        Afternoon tea for invited veterans

•        World record breaking attempt to create the largest human poppy

•        Commemoration service

•        Fly past

•        Wartime singalong finale

Wiltshire Council would be supporting the initiative to promote and set up a range of activities outside of the event.

There would be an opportunity for all Wiltshire community areas to be involved, with three creative projects aimed to encourage all 18 areas to take part in NAFD 2019. The Council wants to break a record and deliver a legacy through these community projects.

The creative projects were;

1.     A social media photograph campaign -  to encourage people to take photos reflecting what the armed forces mean to them. Post on social media sites – Twitter, Instagram & FB using #SalisburyNAFD and their local hashtag, eg, #Devizes. 18 images would be chosen and included in a collage to be displayed at the event.

2.     Community art tapestry project - An artistic lead, commissioned by Wiltshire Council, will work with community groups in each of the 18 areas to create a tapestry/artwork/collage. The tapestries will be joined together to create one larger framed piece which would be displayed at the event. This lasting legacy piece would then be displayed across the county.

3.     Largest human poppy world record attempt - Aim to bring together more than 4,000 people from across Wiltshire to take part in an attempt on Sunday 30 June at Hudson’s Field to create the largest human poppy using coloured biodegradable ponchos. Could involve transport from each area to ensure the event is inclusive, and encourage veterans/cadets and young people.

Area Boards would be asked to allocate some funds to support local projects.

The Board would be working with the CEM on finding ways to develop this project in the Southern Area, working on the three individual threads. We will build as we move forward, we have plenty of time to develop a project.

The Chairman added that the board would put together a briefing paper to explain what  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

Following our theme of inter-parish collaboration, we have asked to hear from parishes about some of their projects which may be of interest or relevant to other parishes. Starting the process, we shall hear from Downton PC and Coombe Bissett PC about some of their key projects.

The Chairman invited two parishes to share their experiences and stories of success.

Downton PC

Our biggest project undertaken was the development to the extension of our Memorial hall. This project was six years in the making. We now have a rear extension with two rooms, one used by the Preschool. During that development we learnt a huge amount, as the process had been extremely complex. We would be happy to share our experiences with others that may wish to embark on a similar project. We would like to thank the Area Board for the support we have received and circulate some brochures to show the outcome.

Another project would be to build a bridge across the Avon. It would reduce car use and encourage walking to schools. We are now waiting for a signed agreement from the Section 106 Officer, to get a design specification.

We would also be looking at improving the cycleway from Downton to Salisbury as the design of a cycle way has been felt to be unsafe so we would like to work with Highways ad Sustrans to move this forward.

The Memorial Hall development cost £1.2million, with half of that amount coming from the developers. For the remainder, we opted for a loan to be repaid over 25 years.

Coombe Bissett PC

In our parish we have a group of volunteers called CHAVs, this is an acronym of, Coombe & Homington Active Volunteers. As a result, we get so many jobs done for the community through this group. A couple of months ago, the Board provided a grant towards a new seat around the tree in Hommington. Our volunteers provided the work. That saves the parish council money. We constantly carry out little odd jobs. During some windy weather which caused the trees to become a problem, SSE came to cut back some branches but did not clear the branches away, so I put a call out and 19 people turned up. It is the community that is getting involved, to help the whole of the community. We do a lot for many of the clubs and the village hall.

Another thing we are currently working on is the process of producing a Neighbourhood Plan (NP). We are at the stage where a questionnaire needed to be circulated, so we asked the CHAV volunteers and they distributed them.

A main issues that the parish had been confronted with was the possibility that Coombe Bissett would be transferred to a different Area Board after the Boundary Review, and that was not something that we would wish. We have established good working arrangements with the AB, in particular since Cllr Clewer has been our elected member.

One of our parish councillors looks after our Highways issues. We have a speeding issue and have concerns regarding the state of the roads, and pot holes. I wonder if any of the £8million divulged down from central government would find its way to the roads in Coombe Bissett.

We also  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

There are 2 CATG schemes to consider:

·       Winterslow – Middleton Road, Winterslow Primary School,
Cost:
Estimate for signing & lining scheme is £400
Estimate for scheme including kerbing is £1800

·       Coombe Bissett – A354 Salisbury Road
Residents have requested white gates be installed at the existing Coombe Bissett village sign and the 40mph zone sign. The Parish Council support the request.

Estimate for works £2000

The last CATG meeting had been cancelled due to there being only the two schemes for consideration. It had been decided instead to consider the schemes at the Board meeting, and the Highways Officer was in attendance to clarify the details of the proposed projects.

The Board considered two schemes for funding, as detailed in the report attached to the agenda.

Winterslow - issue 6359 – Middleton Road, Winterslow Primary School.

It was reported that there was a problem in the village, which had taken two years to sorted out. There was a small area which had been made in to a parking area, taking 50 vehicles off the road. In order to meet the requirements of the planning application, they needed white lines painting. Total project cost for white lines and kerb works is £1,800.

The Highways Officer noted that the kerbing was separate and could be programmed to take place during a school holiday so that the road was not as busy.

The Chairman queried the Parish Council contribution as it was not detailed. Answer: The Parish Council representative confirmed it would contribute a reasonable amount.

Decision

The Southern Wiltshire Area Board allocated £1,350 to the white line and kerb works in Winterslow, subject to a 25% parish council contribution (of £450).

Coombe Bissett – issue 6671 – A345 White gates on Salisbury Road, 40mph terminal

To introduce some white gates on the A354 Salisbury Road in to Coombe Bissett, where the speed changes from 40mph to a 30mph, as no one takes notice currently, and there is a footpath by the side of it. Total project cost £2,000.

Decision

The Southern Wiltshire Area Board allocated £1,500 to the white gate installation in Coombe Bissett, subject to a 25% contribution from the parish council (of £500).

The Board will consider applications for funding from the Community Area Grant Scheme.

Officer: Tom Bray, Community Engagement Manager

The Board considered two applications for funding from the Community Area Grants Scheme for 2018/19, as detailed in the agenda and in a supplementary paper, online and circulated at the meeting.

Since submission of the grant request, the Redlynch Parish Council had negotiated with contractors to agree a reduced project cost. The amount requested from the Board was now £500.

There were 7 bus shelters, 5 were standard issue with automatic timetable. We have suffered damage to all 5 of those throughout the village. We are offering match funding of £500.

Comments and questions:

·       Chair – Was the material an approved material for bus shelters? Answer: Yes the polycarbonate should resist air gun pellets.

·       The quote was very reasonable for the work. Following the recent spate of damage, the only sensible solution would be to use polycarbonate.

·       In Laverstock we are also looking to put in 2 new bus shelters next year, would we also be able to put in a request for funding? Answer: We will determine this application now but ask that Tom put together a query to parish councils to see whether group buying could reduce prices. However we do not fund replacements, the work needs to be an upgrade.  Tom – the AB is placed in this position because the council ceases to fund things it used to. We are in a position where we need to consider solutions for these problems. This may be a case where the Board can look at a way forward to assist the other areas across the community area.

·       Cllr McLennan – As this is a bus shelter, it is related to transport so can this come from CATG? Answer: Highways Officer - Yes for upgrade.

·       There is a local resident that cannot use the bus stop in Bishopdown Farm, as with no shelter there is nowhere for her to sit and wait, could that come to CATG? Answer: Yes that could also come to the CATG.

Decision

Redlynch Parish Council was awarded £500.00 from CATG budget towards the bus shelter upgrade project.

The Board then considered an additional grant, as detailed in the late papers circulated at the meeting and uploaded online.

Coombe Bissett PC – Improvement works to footpath no. 6.

This footpath is on a sloping steep bank, in some places its little more than 18 inches wide, and people are in danger of slipping down the bank. A local resident has given a reduced rate to carry out the work.

Questions:

·       Why is the work not being carried out by the CHAV team? Answer: It is a job that involves a small mobile digger and removing tree routes, so not a job they can be asked to do.

·       The PC seem to be only contributing £100, why is that? Answer: It can offer to contribute £200.

Decision

Coombe Bissett Parish Council was awarded £660 towards improvements to footpath 6 in Coombe Bissett, with the Parish Council contributing the remaining  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.