To receive updates from lead councillors for the local Area Board priorities (where not covered by other agenda items):
The Stonehenge Area Board priorities are:
· Environment – Cllr Kevin Daley and Cllr Rob Yuill
· Community Engagement – Cllrs Graham Wright and Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling.
· Youth Engagement – Cllr Mark Verbinnen (covered earlier under Youth Updates)
· Improving the health and wellbeing of our community– Cllr Monica Devendran and Cllr Graham Wright (covered earlier under the HWB Group)
Minutes:
Updates were given on the Area Board priorities:
· Environment – Cllr Kevin Daley and Cllr Rob Yuill
Both Cllrs had attended an Area Board Environment Leads meeting, which had been interesting and showcased what some other community areas were doing in this arena. Cllr Yuill had also attended training on Carbon Literacy which was very interesting. The Chairman stated that Members were still considering meaningful achievable contributions which could be made in this area and wanted to involve town and parish councils as well. The hope was that Stonehenge Area Board could model what some other Area Boards and councils were doing, such as planting wildflowers on verges or areas of green space.
· Community Engagement – Cllr Graham Wright and Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling.
Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling gave further details regarding Op Lazurite, which had been discussed earlier in the meeting. It was highlighted that the Entitled Persons were in the area temporarily and that numbers would shrink in the next 8 months or so. However, at present there were reasonably high numbers of people in the community who had come from troubled places. This was not something that Wiltshire Council could address on their own. They needed to make sure that issues were dealt with in the right place at the right level. Every Friday morning the relevant agencies, such as Wiltshire Council, the MOD, police, the Department for Work and Pensions et cetera had a call to make sure that any issues were being addressed. For example, schools in the area may require more funding. Earlier in the meeting the police had discussed aspects where they had been involved, however, they only got involved when there were tensions. The message that he wanted to give was that for the majority, there were no issues, and that all the headteachers with Afghan children in their schools had enthusiasm and that there was a lot of good coming from this. In relation to Avon Valley Academy, there was a real admiration for what the school were doing as they had engaged in a very positive way. They wanted to bring people together and details had been given earlier regarding the youth pop up events and the youth fair where youth organisations and young people had been brought together. The effort was made to extend the invitation to Afghan young people who took that up showing that integration worked when it was done positively. They would continue to look for further opportunities to do this.
In other community engagement news, there would be a Stonehenge Area Board Community SpeedWatch (CSW) Recognition Award event held on 7 February 2025 at Durrington Village Hall to thank the CSW teams for all their hard work. All CSW teams and parish councils would be invited. In addition, at the event would be a roads update, including which roads Wiltshire Council was planning to resurface in the area and an update on the Netheravon speed limit reduction trial.
· Youth Engagement – Cllr Mark Verbinnen
This was covered earlier under Youth Updates.
· Improving the health and wellbeing of our community – Cllr Monica Devendran and Cllr Graham Wright
This was covered earlier under the HWB Group.