Agenda item

Verbal Updates

To receive any verbal updates from representatives, including:

 

a.    Wiltshire Police

b.    Wiltshire and Swindon Road Safety Partnership – Perry Payne

c.     Calne – Older Person’s Champion – Dianne Gooch (Calne Voices Older People’s Survey)

d.    Safe Places update

e.    Calne Area Parish Forum

f.      Town and Parish Councils

 

 

Written Updates

The Board is asked to note the following written and online updates attached to the agenda:

 

g.    Community First

h.    Wiltshire Police – Neighbourhood Team

i.      Wiltshire Police – Spot the Signs Campaign

j.      Wiltshire Police – Violence Against Women and Girls

k.     Calne S106 Group

l.      Calne Community Safety Forum – have notes for the pack

m.   Calne Area Parish Forum

n.    Bremhill Parish Council

o.    Calne Without Parish Council

p.    Calne Town Council

q.    Calne Civic Awards

r.      Calne Community Plan Referendum – 27 February

s.     Warm Spaces

 

 

Written updates were available in the agenda pack from the following partners:

 

·       Community First, pg. 47-51

·       Wiltshire Police, pg. 53-64

·       Wiltshire Police – Spot the Signs Campaign, pg. 65-66

·       Wiltshire Police – Violence Against Women and Girls, pg. 67

·       Calne S106 Group, pg. 69-70

·       Calne Community Safety Forum, pg. 71-72

·       Calne Area Parish Forum, pg. 73-76

 

The following partners also provided verbal updates:

 

Wiltshire and Swindon Road Safety Partnership

 

Perry Payne, and his colleague Caroline, gave an update which included the following points:

 

·       Vision Zero, a road safety management process aimed at eliminating road traffic deaths, originated in Sweden in 1994. It was regarded as best practice globally, although had not yet been adopted by the UK government.

·       Survivability had improved significantly since Mr Payne started working in road safety in 1982, in part due to vehicle improvements, such as air bags and crumple zones. There had also been a significant amount of cluster analysis that had taken place to establish best practice across different council areas.

·       If people had concerns about speeding on a particular road, they could contact their town or parish council, who could request a road traffic survey from their Local Highway and Footway improvement Group.

·       75 percent of traffic surveys in Wiltshire found that no further action was required.

·       Video footage of people speeding, or committing other offences, such holding a ‘phone whilst driving, could be submitted online via Operation Snap. The police requested footage two minutes either side of the incident to provide context. 47 people were prosecuted as a result of Operation Snap in 2024.

·       Operation Close Pass was being run to educate drivers about what were safe distances to overtake cyclists and horse riders.

·       One in six cars had a dash camera.

·       Thanks were given to volunteers who took part in Community Speed Watch.

·       Between 1 April 2024 and 13 February 2025, 273 people were sent on speed awareness courses and three people were sent to court for speeding offences in the Calne area.

·       Across Wiltshire and Swindon, in the same period, 8,695 people had been sent on speed awareness courses and 102 people had been sent to court.

 

 

During the discussion, the following points were made:

 

·       The Area Board thanked the representatives for their update.

·       The Chairman reported that he had learnt about Vision Zero for his degree and had recently travelled in a driverless car.

·       In response to a query about trials with artificial intelligence enabled speed cameras, it was confirmed that they had identified a large number of drivers not wearing seatbelts. There was significant back office work to do to refine processes for how the cameras might be used and a further pilot study was being discussed.

·       Speed was a contributing factor to road accidents but was not the main factor.

·       Demographic information, such as age, was considered in accident data.

 

 

Calne Older Person’s Champion – Dianne Gooch

 

·       The Older Person’s Champion had been working with Carers Together to ensure that older carers had the information and support to help them in their role.

·       Events were planned for 11 April and 25 July.

·       Representatives from Dorothy House had spoken to Calne Reconnecting Group and the group had also been presented with information about Calne Neighbourhood Plan.  Further recent activities included a concert which had been attended by the mayor.

·       The Older Person’s Champion had concerns about the state of the footpaths around Calne.

·       Celebrating Age were due to hold a jazz concert.

·       The Older Person’s Champion was due to attend a meeting with the Chief Executive of Alzheimer’s Support to see how they could raise awareness of Calne being a dementia friendly town.

·       Emma Higgins, Associate Director at the Integrated Care Board, had recently held discussions about setting up a Neighbourhood Collaborative in the town. It had been agreed to take the project forward and local groups would be conducting a review of what was working well and what would benefit from additional support.

 

Safe Places

 

The Older Person’s Champion explained that it had been agreed to restart Safe Places and that 25 different organisations had already agreed to sign up.

 

Bremhill Parish Council

 

Isabel McCord, Chairman of Bremhill Parish Council gave an update, points included:

 

·       The parish council were looking forward to repair work being undertaken on local roads once the repair work at Lyneham Banks had been completed.

·       Speed Indicator Devices had been deployed in East Tytherton and Tytherton Lucas and had caught vehicles speeding at up to 68 miles per hour in the daytime.

·       Cllr Ashley O’Neill was helping to investigate flooding in East Tytherton.

·       Community groups in the parish were flourishing and many of them would be attending the parish’s annual meeting on 6 May.

·       A well attended Conscious Composting event was held in January.

 

Calne Town Council

 

Points from the town council’s update included:

 

·       The town council would be recommitting solidarity with Ukraine at 11am on 24 February.

·       A referendum on Calne Neighbourhood Plan would be held on 27 February.

·       A picture of the first female mayor of Calne, Edith Spackman, would be unveiled on International Women’s Day on 8 March.

·       It was highlighted that twinning was open to parishes as well as towns.

·       VE Day events were planned to be held between 8 and 10 May.

 

 

Calne Without Parish Council

 

John Barnes, Chairman of Calne Without Parish Council gave the parish council’s final update to the Area Board. Points included:

 

·       On 3 February, play equipment was installed at Derry Hill and they would come in to use once the required safety inspection had been signed off.

·       A community orchard had been plated in Studley Gardens; thanks were given to the help provided by Naiomi Styles at Wiltshire Council.

·       The Local Highway and Footway Improvement Group were helping with progressing the implementation of a 20 mile per hour zone in Studley and Norley Lane.

·       In May, Calne Without would become the new civil parish of Derry Hill and Studley. Parts of the current parish would transfer to Calne Town Council, as well as Bremhill, Hilmarton, Compton Bassett, Cherhill and Heddington parish councils.

 

Cherhill Parish Council

 

Points from Cherhill Parish Council’s update included:

 

·       They were working closely with Calne Without on the Community Governance Review.

·       The National Trust remained committed to restoration work on the Cherhill Monument, although inclement weather had delayed planned testing of appropriate stones.

·       There had been minor flooding incidents in the parish.