Agenda item

The Board noted the written updates attached to the agenda and received the following verbal updates:

 

Youth

Jaki Farrell, Youth Services – Locality E Team Leader, read from a written update which is attached to the end of these minutes.

 

The Interviews for the Youth worker at Fovant Youth Club had taken place and a candidate had been chosen. Further information would be available at a future Area Board after administrative procedures had been completed.

 

Councillor Beattie had met with the new Wilton Youth Coordinator, Sophie Ferguson and they had agreed three actions of work:

 

1.    Methods of Outreach work

2.    Renaming the Youth Centre and communications

3.    Opening Hours and Planning Restrictions

 

Police

Inspector Lindsey Winters gave updates from the written reports attached to the agenda. There had been a reduction in the number of reported crimes and detections in Mere, compared to the same period the previous year.

 

Two suspects from Gloucester and Somerset had been arrested in connection to house burglaries in Mere. Since the arrests, offences in the area had stopped.

 

A priority in the Tisbury are was to concentrate on cross border working and to share intelligence with other forces.

 

In Wilton and Salisbury, it had been found that offences were being committed by people coming across from Amesbury.

 

Inspector Winters added that it was vital for residents to report any suspicious behaviour or activity, as it was the people in the community who would be the first to recognise something out of character for the area.

 

Questions and comments were then received:

 

·         Phil Matthews of Wilton TC noted that whilst the PC for Wilton was on maternity leave, she would not be replaced by another PC, and that Wilton would be covered by a lone PCSO. Wilton TC were concerned that this would not provide adequate cover for a community area the size of Wilton, and felt that they should have a PC in addition to a PCSO. Answer: The concerns would be passed to Inspector Andy Noble.

·         Peter Edge raised concern for the numbers of Police Officers who were being retired at a young age of 50. He felt that awareness should be raised as to the cost of these retirements, and asked whether it may have an effect on why they were unable to have a replacement PC in Wilton? Answer: The comment was noted.

 

Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service (WFRS)

Mike Franklin of Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service spoke to the written update attached to the agenda. In addition he urged people to make the appropriate checks to their chimneys with winter approaching. Information on chimney checks is available online at: http://www.wiltsfire.gov.uk/ Under the Community Safety tab.

 

WRFS is seeking stakeholders to take part in future consultations, people can register by clicking on the link below and completing an online form: http://www.wiltsfire.gov.uk/departments/corporate_planning/stakeholder/form.php

 

Question:

 

·         Why  had there been so many peaks in August and September this year compared to the previous months? Answer: Mike agreed to ask the local station manager to provide an answer which is included below.

 

Information provided by WFRS following the meeting

The spike in Fire Service operational activity in July and August cannot be explained by any particular trends.

 

Wilton Station attended two false alarms due to apparatus (FADAs) in July and four in August compared to five in June, so the overall trend remains consistent.  They attended two Road Traffic Collisions (RTCs) in August.  In the previous six months they attended either one or none each month.

 

Mere attended four FADAs in August, the premises in question are all individual premises so no one building was a serial source of these calls.  Action is being considered within our call reduction strategy.  Mere did do a significant amount of co responder work for the Great Western Ambulance Service attending fifteen incidents in August compared to eleven and ten in the two preceding months.  They attended three accidental fires, one of which was due to a juvenile fire setter.  The Service is providing support to the family in question regarding the child’s behaviours.

 

Tisbury also attended four FADAs in August, one premises having two events and the other two being due to human activity (such as accidental breakage of call point).  They also had a noticeable increase in co responder calls attending eleven compared to seven received the previous month.

 

Tenants Panel

Mrs Eunice Beer of the Tenants Group gave an update. The Tenants Panel had been renamed and was now called the Tenants Group. The Group had recently met with Derek Streek to discuss a way forward and to collate the Groups opinions on the new Housing Allocation system.

 

A series of focus group meetings had been planned, to enable the Housing team to explain the positive plans the council now has as a result of feedback received following a consultation with its council housing residents. Meeting dates included:

 

7 November                          Methodist Church, Salisbury 9.30am – 11.30am

Morgans Vale Village Hall 2pm – 4pm

 

8 November                          Nadder Hall, Tisbury 10am -12 noon

Mere Lecture Hall, Mere 2pm – 4pm

 

22 November                                    Wilton Community Centre 9am – 11am

Salisbury Arts Centre 7.30pm – 9.30pm

 

Wiltshire Council had set aside a budget for improvements to Council Housing which would be allocated over the next five years. The Board would like to see a share of that budget being allocated to the council housing within the three community areas in the South West, as they contained 22% of the current housing stock owned by the Council.

 

The Parish Council in Fovant had recently nominated a member to sit on the Tenants Group.

 

The Community Area Transport Group (CATG) had been asked to consider funding towards improved signage to council house estates, to avoid any incidents where the emergency services cannot find a property.

 

Tisbury Parish Council – Skate Park Development

Chairman of Tisbury PC, Patrick Duffy explained that the skate park project had been underway for 4 – 5 years and had huge support and enthusiasm from the Tisbury community. The Parish had access to £95,000 of Section 106 funds towards the project, however as the amount of funds requested was over the £35,000 threshold, the Area Board were required to approve the release of funds.

 

Technical Services Manager, Steve Ibbetson was present at the meeting advised that the project met the criteria for 106 funding.

 

Decision

The South West Wiltshire Area Board approved Tisbury Parish Council’s request for £95,000 of developer contribution money towards the cost of constructing a skateboard park, as detailed in the Officer’s report attached to these minutes.

 

Rural Broadband Provision

Cllr Robin Garran, Chairman of Alvediston Parish Meeting spoke about the importance of superfast broadband provision for the rural areas. The points he raised in the presentation are set out in the slides attached to the end of these minutes.

 

Councillor Jeans who was a member of the Broadband Provision Task Group informed the Board that the contract to provide the provision was currently out to tender. The aim would be to provide a minimum of 2mbs to all households by 2015, with up to 85% of households in Wiltshire accessing speeds of up to 25mbs. Once the contract had been awarded, mapping would be carried out to establish which areas could receive superfast broadband.

 

WilCAP

On Monday 24 September 2012, WilCAP made the decision to fold the partnership. Funding previously awarded to the partnership by the Board would be returned. A full statement is available on their website - http://wilcap.wordpress.com/

 

The research work on Asthma would continue as an independent project.

 

Withdrawal of Mini Recycling Sites

Following the successful introduction of improved kerbside waste and recycling collection services in Wiltshire during 2011-12, residents can now recycle a wider range of materials from the kerbside including plastic bottles and cardboard. The mini recycling sites are therefore being used less by residents and the recycling tonnage collected from these has reduced year on year.

Following consultation, the service will be reducing the number of mini recycling sites from 1 October. There will also be no plastic bottle and card collections from mini recycling sites, details of the changes can be found by following the link:

http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/rubbishrecycling/reviewofminirecyclingsites.htm

Wilton Town Councillor, Peter Edge explained that Quidhampton parish council had not been aware of the consultation and therefore not taken part in submitting their comments. One of the sites to be completely removed was at the White Horse Pub in Quidhampton, which they were against.

 

Councillor Green added that she had received concerns from several of the parishes within her ward, regarding the withdrawal of the plastic recycling facilities at some sites.

 

Patrick Duffy, Tisbury Parish Councillor felt that it had been an outrageous decision to remove recycling facilities at some sites. Tisbury had found a private contractor who had offered to carry out the service free of charge.