Agenda item

The Board noted the written updates attached to the agenda, in addition the following updates and comments were received:

Community Area Transport Group (CATG)

In addition to the written report in the agenda pack, Tom Bray noted that the next meeting of the group would be on 23 August.

Councillor McLennan requested that the planned gateway at Ford be installed before the major works to the Broken Cross bridge. He thought this would help control the speed of the traffic that might use the road during the works. Tom Bray agreed to take the matter to the CATG for consideration.

Action: Tom Bray

Police

In addition to the written report attached to the agenda, Inspector Andy Noble added that two local burglars had been charged following an increase in non dwelling burglaries in the area.

The first event of BLUEZ n ZUZ in Wilton was planned for September, these are social events for 12 to 16 year olds in a safe environment supported and staffed by local Police.

A recent altercation involving travellers at  Old Sarum had been dealt with swiftly thanks to the assistance of a local land owner.

Local Resolution is a new way of dealing with low level crime and anti-social behaviour by putting victims at the heart of the service. Instead of court proceedings, justice is delivered by the offender in several ways, these could include: meeting and apologising to the victim, understanding how their actions made the victim feel, paying compensation and repairing damage caused.

There are some conditions attached these which include: the offender must admit to the offence, they must show some degree of remorse and must not be known to the police for any offence in the past.

Questions and comments:

There had been a rise in thefts from motor vehicles in and around the area, is this being tackled? Answer: There had been a spike in offences earlier in the year, however within the last couple of weeks, there had only been 6 reported offences within the wider Salisbury community area, which was a reduction from the expected average for that period of 9.

Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service

In addition to the written update attached to the agenda, David Dunford, Local Group Manager added that the number of home safety checks carried out within the community area had tailed off, with only 2 being carried out in June. Freepost leaflets were circulated at the meeting for people to complete and return if they wished to register for a home safety check. A copy of the leaflet is attached to these minutes for information.

Wiltshire Community Bank – Wiltshire Council Update

Councillor Britton noted that there were a series of community banks across the county, the aim of these was to provide an alternative way of saving and borrowing money for people who did not have access to a conventional bank account. Also to stop people falling prey to loan sharks and money lenders who charged an extremely high level of interest to borrowers. More information can be found by clicking on the link: www.wiltshiremoney.org.uk 

Youth Services - Update on recruitment process for Youth Development Coordinator,  Maxine Gibson - Principal Education Welfare Officer

Following a temporary secondment of Tony Nye to the Westbury Community Area, the recruitment process had not been successful in finding a suitable candidate to fill the vacancy. 

It was hoped that an assistant youth worker would be recruited to fill the vacant post until Tony Nye returned.

Southern Wiltshire Issues System

Tom Bray, Community Area Manager circulated a table of current issues logged on the online Issues System, to view the webpage, click on the link: http://portal.wiltshire.gov.uk/area_board/areaboard_issues_search.php?issue_location_in=Southern%20Wiltshire

Questions and Comments included:

·       Had the hold up on the deployment of the SID been resolved? Answer: Yes the problem had been rectified and the SID had recently been deployed to Britford.

·       There had been an incident where the battery in the SID had run down before the end of the two week period, had this been resolved? Answer: The issue had been passed to the relevant officer for consideration.

·       Following his request at a previous meeting, Keith Rodger asked for the Board’s support in requesting that the personal details of those objecting to planning applications could be kept anonymous when publishing details on the website. Answer: The Chairman noted that this was not really a metter for the Area Board. However, he would make further enquiries and report back to Mr Rodgers.