Agenda item

Public Participation

The Deputy Leader referred to written statements as circulated from the following:

Calne Campus

Cllr Alan Hill (and others)

Cricklade Campus

Mrs Ruth Szybiak, Chairman of Cricklade Shadow COB

Mr Nick Dye, Chairman of Cricklade and District Community Association

Mr John Coole

Mrs Mary Coole

Mr Clive Wilce

Ms Yvonne Keeble

Pewsey Campus

Mr Bob Woodward, Chairman of Pewsey COB

Mrs Carol Grant, Headteacher, Pewsey Vale School

Mr Bob Woodward, Mrs Carol Grant, Cllr Christine Crisp, Kevin Wells, Mrs Ruth Szybiak, Cllr Doyle, Cllr Jerry Kunkler, Cllr Tony Deane Cllr Bridget Wayman and representatives from Calne Leisure as well as other local members also addressed Cabinet on the campus proposals for their respective areas.

Cllr Stuart Wheeler, Cabinet member for Transformation, Leisure and Culture, reminded the meeting of the Leader’s commitment to bring services closer to the people and ensure that communities had the assets they needed to plan for a sustainable and resilient future. The campus programme when introduced, was a pilot; now it was the way the council worked and the way in which other councils were hoping to work.

Cllr Wheeler presented a report detailing the second tranche of campus proposals. The report set out four business cases associated with campus proposals for the communities of Calne, Cricklade, Pewsey and Tisbury, along with the request for funds to deliver an enhanced youth provision in Malmesbury as an initial building block for a future Malmesbury campus.

The specifications and locations of the campus proposals set out in the report had been developed locally and were supported by the Area Boards for Cabinet consideration.

The purpose of the report was therefore the consideration of options that had primarily been developed at a local level. The campus proposals as presented asked Cabinet to consider two key areas. Namely, Cabinet was asked to approve the funds to deliver the baseline proposals that were deliverable within the existing business plan and meet ‘essential’ needs as identified by the community. Secondly Cabinet was asked to consider whether they wished to approve any, or all, of the enhanced proposals that would require additional investment, but would deliver the aspirational needs identified by the community. 

In moving the proposals, Cllr Wheeler supported the provision of enhanced facilities in order to deliver for the benefit of the entire communities.

The Deputy Leader referred to the notes as previously circulated, of the Campus and Operational Delivery Task Group meeting held on 11 October which had considered the campus reports. Cllr Jonathon Seed who had chaired the Task Group was invited to present the Task Group’s findings. Cllr Seed explained that the Task Group had received an open appraisal by the Cabinet member and relevant officers, was satisfied with the process that had been followed, including the make-up and method of calculating the financial figures for the proposed campus projects. Cllr Seed added that the Cabinet member and officers were to be congratulated for a job well done.

Details of the various options considered in formulating the proposals were detailed in the report presented.

Cllr Wheeler paid tribute to the hard work, dedication and enthusiasm of the Campus Operational Boards (COBs) and the Shadow COBS, thanking all those who had been involved to date.  Cllr Wheeler also paid tribute to the hard work, dedication and commitment of officers, in particular Mark Stone, Andy Brown, Lucy Murray-Brown, Ros Griffiths and Rachel Goff.

The Deputy Leader explained that the second part of the report would be considered in private session as it contained commercially sensitive information. He thanked the members of the public for their attendance and participation on this item.

Resolved:

The Cabinet was minded to approve the following, subject to being satisfied with the business cases which would be considered in Part II of the meeting:

1.    approve the financial resources required to develop the baseline proposals detailed in appendices A, B, C, D and E

(namely campus proposals for the communities of Calne, Cricklade, Pewsey and Tisbury, along with the request for funds to deliver an enhanced youth provision in Malmesbury;

2.    approve the award of additional investment to enable the delivery of the enhanced option for that location, as outlined in tables 1, 2, 3, and 4 and appendices A to D;

3.    approve and recognise that the rationalisation of assets in scope for the campus programme be used to promote growth initiatives where this is supported by the community and deliverable within the councils capital programme;

4.    request that the direction of future local development would be communicated via developing a ‘picture’ for each community area, which would be created in a way that complements and supports emerging neighbourhood planning approaches;

5.    continued to support the concept of delivering for the community of Royal Wootton Bassett and continue negotiations with the MOD regarding this;

6.    Confirm its support for the masterplanning exercise for Calne (which would be jointly led by Wiltshire Council and Calne Town Council) which makes available the existing Library building and other central area sites owned by the council  to develop asset backed options for delivering a central campus in Calne as part of a wider regeneration package and

7.    note and welcome the progress made so far across the county recognising the approach taken in tranche one, and ask that this is continued for future tranches.

Reason for Decision

In December 2009 Cabinet gave its approval to provide new or improved accommodation for services in each Community Area and in February 2011 Cabinet support was given to developing an innovative approach to local people having the opportunity to directly influence the services available in their community.  In December 2011 the first tranche of campus proposals was given approval and Cabinet asked for further tranches to be brought forward in due course.

The majority of area boards have established Shadow Community Operations Boards (COBs), with a view to enabling local people to develop campus proposals and be part of the development and appraisal of future alternative delivery models.  There are now thirteen active COBs and three more are in the process of selecting representation.  The proposals in this paper follow on from previous cabinet papers and decisions and outline the business cases for specific campus proposals for the communities of Calne, Cricklade, Pewsey and Tisbury.